Novel class of nanostructured metallic glass films with superior and tunable mechanical properties

A novel class of nanostructured Zr50Cu50 (%at.) metallic glass films with superior and tunable mechanical properties is produced by pulsed laser deposition. The process can be controlled to synthetize a wide range of film microstructures including dense fully amorphous, amorphous embedded with nanocrystals and amorphous nano-granular. A unique dense self-assembled nano-laminated atomic arrangement characterized by alternating Cu-rich and Zr/O-rich nanolayers with different local chemical enrichment and amorphous or amorphous-crystalline composite nanostructure has been discovered, while significant in-plane clustering is reported for films synthetized at high deposition pressures. This unique nanoarchitecture is at the basis of superior mechanical properties including large hardness and elastic modulus up to 10 and 140 GPa, respectively and outstanding total elongation to failure (>9%), leading to excellent strength/ductility balance, which can be tuned by playing with the film architecture. These results pave the way to the synthesis of novel class of engineered nanostructured metallic glass films with high structural performances attractive for a number of applications in microelectronics and coating industry.