Hydrogen induced cracking in metallic glasses

While hydrogen microalloying in metallic alloys has been extensively investigated, the failure mechanism underlying the H-alloyed metallic glasses (MGs) remains elusive. Here, atomistic simulations are performed on the tensile failure of H-free and H-alloyed notched MGs. An intriguing transition in failure mechanism from shear banding to cracking occurs after hydrogen microalloying. A theoretical model based on the concept of energetic model is then proposed to rationalize this deformation mode transition. Cracking behavior is more significant with increasing H content, agreeing well with the simulation results. These results advance our understanding of failure mechanism in H-alloyed MGs.