A survey of instrumented indentation studies on metallic glasses

The development of instrumented nanoindentation equipment has occurred concurrently with the discovery of many new families of bulk metallic glass during the past decade. While indentation testing has long been used to assess the mechanical properties of metallic glasses, depth-sensing capabilities offer a new approach to study the fundamental physics behind glass deformation. This article is a succinct review of the research to date on the indentation of metallic glasses. In addition to standard hardness measurements, the onset of plasticity in metallic glasses is reviewed as well as the role of shear banding in indentation, structural changes beneath the indenter, and rate-dependent effects measured by nanoindentation. The article concludes with perspectives about the future directions for nanocontact studies on metallic glasses. © 2004 Materials Research Society.