In situ TEM nanoindentation-induced new nanostructure in cadmium zinc telluride

Phase transformations happened in a solid determine the significantly structural and physical properties. Nevertheless, deformation-induced phase transition in a soft-brittle solid has not been demonstrated yet. Soft-brittle cadmium zinc telluride...

Brittle solid collapse to simple liquid for a waxy suspension

Waxy oils initially solid (left) undergo an abrupt transition to liquid after a simple shock (successive pictures on the right).

Brittle and Ductile Character of Amorphous Solids

Common silicate glasses are among the most brittle of the materials. However, on warming beyond the glass transition temperature Tg glass transforms into one of the most plastic known materials. Bulk metallic glasses exhibit similar phenomenology, indicating that it rests on the disordered structure instead on the nature of the chemical bonds. The micromechanics of a solid with bulk amorphous structure is examined in order to determine the most basic conditions the system must satisfy to be able of plastic flow. The equations for the macroscopic flow, consistent with the constrictions imposed at the atomic scale, prove that a randomly structured bulk material must be either a brittle solid or a liquid, but not a ductile solid. The theory permits to identify a single parameter determining the difference between the brittle solid and the liquid. However, the system is able of perfect ductility if the plastic flow proceeds in two dimensional plane layers that concentrate the strain. Insight is gained on the nature of the glass transition, and the phase occurring between glass transition and melting.