Abstract Minor alloying is widely used to control mechanical properties of metallic glasses (MGs). The present understanding of how a small amount of alloying element changes strength is that the additions lead to more efficient packing of atoms and increased local topological order, which then increases the barrier for shear transformations and the resistance to plastic deformation. Here, we discover that minor alloying can improve the strength of MGs by increasing the chemical bond strength alone and show that this strengthening is distinct from changes in topological order. The results were obtained using Al–Sm based MGs minor alloyed with transition metals (TMs). The addition of TMs led to an increase in the hardness of the MGs which, however, could not be explained based on changes in the topological ordering in the structure. Instead we found that it was the strong bonding between TM and Al atoms which led to a higher resistance to shear transformation that resulted in higher strength and hardness, while the topology around the TM atoms had no influence on their mechanical response. This finding demonstrates that the effects of topology and chemistry on mechanical properties of MGs are independent of each other and that they should be understood as separate, sometimes competing mechanisms of strengthening. This understanding lays a foundation for design of MGs with improved mechanical properties.

中文翻译：

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微量合金化对铝基金属玻璃力学性能的影响

摘要 微量合金化被广泛用于控制金属玻璃（MGs）的机械性能。目前对少量合金元素如何改变强度的理解是，添加会导致更有效的原子堆积和增加局部拓扑有序，从而增加剪切转变的障碍和抗塑性变形的能力。在这里，我们发现少量合金化可以通过单独增加化学键强度来提高 MGs 的强度，并表明这种强化与拓扑顺序的变化不同。结果是使用 Al-Sm 基 MGs 与过渡金属 (TMs) 微合金化获得的。TM 的添加导致 MG 硬度的增加，然而，这无法根据结构中拓扑排序的变化来解释。相反，我们发现 TM 和 Al 原子之间的强键合导致更高的剪切转变阻力，从而导致更高的强度和硬度，而 TM 原子​​周围的拓扑结构对其机械响应没有影响。这一发现表明拓扑和化学对 MG 机械性能的影响是相互独立的，它们应该被理解为单独的，有时是相互竞争的强化机制。这种理解为设计具有改进机械性能的 MG 奠定了基础。这一发现表明拓扑和化学对 MG 机械性能的影响是相互独立的，它们应该被理解为单独的，有时是相互竞争的强化机制。这种理解为设计具有改进机械性能的 MG 奠定了基础。这一发现表明拓扑和化学对 MG 机械性能的影响是相互独立的，它们应该被理解为单独的，有时是相互竞争的强化机制。这种理解为设计具有改进机械性能的 MG 奠定了基础。