Controlling interface structure in nanoglasses produced through hydrostatic compression of amorphous nanoparticles

Controlling glass-glass interfaces in metallic nanoglasses is essential for tuning their mechanical properties and in particular, the ability to inhibit severe strain localization through distributed shear band formation. In this paper, molecular dynamics are employed to quantify the structural characteristics of interfaces in a scalable nanoglass model produced through hydrostatic compression of amorphous nanoparticles. Using a framework for distinguishing interfaces from amorphous grains based on the correlation between dilatation and atomic volume distributions, we show that the interfaces in our nanoglass model exhibit a volume fraction of 0.36, a width of approximately 2 nm, excess free volume of 1-2%, and full icosahedral (FI) fraction roughly 30% that of a bulk metallic glass counterpart. While these characteristics are quantitatively unique relative to other nanoglass models (e.g., planar interfaces and Poisson-Voronoi constructions), they are consistent with experimental results reported for nanoglasses consolidated from glassy nanoparticles produced through inert gas condensation. Increasing the consolidation temperature enhanced the FI fraction with a strong bias to the interfaces, thus demonstrating a route for tuning interfacial properties in nanoglasses.