Unusual energy state evolution in Ce-based metallic glass under high pressure

Abstract

Metallic Glasses (MGs) are always aging toward the lower energy state, which leads to higher density, modulus, and hardness. We find that high pressure (HP) could lead to similar densification and hardening while the energy is increased. The comparison between two processes under HP and ambient pressure shows that densification happens in denser regions in MGs under HP, while it happens in looser regions under ambient pressure, which leads to the opposite energy changes in the two conditions. This result breaks the common wisdom about the relationship between the free volume and enthalpy and displays different structural and energy evolutions in MGs.