Size Effect Suppresses Brittle Failure in Hollow Cu₆₀Zr₄₀ Metallic Glass Nanolattices Deformed at Cryogenic Temperatures

To harness “smaller is more ductile” behavior emergent at nanoscale and to proliferate it onto materials with macroscale dimensions, we produced hollow-tube Cu₆₀Zr₄₀ metallic glass nanolattices with the layer thicknesses of 120, 60, and 20 nm. They exhibit unique transitions in deformation mode with tube-wall thickness and temperature. Molecular dynamics simulations and analytical models were used to interpret these unique transitions in terms of size effects on the plasticity of metallic glasses and elastic instability.