2025/01/19 by Jie Shen, Shen, Jie, Antoine Cornet +29
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Disordered Systems and Neural Networks (cond-mat.dis-nn) #FOS: Physical sciences #Material Dynamics and Properties #Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) #Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft) #Theoretical and Computational Physics
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2501.11026
openalex publication_date 2025/01/19 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Glasses derive their functional properties from complex relaxation dynamics that remain enigmatic under extreme conditions. While the temperature dependence of these relaxation processes is well-established, their behavior under high-pressure conditions remains poorly understood due to significant experimental difficulties. In this study, we employ cutting-edge experimental techniques to probe the pressure evolution of the relaxation spectrum in a Zr46.8Ti8.2Cu7.5Ni10Be27.5 metallic glass across gigapascal pressure ranges. Our findings reveal two distinct relaxation mechanisms under high pressure: In the \beta-relaxation regime, compression drives the system with reduced atomic mobility and enhanced structural disorder, without significant density changes. Conversely, α-relaxation under pressure promotes density-driven structural ordering that improves thermal stability. Notably, the transition between these regimes occurs at a constant T/Tg,P ratio, independent of applied pressure. These results provide crucial insights for decoupling the competing structural and relaxation contributions to glass stability, establishing a systematic framework for tailoring glass properties through controlled thermo-mechanical processing.