| Abstract Scope |
The disordered structure of metallic glasses (MGs) entails some short- and medium-range order, associated with nearest neighbor atoms and the atoms’ tendency to form clusters of interconnected low potential-energy structures. Whilst atomistic simulations give direct insight into such structural evolution and its emerging length scales (JALCOM 821, 153209, 2020), experimental insights remain a major challenge. However, the recent advance of 4-dimensional scanning transmission electron microscopy (4D-STEM) (Ultramicroscopy 232, 113405, 2022) offers now a tool to potentially uncover real-space MG microstructures in terms of low and high potential-energy structures and their typical structural motifs. Here we present MG 4D-STEM results that represent two structural extremes, one given by a shear band and the other one by its non-sheared counterpart, which will be discussed in terms of structural features of relaxed and highly non-relaxed MGs. |