Viscous surface flow induced on Ti-based bulk metallic glass by heavy ion irradiation

Highlights: • Obvious smoothing and roughening phases on the Ti-based MG surface resulted, which correspond respectively to the normal and off-normal incidence angles. • Atomic force microscopy confirms two types of periodic ripples distributed evenly over the rough surface. • The irradiation-induced viscosity of MG is about 4×10¹² Pa·s, which accords with the theoretical prediction for metallic glasses close to glass transition temperature. • Surface-confined viscous flow plays a dominant quantitative role, which is due to radiation-induced softening of the low-viscosity surface layer. - Abstract: Ti-based bulk metallic glass was irradiated by a 20 MeV Cl⁴⁺ ion beam under liquid-nitrogen cooling, which produced remarkable surface smoothing and roughening that respectively correspond to normal and off-normal incidence angles of irradiation. Atomic force microscopy confirms two types of periodic ripples distributed evenly over the rough glass surface. In terms of mechanism, irradiation-induced viscosity agrees with the theoretical prediction for metallic glasses near glass transition temperature. Here, a model is introduced, based on relaxation of confined viscous flow with a thin liquid-like layer, that explains both surface smoothing and ripple formation. This study demonstrates that bulk metallic glass has high morphological instability and low viscosity under ion irradiation, which assets can pave new paths for metallic glass applications.