X. CHEN et al.: IMPACT-INDUCED CHEMICAL REACTION BEHAVIOR OF ZrTiNiCuBe BULK METALLIC GLASS ...
737–743
IMPACT-INDUCED CHEMICAL REACTION BEHAVIOR OF
ZrTiNiCuBe BULK METALLIC GLASS FRAGMENTS IMPACTING
ON THIN PLATES
UDARNO INDUCIRANA KEMI^NA REAKCIJA DROBCEV
ZrTiNiCuBe MASIVNEGA KOVINSKEGA STEKLA OB
UDARJANJU NA TANKE PLO[^E
Xi Chen, Chengxin Du, Chun Cheng, Zhonghua Du, Nianqiao Pan
Nanjing University of Science and Technology, School of Mechanical Engineering, no. 200 Xiaolingwei Street, Xuanwu District,
Nanjing, 210094, China
chenxi@njust.edu.cn
Prejem rokopisa – received: 2018-04-27; sprejem za objavo – accepted for publication: 2018-06-14
doi:10.17222/mit.2018.089
The impact-induced chemical reaction behavior of ZrTiNiCuBe bulk metallic glass was investigated by ballistic impact
experiments. The Zr-based metallic glass fragments were launched at different initial velocities to normally impact 08
low-carbon steel plates with different thicknesses. The impact-induced deflagration was observed, and the shock wave
overpressure after the target and the damage patterns of the thin plates were measured and analyzed. As the results show, the
impact-induced chemical reaction is co-determined by the impact velocity and the thickness of the plate. The higher the impact
velocity and the thinner the plate, the higher the shock wave overpressure and energy release rate due to a more intense chemical
reaction. The damage pattern of ductile reaming was formed and the radial reaming effect is obvious due to the chemical energy
released during the penetration. Moreover, combining theoretical considerations with experimental results, the engineering
models of the shock wave pressure and the deflection were developed, the calculated results agree well with the experimental
data, which can provide a reliable basis for the evaluation of the impact response and energy release of the Zr-based metallic
glasses.
Keywords: Zr-based bulk metallic glass fragment, impact-induced chemical reaction, shock wave overpressure, energy release
characteristics
S pomo~jo balisti~nega udarnega eksperimenta so avtorji prispevka raziskovali udarno inducirano kemijsko reakcijo masivnega
kovinskega stekla iz zlitine na osnovi ZrTiNiCuBe. Avtorji raziskave so z drobci kovinskega stekla na osnovi Zr bombardirali
jeklene plo{~e razli~ne debeline z razli~no za~etno hitrostjo. Na tar~i so opazovali udarno inducirane eksplozije in nadtlak
udarnih valov. Izmerili in analizirali so vzorce nastalih po{kodb na tankih jeklenih plo{~ah. Rezultati analiz so pokazali, da je
obseg udarno inducirane kemi~ne reakcije odvisen od hitrosti udarca in debeline jeklene plo{~e. Vi{ja kot je hitrost udarca in
tanj{a kot je plo{~a, vi{ji je nadtlak udarnega vala in hitrost sprostitve energije zaradi bolj intenzivne kemi~ne reakcije. Nastali
vzorci po{kodb so imeli obliko duktilne vrtine in radialni vrtilni efekt so pripisali spro{~eni kemi~ni energiji med penetracijo
drobcev. Nadalje so avtorji kombinirali teoreti~na spoznanja z eksperimentalnimi rezultati in razvili in`enirske modele za tlak
udarnih valov in deformacije zaradi upogibanja. Izra~uni se dobro ujemajo z eksperimentalnimi podatki, kar predstavlja zanes-
ljivo osnovo za ovrednotenje udarnega odgovora in sprostitve energije kovinskih stekel na osnovi Zr.
Klju~ne besede: delci masivnega kovinskega stekla na osnovi Zr, udarno inducirana kemi~na reakcija, nadtlak udarnih valov,
zna~ilnosti spro{~anja energije
1 INTRODUCTION
Bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) have large geometric
dimensions, generally above a millimeter. In the solid
state, the atoms of metallic glass are arranged in a
topological disorder in three-dimensional space, but this
structure can remain relatively stable in a certain tempe-
rature range,
1
which is distinctly different from con-
ventional crystalline metals. Therefore, bulk metallic
glasses have superior physical and mechanical proper-
ties, such as high strength, high hardness, good fracture
toughness, wear resistance and corrosion resistance,
which are widely applied in aerospace, machinery, tele-
communications, automobile and military fields.
2,3
Owing to the high glass-forming ability and stability,
Zr-based bulk metallic glasses are a rapidly developing
group of bulk metallic glasses. At present, much pro-
gress has been achieved, mainly in their formulation and
fabrication,
4,5
deformation and fracture mechanisms,
6,7
shear bands and shear-banding temperature rises,
8,9
the
effects of the addition of other alloying elements on the
properties of Zr-based metallic glass,
10,11
mechanical
properties and-strain rate effects.
12–14
The energetic properties of Zr-based metallic glasses
have also been investigated. M. Q. Jiang et al.
15
reported
Zr
41.2
Ti
13.8
Cu
12.5
Ni
10.0
Be
22.5
bulk metallic glass after
ns-pulse laser loading experienced an explosion-type
vaporization, where some high-temperature matter was
ejected from the target surface in the form of sparks. H.
L. Ren et al.
16
studied the dynamic compression proper-
ties of various W/Zr alloys with SHPB experiments, the
results revealed the violent reaction of W and Zr when
Materiali in tehnologije / Materials and technology 52 (2018) 6, 737–743 737
UDK 620.1:544.431.6:666.166:669.017.15 ISSN 1580-2949
Original scientific article/Izvirni znanstveni ~lanek MTAEC9, 52(6)737(2018)

subjected to shock loading and produced a clear flame.
C. M. Huang et al.
17
investigated the quasi-static and
impact-initiated response of Zr
55
Ni
5
Al
10
Cu
30
alloy, it can
be initiated by a ballistic impact and then completely
burned in air. P. G. Luo et al.
18
studied the impact-
initiated reaction behavior of W/Zr-based metallic glass
composites by a quasi-sealed test chamber, the results
showed that the reaction of W/Zr energetic fragments is
related to the shock energy, which is codetermined by
the impact velocity, materials and thickness of the plate.
However, compared with the traditional energetic ma-
terials, such as thermite mixtures, metal polymers, inter-
metallic compounds, the reaction type and mechanism of
Zr-based metallic glasses are different. Zr-based metallic
glasses have a higher energy existing in metastable state,
large negative mixing enthalpy among their major
constituent elements, the atomic self-propagation occurs
at high temperature and high pressure, which can acti-
vate the chemical exothermic reaction.
19
Therefore,
during high-speed impact, Zr-based metallic glasses will
produce very complicated mechanical and chemical
coupling responses, especially the influence of the
chemical reaction on the impact behavior and the energy
release characteristics during impacting, which are
difficult to understand and less well known.
In this work, the ballistic impact experiments are
conducted to understand the influences of impact velo-
city and thickness of the thin plate on the impact-induced
chemical reaction behavior of the Zr-based metallic glass
fragments. Furthermore, through an analysis of the shock
wave pressure and the damage effect of the plate, the
energy-release characteristics of the Zr-based metallic
glass fragments during penetration are discussed.
2 EXPERIMENTAL PART
2.1 Preparation of Zr-based metallic glass fragments
The amorphous material used for the impact
experiments was made of high-purity metals (41.2 % Zr,
13.8 % Ti, 12.5 % Cu, 10.0 % Ni, and 22.5 % Be, w/%)
and was repeatedly melted by a tungsten arc furnace.
Using copper mold casting, the Zr-based metallic glass
specimens were prepared in the form of cylindrical
fragments with dimensions of 8 mm in diameter and
8 mm in height. The mass and density of the Zr-based
metallic glass fragment are approximately 2.3 g and
5.8gm
–3
, respectively. In order to launch the fragment
from a smooth bore artillery, 25 mm in diameter, the
structure of sub-caliber fragment projectile was de-
signed, as shown in Figure 1. The fragment was encap-
sulated in three aluminum sabots, 35CrMnSiA steel
spacer block and a nylon bottom pusher.
2.2 Experimental methods
A scheme of the experimental setup is shown in
Figure 2. The distance between the muzzle and the thin
plate was 10 m. The impact velocities of the fragments
were measured using two paper targets, at a distance of
6 m from the muzzle. The distance is enough to ensure
the sabots can be separated from the fragment by air
resistance during the flight. The initial velocity of the
fragment was controlled by adjusting the amount of
propellant. The target 08 low-carbon steel plates with
thicknesses of 2 mm, 3 mm and 4.5 mm were used in the
experiments. Their size was 300 mm × 300 mm. The
strain-type pressure sensor was used to measure the
pressure-time curve of the shock wave after the target, at
a distance of 600 mm from the thin plate. The process of
Zr-based metallic glass fragments impacting thin plates
was recorded by high-speed video camera.
3 RESULTS
Table 1 gives the experimental data of Zr-based
metallic glass fragments impacting steel plates with
different thicknesses at different initial velocities. When
Zr-based metallic glass fragments impact thin plates, the
shock wave is generated instantaneously, as a conse-
quence of the released energy of the chemical reaction,
X. CHEN et al.: IMPACT-INDUCED CHEMICAL REACTION BEHAVIOR OF ZrTiNiCuBe BULK METALLIC GLASS ...
738 Materiali in tehnologije / Materials and technology 52 (2018) 6, 737–743
Figure 2: Schematic diagram of the experiment layout.
Figure 1: Photograph of projectile components

initiated by the impact. Therefore, the sensor measured
the propagation and attenuation processes of the shock
wave in the air after the thin plates. According to the
initial peak of the measured pressure-time curve, the
overpressure value of the shock wave can be obtained.
As shown in Table 1, the overpressure values at the 2
nd
and 3
rd
shots are 2 and 2.5 times the overpressure value
in other cases, respectively, and the corresponding im-
pacting reaction is more intense, as shown in Figure 4.
When the thickness of the plates is the same, the
overpressure increases with an increasing of the impact
velocity, indicating that the released chemical energy
increases, the energy release rate is affected by the
impact velocity. Meanwhile, the pressure of the shock
wave is related to the thickness of plates. Comparing the
results of the 1
st
,3
rd
and 5
th
experiments, the overpressure
value of the shock wave is the largest in the case of the
3
rd
fragment, although its plate is the thinnest and the
impact velocity is the lowest.
Table 1: Experimental results
Shot#
Target
thickness
(mm)
Impact
velocity
(m s
–1
)
Pressure
peak
(MPa)
Reaming
radius
(mm)
Deflection
(mm)
1 3 1450 0.02 7–10 10–15
2 3 1560 0.04 10–15 15–20
3 2 1348 0.05 20–25 20–25
4 2 1218 0.024 8–12 10–15
5 4.5 1630 0.021 7–10 8–10
The damage caused by the Zr-based metallic glass
fragment impact is quantified using the parameters of
reaming radius and deflection. Figure 3 shows typical
photographs of front and back views of thin plates
impacted by fragments. When the thickness of the plate
is 2 mm and 3 mm, a damage pattern of ductile reaming
can be observed, as shown in Figure 3a to 3c. The front
of the thin plate is concave and the back is flanged,
without obvious shear failures. The back of the thin plate
has a distinct blue and ablation (Figure 3b), which
shows a chemical reaction is produced by Zr-based
metallic glass fragments impacting thin plates, that
releases a lot of heat and generates a large temperature
rise. Table 1 also shows that the diameter of the perfo-
rated hole is about 5 times the diameter of the fragment,
which is much larger than that penetrated by an inert
steel fragment. This further explains that the chemical
reaction can lead to a radial reaming effect while pene-
trating the thin plate. However, the shear plugging frac-
ture is typically formed in the impacted the plate with a
thickness of 4.5 mm, as shown in Figure 3d, a gray
rough cylindrical hole is observed. It is considered that
the increase of the thickness of the plate and no chemical
reaction of the Zr-based metallic glass fragments are
caused.
Typical high-speed video frames of Zr-based metallic
glass fragments impacting 2 mm, 3 mm and 4.5 mm steel
plates are shown in Figure 4. When the fragment im-
pacts the thin plate, the flame with a certain brightness
and duration appears in the plane of the plate. It is an
impact-induced deflagration phenomenon, which indi-
cates the Zr-based metallic glass fragment occurs in a
chemical reaction and releases energy. For the same
thickness of plates, the time and degree of the chemical
reaction are different at different impact velocities, as
shown in Figure 4c and 4d. The impact velocity increase
X. CHEN et al.: IMPACT-INDUCED CHEMICAL REACTION BEHAVIOR OF ZrTiNiCuBe BULK METALLIC GLASS ...
Materiali in tehnologije / Materials and technology 52 (2018) 6, 737–743 739
Figure 4: Typical high-speed video frames: a) 3-mm-thick plate
impacted at 1450 m s
–1
, b) 3-mm-thick plate impacted at 1560 m s
–1
,
c) 2-mm-thick plate impacted at 1348 m s
–1
, d) 2-mm-thick plate
impacted at 1218 m s
–1
, e) 4.5-mm-thick plate impacted at 1630 m s
–1
Figure 3: Typical photographs of perforated thin plates

results in a greater brightness and increased duration of
the flame. Furthermore, the attenuation effect of the
shock wave and the damage of the plate are different. In
the case of impacting a thinner plate at a lower velocity,
the brightness and duration of the flame are larger than
those with a thicker plate and a higher velocity, as shown
in Figure 4b and 4c. Therefore, the impact reaction of
Zr-based metallic glass fragments is closely related to
the impact velocity of the fragment and the thickness of
the thin plate. More intense impact behavior and energy
release were observed in the case of the thin plate.
4 DISCUSSION
Combining the high-speed video analysis, the impact
process can be divided into three main stages, as shown
in Figure 5. In the first stage (Figure 5a), the Zr-based
metallic glass fragment undergoes high-stain-rate plastic
deformation, and begins to ignite. Meanwhile, the thin
plate also undergoes plastic deformation in the impact
region of the fragment, and there is a gradient of tem-
perature and stress on the plate. The shock waves
produced by the impact propagate forward into the plate
and backward into the fragment. In the second stage
(Figure 5b), the Zr-based metallic glass fragment is
enhanced initiation during penetration, resulting in
partial deflagration, and a localized flame is formed in
the impact region. The chemical reaction of the Zr-based
metallic glass fragment is as Zr + O
2
 ZrO
2
,
19
the oxy-
gen is consumed in sn exothermal reaction with Zr. The
energy is released after impact due to the combustion of
Zr particles, which is responsible for the shock wave. In
this case, the deformation of the thin plate is more severe
due to the superposition of the shock wave, reflection
wave and stress wave, the thin plate is extruded into the
hole along the contact face of the fragment. In the re-
verse direction of the reflected wave, many tiny particles
escape from the boundary between the fragment and the
plate. In the third stage (Figure 5c), the initiated
Zr-based metallic glass fragment continues to deflagrate
and release the chemical energy. The debris is ejected
around the back of the plate. Under the combined effects
of kinetic and chemical energy, the diameter of the
perforated hole is much larger than the diameter of the
fragment.
It can be seen that it is a process of coupling ex-
plosion and impact, and is accompanied by the propa-
gation of shock waves, the tensile deformation of the
plate, the expansion of cracks, the fragment broken, and
the heat generation and energy release. The energy is
released instantaneously by the chemical reaction of the
Zr-based metallic glass fragment in the form of shock
waves, so the damage effects to the thin plate can be
divided into the superposition of the damage caused by
the shock wave produced by the impact effect and the
chemical reaction of the fragment. In engineering, the
damage effects can be characterized by the reaming
radius and the deflection, and thus the amount and
behavior of released energy of Zr-based metallic glass
fragment impacting the thin plate can be estimated.
4.1 Shock wave pressure
It is considered that the work done by the shock wave
and the damage caused by the fragment impact are all
converted into the plastic deformation energy of the thin
plate. For the thin plate (when R/h
t
 8), the total plastic
work is obtained by using Thomson plastic reaming
theory.
20
WR Rh
y
() . =05
2
 
t
(1)
where R is the reaming radius, and h
t
and  Y
are the
thickness and the yield stress of the thin plate, respect-
ively.
For the damage caused by the impact of the Zr-based
metallic glass fragment, it is necessary to consider the
influence of the inertial force and the frictional force that
the fragment suffers during the penetration of the thin
plate. The inertial force is caused by the acceleration of
the plate material after extrusion, the amount of work
done against the inertial force is equal to the increase in
the kinetic energy of the plate block chiseled-off the thin
plate. The mass of the plate block is written as
M = r
2
 t
h
t
, where  t
is the density of the plate material
and r is the radius of the penetration hole. It is clear that
the inertia force gradually increases as the reaming
radius increases. The inertia force in the reaming process
can be written as:
F
t
M
r
t
=
⎛ ⎝ ⎜ ⎞ ⎠ ⎟ d
d
d
d
(2)
So the work done to overcome the inertial forces can
be expressed as in reference:
21
WF rM
r
t
M
t
r
t
r
hr
r
t
RR
G
2
tt
2
2
d
d
d
d
d
d
d
d
d
d
== +
⎛ ⎝ ⎜ ⎞ ⎠ ⎟ =
∫∫
0
2
0
 
2
00
2 d
d
d
d
tt
2
rhr
r
t
r
RR
+
⎛ ⎝ ⎜ ⎞ ⎠ ⎟ +
∫∫
 
(3)
For another influencing factor, the friction resistance
is that the plate continuously cuts the adhesive force dur-
X. CHEN et al.: IMPACT-INDUCED CHEMICAL REACTION BEHAVIOR OF ZrTiNiCuBe BULK METALLIC GLASS ...
740 Materiali in tehnologije / Materials and technology 52 (2018) 6, 737–743
Figure 5: The process of Zr-based metallic glass fragment impacting
the thin plate: a) the first stage, b) the second stage and c) the third
stage

ing the reaming process of the fragment, and it is nume-
rically equal to the sliding yield shear stress of the plate.
Based on the Von-Mises yield criterion, the sliding yield
shear stress of the plate can be described as!= Y
/ 3.The
work done by the sliding yield shear stress can be des-
cribed by Equation (4), as found in reference no. 21:
WRx xR h
y
h
y M t
d
t
==
∫
2
33
0
2
 
 
 (4)
In addition, there is also a part of the energy loss in
the process of the fragment impacting the thin plate,
which includes the energy loss caused by elastoplastic
waves, the loss of heat during the fragment penetration,
the energy consumption of plastic deformation of the
plate, etc. To simplify the calculation, the energy loss
can be calculated through an empirical formula:
22
Wc e R
h
r
y Lf
t
d
=
⎛ ⎝ ⎜ ⎞ ⎠ ⎟ 2
3
 (5)
where c and d are empirical constants, e
f
is the fracture
strain of uniaxial tensile.
For the work done by the shock wave, the energy can
be described as
W
PI
C
=
0
00
2 (6)
where P
0
is the peak pressure of the shock wave, 0
and
C
0
are the initial density and sound speed of air in front
of the wave, respectively, I is specific impulse, it can be
expressed as I = PSt (,)
0
!
∫
dt, ! is positive time, P(S,t)is
the pressure function of shock wave, which is related to
the distance S and time t of the shock wave propagation.
Because the time is short, the change of shock wave
loading can be simplified as a rectangular stress pulse
PSt
Pt
t
(,) =
≤≤
⎧ ⎨ ⎩ 0
0
0
!
"!
(7)
So the total impulse can be approximated as
IS P S t R t P
t R
==
∫ ∫
2
0
0 0
2
0
  dd
'
' (8)
Where t’ is the positive time in the measured pres-
sure-time curve of the shock wave.
According to the law of the conservation of energy,
the work done by the shock wave caused by the chemical
reaction of the fragment and the energy absorbed by the
plate during the fragment impacting the plate are all
converted into the plastic deformation energy of the thin
plate. So the peak value of the shock wave pressure can
be calculated as
P
CRhWWW
Rt
y
0
00
2
2
20 5
=
−−− 
 
(. )
'
t GML
(9)
where P
0
is the reflected shock wave suffered by the plate.
When the incident shock wave is less than 0.8 MPa, the
overpressure value can be written asP/P
00
12
'
=⋅ , where-
as if the incident shock wave is between 0.8 Mpa and
5 Mpa, the overpressure value can be written as
P/P
00
18
'
=⋅ .
After the implosion, the shock wave pressure reaches
its maximum instantaneously. Since the plate is very thin
and the velocity of the fragment is very high, the
attenuation of the shock wave in the plate can be
ignored. It is considered that the attenuation of the shock
wave all occurs in the air medium, so the shock wave
pressure at a certain distance after the plate can be
expressed as
PP
L
C
m
=⋅−
⎛ ⎝ ⎜ ⎞ ⎠ ⎟ +
0
'
exp
 (10)
where L is the distance of the shock wave attenuation, is the attenuation coefficient of shock wave in the air
medium, and its value depends the propagation distance,
C, which is a constant.
4.2 Deflection model
During Zr-based metallic glass fragments impacting
the thin plate, the plastic deformation of the plate is
caused by the coupling effect of impact loading and
explosion loading, and the process is complicated. In
order to analyze the deflection of the plate, it is assumed
that the plate is an ideal elastic-plastic material, which
satisfies the Von-Mises yield criterion, and the plate is
completely fixed and restrained around its dimensions.
The center of the plate is taken as the coordinate origin,
the plate size is 2a×2 b × h
t
mm
3
, as shown in Figure 6.
When the shock wave generated after the implosion
of the fragment impacts on the plate, the deflection sur-
face function of the plastic deformation of the plate can
be expressed as
uu
x
a
y
b
vv
x
a
y
b
ww
x
a
y
=
=
=
0
0
0
2
2
2
sin cos
cos sin
cos cos
π π
π π
π π
2b
⎧ ⎨ ⎪ ⎪ ⎩ ⎪ ⎪ (11)
X. CHEN et al.: IMPACT-INDUCED CHEMICAL REACTION BEHAVIOR OF ZrTiNiCuBe BULK METALLIC GLASS ...
Materiali in tehnologije / Materials and technology 52 (2018) 6, 737–743 741
Figure 6: Schematic diagram of the structure of the constrained plate

where u, v and w are displacements in the x, y and z
directions, respectively. u
0
and v
0
are the maximum
displacements in the x and y directions, respectively, w
0
is the deflection of plate in the direction of z. a and b are
distances from the center to both edges of the plate.
http://fanyi.baidu.com/
Assuming that the shock wave pressure is evenly
distributed in the plane of the thin plate, the strain
components along the x and y directions of the plate
under plane stress can be written with Equation (12), as
given in reference no. 23:
  x
y
xy
u
x
w
x
v
y
w
y
y
u
y
=+
⎡ ⎣ ⎢ ⎤ ⎦ ⎥ =+
⎡ ⎣ ⎢ ⎤ ⎦ ⎥ =
∂
∂
∂
∂
∂
∂
∂
∂
∂
∂
1
2
1
2
2
2
++
⎡ ⎣ ⎢ ⎤ ⎦ ⎥ ⎡ ⎣ ⎢ ⎤ ⎦ ⎥ ⎧ ⎨ ⎪ ⎪ ⎪ ⎩ ⎪ ⎪ ⎪ ∂
∂
∂
∂
∂
∂
v
x
w
x
w
y
(12)
The low-carbon steel plate is an isotropic homoge-
neous material, which meets the Von-Mises criterion,
and the plastic deformation energy of the plate can also
be described as
W hsubt x y
xyy
y
xy
b
b
a
a
=+ +
⎡ ⎣ ⎢ ⎤ ⎦ ⎥ −
+
−
+
∫ ∫

  ()
3
dd (13)
Based on above equations, the deflection of the plate
can be deduced as
w
k
PI
C
WWW
h
0
0
00
0
2
=
+++
⎛ ⎝ ⎜ ⎞ ⎠ ⎟ 
  GML
t
(14)
where k is the correction coefficient, which is related to
the constraint condition around the thin plate.
Table 2: Parameters setting
Parameters Values
 Y (GPa) 0.4
R (mm) 15~20
 t
(g cm
–3
) 7.8
r (mm) 4
c 1.188
d 1.413
ef
1.30
 0 (g cm
–3
) 1.184 × 10
–3
C 0 (m s
–1
) 340
 (m
–1
) 1/0.082
C 0
a (mm) 150
b (mm) 150
k 0.92
Using Equations from (1) to (14) and the experi-
mental results given in Table 1, the values of the
variables and parameters used in the calculations are
shown in Table 2. Take the 2
nd
and 3
rd
experiments as
examples, the calculated results are shown in Table 3,
which is basically consistent with the experimental data,
and the deviation is in an acceptable range. It shows that
the shock wave pressure and deflection evaluation
engineering models are valid when Zr-based metallic
glass fragments impact the thin plate.
Table 3: Comparison of experimental data and calculated results
Shot#
Pressure peak (MPa) Deflection (mm)
Experi-
mental
data
Calcu-
lated
results
Devi-
ation
Experi-
mental
data
Calcu-
lated
results
Devi-
ation
2 0.04 0.035 12.5% 15–20 18 10%
3 0.05 0.046 8% 20–25 22 12%
5 CONCLUSIONS
Ballistic impact experiments have been performed to
investigate the energy-release behavior of Zr-based
metallic glass fragments with a density of 5.8 g·m
–3
, and
sizes of#8mm×8mm.
When impacting the thin plate of low-carbon steel at
enough velocity, the Zr-based metallic glass fragments
would initiate deflagration with a bright flame, due to
exothermic chemical reaction and released energy during
penetration.
The energy-release rate depends on the impact
velocity of the fragment and the thickness of the plate.
When a 3-mm-thick plate was hit at 1560 m s
–1
and a
2-mm-thick plate was hit at 1348 m s
–1
, the impact res-
ponse is stronger than the other cases. The higher the
impact velocity and the thinner the plate is, the more
intense is the chemical reaction.
The chemical energy-release behavior of the
Zr-based metallic glass fragments can be characterized
by the parameters obtained after impacting, such as
shock wave pressure, reaming radius, and deflection of
the thin plate. The penetration hole diameter is about 5
times the diameter of the fragment, there is an obvious
radial reaming effect, and the damage pattern of ductile
reaming was formed.
Based on the energy-conservation law, the engineer-
ing models of the shock wave pressure and the deflection
are developed. The calculated results agree well with the
experimental. data, which can provide a reliable basis for
the evaluation of the impact response and energy release
of Zr-based metallic glass materials.
Zr-based bulk metallic glasses are well known mater-
ials, however, the experimental data on the impact-based
reactivity of Zr-based metallic glass is limited, and the
corresponding reactivity mechanism is less well under-
stood. Consequently, a quantitative estimation of the
released chemical energy of Zr-based metallic glasses
deserves further investigations in the future.
X. CHEN et al.: IMPACT-INDUCED CHEMICAL REACTION BEHAVIOR OF ZrTiNiCuBe BULK METALLIC GLASS ...
742 Materiali in tehnologije / Materials and technology 52 (2018) 6, 737–743

Acknowledgment
The work was supported by National Natural Science
Foundation of China under Grant no. 11802141 and
11772160.
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