Assessing the role of nonlinear elasticity in shaping the relaxation properties of noncrystalline metallic materials
The interrelation between the polarizability of structural defects (elastic dipoles) in noncrystalline materials and their fourth-order elastic modulus that determines the change in the value of the shear modulus of amorphous material during structural relaxation is established. The obtained results agree with computer simulations of amorphous copper and with shear-modulus relaxation experiments for Pd40Cu30Ni10P20 glass.