Impact resistance of single-layer metallic glass nanofilms to high-velocity micro-particle penetration

Macro- and microscale metallic glasses exhibit excellent protective capability under hypervelocity projectile impact conditions. However, it is formidably challenging to evaluate the ballistic performance of with characteristic sizes down nanoscale. Here, we adopt laser-induced micro-particle technique penetrate 60-nm-thick Ni60Ta40 glass nanofilms velocities in range 186–540 m/s. Based on analysis, superior resistance quantitatively characterized terms specific penetration energy. The post-mortem observations features reveal that shear-banding, cracking, bending cracking-induced petals are main energy dissipation modes beyond localized perforated hole, which strongly dependent velocities. This work for first time achieves high-strain-rate loading nanoscale glasses, extends their engineering applications as promising armor materials high-velocity protection.