A resonant ultrasound spectroscopy determination of the elastic constants of bulk metallic glasses

It has been shown recently that the fragility of a glass-forming liquid is closely related to the elastic constants, and in particular to Poisson's ratio, of the corresponding glass phase.$^{1}$ Resonant ultrasound spectroscopy yields simultaneously the bulk and shear moduli of millimeter-sized samples, and thus provides a convenient and non-destructive way to determine Poisson's ratio of bulk metallic glasses. The elastic constants and Poisson's ratio of several bulk metallic glasses have been measured as a function of temperature between 5 and 400 K, and the obtained data will be compared to fragility measurements. [The support from NSF IGERT EEC-9984548 and DMR 0206625, and of DARPA SAM Program under ONR Grant N00014-01-1-0961 is acknowledged.] $^{1}$ Novikov V. N. and Sokolov A. P., \textit{Nature} \textbf{431}, 961-963 (2004)