Abstract
The fracture surfaces of Fe-Cr-Si-B metallic glass wire samples that failed in either pure tension or through bending fatigue were examined by scanning electron microscopy. A classical vein pattern, previously observed for metallic glass ribbon samples that had failed at high stress concentrations, was found on the samples fractured in tension. The fatigue fracture surface morphologies were, however, similar to those observed in ceramics and silicate glasses fractured in bending or in tension. The morphologies for the latter can be ascribed to the changing stress intensity during the progression of the fatigue crack. The stress intensity at the crack branching is found to be of the same order of magnitude as the fracture toughness of typical ferrous metallic glass alloy measured in tension.