On the nature of the Kaiser effect in metallic glasses

The Kaiser effect was observed in the measurement of acoustic emission (AE) during the course of uniaxial compression of the bulk samples of metallic glasses ${\rm Zr_{41}Ti_{14}Cu_{12.5}Ni_{10}Be_{22.5}}$ and ${\rm Zr_{52.5}Ti_{5}Cu_{17.9}Ni_{14.6}Al_{10}}$. The field-ion microscopy study of bulk ${\rm Zr_{41}Ti_{14}Cu_{12.5}Ni_{10}Be_{22.5}}$ shows that this glass has a polycluster structure. This fact allows one to reveal the nature of AE appearing during the course of deformation of metallic glasses and to interpret the observed Kaiser effect. The dislocations generated at the intercluster boundaries and moving through the glass bulk are the sources of AE.