  The influence of static stress and alternating loading direction on the
potential energy and mechanical properties of amorphous alloys is investigated
using molecular dynamics simulations. The model glass is represented via a
binary mixture which is first slowly annealed well below the glass transition
temperature and then subjected to elastostatic loading either along a single
direction or along two and three alternating directions. We find that at
sufficiently large values of the static stress, the binary glass becomes
rejuvenated via collective, irreversible rearrangements of atoms. Upon
including additional orientation of the static stress in the loading protocol,
the rejuvenation effect is amplified and the typical size of clusters of atoms
with large nonaffine displacements increases. As a result of prolonged
mechanical loading, the elastic modulus and the peak value of the stress
overshoot during startup continuous compression become significantly reduced,
especially for loading protocols with alternating stress orientation. These
findings are important for the design of novel processing methods to improve
mechanical properties of metallic glasses.
