Secret of Metallic Glass is Cracked
PhysOrg.com
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Using state-of-the-art lab techniques and powerful computer simulations, Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered how atoms pack themselves in unusual materials known as metallic glasses.
Their findings should help scientists better understand the atomic scale structure of this material, which is used to make sports equipment, cell phone cases, armor-piercing projectiles and other products. The discovery, marking the culmination of a two-year research project, was reported in the Jan. 26 issue of the journal Nature.
The work represents a major step forward because the tools used to study traditional crystalline metals do not work well with metallic glass, and a better understanding of the material has been sorely needed. In conventional metals, atoms crystallize into uniform three-dimensional patterns known as lattices.
But about a half-century ago, materials scientists learned how to make glassy metals by cooling a metallic liquid so quickly that the internal atomic configurations froze before the atoms had a chance to arrange themselves into a lattice pattern. This amorphous atomic structure is commonly found in other materials such as window glass, but it rarely occurs in metals.
Jan 26, 2006
PhysOrg.com
_________
Using state-of-the-art lab techniques and powerful computer simulations, Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered how atoms pack themselves in unusual materials known as metallic glasses.
Their findings should help scientists better understand the atomic scale structure of this material, which is used to make sports equipment, cell phone cases, armor-piercing projectiles and other products. The discovery, marking the culmination of a two-year research project, was reported in the Jan. 26 issue of the journal Nature.
The work represents a major step forward because the tools used to study traditional crystalline metals do not work well with metallic glass, and a better understanding of the material has been sorely needed. In conventional metals, atoms crystallize into uniform three-dimensional patterns known as lattices.
But about a half-century ago, materials scientists learned how to make glassy metals by cooling a metallic liquid so quickly that the internal atomic configurations froze before the atoms had a chance to arrange themselves into a lattice pattern. This amorphous atomic structure is commonly found in other materials such as window glass, but it rarely occurs in metals.
Jan 26, 2006
