Metallic glass tops steel in strength and toughness

[The Straight Story]

Metallic glass tops steel in strength and toughness

Glass stronger and tougher than steel? A new type of damage-tolerant metallic glass, demonstrating a strength and toughness beyond that of any known material, has been developed and tested by a collaboration of researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab)and the California Institute of Technology. What's more, even better versions of this new glass may be on the way.

"These results mark the first use of a new strategy for metallic glass fabrication and we believe we can use it to make glass that will be even stronger and more tough," says Robert Ritchie, a materials scientist who led the Berkeley contribution to the research.

The new metallic glass is a microalloy featuring palladium, a metal with a high "bulk-to-shear" stiffness ratio that counteracts the intrinsic brittleness of glassy materials.

"Because of the high bulk-to-shear modulus ratio of palladium-containing material, the energy needed to form shear bands is much lower than the energy required to turn these shear bands into cracks," Ritchie says. "The result is that glass undergoes extensive plasticity in response to stress, allowing it to bend rather than crack."

http://www.labspaces.net/108509/Metallic_glass_tops_steel_in_strength_and_toughness

[n2doc]

1. Using Palladium, that will be pricy n/t

[The Straight Story]

2. Naw, just fire up the printing presses and make more cash :) (nt)

[safeinOhio]

4. 84% is found in

Russia and South Africa. The U.S. has 5%.

[End Of The Road]

3. Really COOL!

Thanks for posting something not related to AZ, too!

The first thing that came to my (shallow) mind when I read this was Star Trek IV movie where Scotty comes up with transparent aluminum.

There will be many practical applications for this, and here's to American ingenuity.

[madokie]

5. Cool

[Selatius]

6. Scottie invented metallic glass on a Mac in one of the Star Trek movies.

Funny how sometimes science and life imitate art.

[End Of The Road]

7. He did transparent aluminum - but yeah - same idea. nt

[HereSince1628]

8. I went to that memory, too!

I think his was called transparent aluminum or something similar.

[Motown_Johnny]

9. "strength and toughness beyond that of any known material"?

Carbon fibers included?????



Don't get me wrong, I am all for scientific breakthroughs. I just want the information to be accurate and I am not convinced that phrase is.