Bizarre Properties of Glass Allow Creation of "Metallic Glass" 265
VindictivePantz writes to mention that scientists have discovered some bizarre properties of glass and are already applying that knowledge to create what is being called "metallic glass." "The breakthrough involved solving the decades-old problem of just what glass is. It has been known that that despite its solid appearance, glass and gels are actually in a 'jammed' state of matter — somewhere between liquid and solid — that moves very slowly. Like cars in a traffic jam, atoms in a glass are in something like suspended animation, unable to reach their destination because the route is blocked by their neighbors. So even though glass is a hard substance, it never quite becomes a proper solid, according to chemists and materials scientists."
Re:An illustration of thermodynamics (Score:3, Interesting)
The article has a serious flaw so in claiming that glass formation helps with fatigue; the main reason that you get metal fatigues is loss of ductility. Most glasses are brittle to begin with, and even if not, the same forces that allow crystal growth leading to embrittlement are active in the glass too.
Re:Aluminium glass (Score:5, Interesting)
The Air Force created a few years ago a translucent aluminum. They want to use it for cockpits and such because it's stronger than glass and doesn't scratch nearly as easily.
To me, that's the stuff that was predicted in Star Trek.
Its been around for a while (Score:3, Interesting)
http://www.google.com/patents?id=Kq4yAAAAEBAJ&dq=4256039 [google.com] Filing date: Jan 2, 1979
Its also been used in large transformers for years. The "technology advance" here worth noting is in being able to produce it while casting/moulding objects that are not thin and flat. It had been done as sheets for years, but casting a part that is something like 7 times the strength of titanium is much more useful. Unfortunately, the problem to solve is its brittleness. Things that shatter are much less useful.
BMG (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:terrible summary of not great science (Score:3, Interesting)
What's so hard to understand?
Quantum physics tells us that electrons prefer certain geometric arrangements about a nucleus.
Due to this, atoms prefer certain geometric arrangements that take advantage of this atomic-orbital energy function. If this allows for a repeating pattern, and the mechanical noise in the system is high enough to disrupt any non-optimal bonds, a repeating pattern will most likely form.
But if the gross arrangement of several atoms is stable to thermodynamic perturbation even though some bonds are non-optimally aligned, the whole structure will be maintained. Cooling a substance faster than it can rearrange itself into a lattice structure would be one way to leave it in this condition.
Meaning that amorphous glasses are simply substances that crystallize without forming a lattice geometry.
Re:Transparent Aluminum... (Score:3, Interesting)
Sure, if you don't mind paying thousands of dollars for your PDA, cellphone or Gameboy. Sapphire (not transparent aluminum, see above rant) is much more expensive to produce than ordinary (silica) glass. That is why it gets used in high end watches (glass is hard to scratch, but sapphire is even harder still). The other major use is in supermarket barcode scanners. In that application, glass would get scratched up way too quickly by cans, glass bottles, etc. So they use sapphire plates on top of glass because they require little to no maintenance.
Re:LIQUID ALUMINUM??????? (Score:3, Interesting)
Stuff that should never fail gracefully (Score:3, Interesting)
There's no heavy engineering here but one of the things I've always wondered about was the reason cast iron is still used for high quality reloading presses. Steel would be stronger and lighter. And when cast iron breaks, it just snaps. Then someone who thinks deeper than me pointed out that for this application (which requires parts be held in perfect alignment), catastrophic failure is preferable. If a press were to bend, even a little, it would appear to be working fine but produce poor-quality output. A press needs to either be perfectly aligned or obviously broken.
Good presses are heavy. Among the presses I own, a legendary early Hollywood is my favorite (Trust me, the two serious reloaders in the audience are now highly impressed) and weighs over 40 pounds. I wonder if it would be possible to make one of these [ebay.com] from a light, strong material that would never bend, only break, under excessive load?
That would be not just cool but very useful for portable applications.