Metallic Glass hits the golf ball further and is likely to hit the global market just as hard!

"Throw a rock through a window made of silica glass, and the brittle, insulating oxide pane shatters. But whack a golf ball with a club made of metallic glass—a resilient conductor that looks like metal—and the glass not only stays intact but also may drive the ball farther than conventional clubs. In light of this contrast, the nature of glass seems anything but clear." ref., Phys.org.,newsletter, 0ct.2 014-10-18.

"A new study at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, published Sept. 24 in Nature Communications, has cracked one mystery of glass to shed light on the mechanism that triggers its deformation before shattering. The study improves understanding of glassy deformation and may accelerate broader application of metallic glass, a moldable, wear-resistant, magnetically exploitable material that is thrice as strong as the mightiest steel and ten times as springy.

Whereas metals are usually crystalline, metallic glasses are amorphous in atomic structure. Amorphous metals, studied since the 1950s, have a tendency to crystallise when heated, which makes them extremely brittle. Metallic glass alloys that did not crystallise so easily were discovered at Tohoku University and Caltech in 1991 and introduced commercially in golf clubs in 2001."

How materials deform is still high on the research agenda:

"the researchers calculated how atoms move on a personal computer. To describe deformation at the atomic level, they sampled a large number of paths along which a system can evolve. Analysing the ensuing ensemble, they arrived at the statistically likely scenario."

"We unravelled the mystery of this deformation mechanism in not only the metallic glass system but also the general amorphous system," Fan said. "It's a challenging randomness problem, but from this huge model statistical result, we find [these two systems] are surprisingly governed by the same mechanism."

"Next the researchers will explore what happens between deformation and shattering. "As a consequence of deformation, next comes the stage where 20 atoms are affected," Egami said. "Sometimes they start an avalanche. Then hundreds of atoms are involved. At the end, all atoms in the system are involved—billions of atoms. So shattering is first started by five and then snowballs into big action."

The researchers' improved fundamental understanding of metallic glasses creates new knowledge of a material class about which little is known. Such advances may contribute to the USA, federal government's Materials Genome Initiative, launched in 2011 to accelerate discovery, manufacture and deployment of advanced materials for the global marketplace.

Metallurgist and Golfers alike maybe pleased to read more on the topic of Metallic Glasses via links provided by Phys.org.,  and in particular,  Nature Communications. 

Read more at Phys.org 

Three cheers to the metallurgical & mat sci community. Golfers Enjoy.

Original Article Title:

Atomic trigger shatters mystery of how glass deforms:



'via Blog this'

NOBEL PRIZE AWARDS 2014-blog up dates and links

A longstanding, if not awaited, up-date of my pages was badly needed. This has been done. Unfortunately for me, I was unable to continue using Nobel.org, RSS Feed to capture the information as had been the case up to 2012. This appears to have been abandoned by Nobel.org. Much more effort was required by me, but is now complete. Readers will see the three prizes most relevant to Materials Scientists and Engineers namely: Physics, Chemistry and Economic Sciences. This is in no way an under estimation of two fundamental subjects of huge significance for all humanity and rightly given prominence by Albert Nobel's far-sighted Awards: Peace and Medicine.

Looking forward to reading the Prize Winners Lectures usually available towards the end of 2014.

Comments welcome.

Surprising behaviour of metallic nanoparticles, "They wobble jelly like!"

The following report was brought to my  notice  by The Institute of Physics,UK (IOP) outreach team "Physics in Society"at the IOP. ( Phys.org Newsletter, Oct. 12, 2014).  A short summary follows:

A surprising phenomenon has been found in metal nanoparticles: They appear, from the outside, to be liquid droplets, wobbling and readily changing shape, while their interiors retain a perfectly stable crystal configuration. 

The results, published in the journal Nature Materials, come from a combination of laboratory analysis and computer modeling, by an international team that included researchers in China, Japan, and Pittsburgh, as well as at MIT.

                                          Credit: Yan Liang

More info & images may be found in NATURE MATERIALS | LETTER "Liquid-like pseudoelasticity of sub-10-nm crystalline ​silver particles" ,

Jun Sun,

Longbing He,

Yu-Chieh Lo,

Tao Xu,

Hengchang Bi,

Litao Sun,

Ze Zhang,

Scott X. Mao

& Ju Li, 

Received 

26 November 2013 

Accepted 

04 September 2014 

Published online

12 October 2014.

The experiments were conducted at room temperature, with particles of pure silver less than 10 nanometers across—less than one-thousandth of the width of a human hair. But the results should apply to many different metals, says Li, senior author of the paper and the BEA Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering.

Silver has a relatively high melting point—962 degrees Celsius, or 1763 degrees Fahrenheit—so observation of any liquidlike behavior in its nanoparticles was "quite unexpected," Li says. Hints of the new phenomenon had been seen in earlier work with tin, which has a much lower melting point, he says.

The use of nanoparticles in applications ranging from electronics to pharmaceuticals is a lively area of research; generally, Li says, these researchers "want to form shapes, and they want these shapes to be stable, in many cases over a period of years." So the discovery of these deformations reveals a potentially serious barrier to many such applications: For example, if gold or silver nanoligaments are used in electronic circuits, these deformations could quickly cause electrical connections to fail.

The researchers' detailed imaging with a transmission electron microscope and atomistic modeling revealed that while the exterior of the metal nanoparticles appears to move like a liquid, only the outermost layers—one or two atoms thick—actually move at any given time. As these outer layers of atoms move across the surface and redeposit elsewhere, they give the impression of much greater movement—but inside each particle, the atoms stay perfectly lined up, like bricks in a wall.

"The interior is crystalline, so the only mobile atoms are the first one or two monolayers," Li says. "Everywhere except the first two layers is crystalline."

By contrast, if the droplets were to melt to a liquid state, the orderliness of the crystal structure would be eliminated entirely

Technically, the particles' deformation is pseudoelastic, meaning that the material returns to its original shape after the stresses are removed—like a squeezed rubber ball—as opposed to plasticity, as in a deformable lump of clay that retains a new shape.

The phenomenon of plasticity by interfacial diffusion was first proposed by Robert L. Coble, a professor of ceramic engineering at MIT, and is known as "Coble creep." "What we saw is aptly called Coble pseudoelasticity," Li says.

Now that the phenomenon has been understood, researchers working on nanocircuits or other nanodevices can quite easily compensate for it, Li says. If the nanoparticles are protected by even a vanishingly thin layer of oxide, the liquid-like behaviour is almost completely eliminated, making stable circuits possible.

REFS:

Unexpected finding shows nanoparticles keep their internal crystal structure while flexing like droplets

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2014-10-unexpected-nanoparticles-internal-crystal-flexing.html#jCp

Perhaps one of the most important discoveries in cement science this century.

Perhaps one of the most important discoveries in cement science this century, say researchers at Rice Univ Texas

“Green” concrete can lower concrete's CO2 atmospheric contribution

MORE?
1. “Green” concrete can lower concrete's CO2 atmospheric contribution

2. NATURE COMMUNICATIONS  : Combinatorial molecular optimization of cement hydrates (pdf)  Published 24 Sep 2014.

GE pins images to fire the imagination of metallurgists and materials scientists-jobs in innovations

Our version of "spring break" includes pushing super materials to the limit so we can learn how to m... - http://pinterest.com/pin/423338433696990354/?utm_source=android_share

The Basic law underpinning The Development of Advanced Materials and their Manufacturing Processes

When you're dealing with jet engines, increased efficiency means turning up the heat. - This fundamental law provides lots of challenges to the metallurgical and materials science commuities. Indeed working in these areas provided some of my greatest challenges particularily in superalloy process research and industrial development and solving these gave me immense satisfaction.

cf. Pinterest.com

REF: Optimizing deoxidation and desuIphurization during vacuum induction melting of alloy 718,

J. Alexander, Materials Science and Technology, Volume: 1 Issue: 2, Feb 1985, pp. 167 - 170.

(This paper is now available via internet,via Maney Press and freely available to members of IOM3, The Institute of Materials Minerals and Mining)

Other work : Technique to select recycled superalloy materials, involving removing rejection rate by good raw materials practice (and practised) to the satisfaction of steelworks management. "Trace Elements in Superalloys" J. Alexander, Proc The Metals Society,London1983.

MAJOR CITATIONS:

1988_THE MAGNESIUM PROBLEM IN SUPERALLOYS , (pdf)(cf. ref4.)
A. Mitchell, M. Hilbom, E. Samuelsson and A. Kanagawa 
Dept. of Metals & Materials Engineering,UBC,Vancouver, B.C., Canada, V6T lW5
Superalloys 1988, Edited by S. Reichman, D.N. Duhl, G. Maurer, S. Antolovich and C. Lund 

The Metallurgical Society, 1988 

1994_PROGRESS IN  UNDERSTANDING    CLEAN METAL   PRODUCTION   FOR IN718, 
"Desulphurisation   has been brought  to a fine  art by steelmakers, who  now 
routinely  produce very  large heats of low-cost  steels with  sulphur  contents at a few ppm"
A.   Mitchell, Dept. of  Metals and Materials Engineering UBC Vancouver BC Canada V6T 124 
Superalloys  718,625,706  andvarious    Derivatives Ed.  by  E.A. Loria 
The Minerals,  Metals  &Materials    Society,  1994    

Copper foam turns CO2 into useful chemicals -ref Materials Today

A catalyst made from a foamy form of copper has vastly different electrochemical properties from catalysts made with smooth copper in reactions involving carbon dioxide, a new study shows. The research, by scientists in Brown University’s Center for the Capture and Conversion of CO2, suggests that copper foams could provide a new way of converting excess CO2 into useful industrial chemicals. For example a photo of Cu foam from ERG Materials and Aerospace is given as follows:

Example of Copper Properties 


“Copper has been studied for a long time as an electrocatalyst for CO2 reduction, and it’s the only metal shown to be able to reduce CO2 to useful hydrocarbons,” said Tayhas Palmore, professor of engineering and senior author of the new research. “There was some indication that if you roughen the surface of planar copper, it would create more active sites for reactions with CO2.”




'As levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere continue to rise, researchers are looking for ways to make use of it. One approach is to capture CO2 emitted from power plants and other facilities and use it as a carbon source to make industrial chemicals, most of which are currently made from fossil fuels. The problem is that CO2 is extremely stable, and reducing it to a reactive and useful form isn’t easy.


Now,copper foam, which has been developed only in the last few years, provided the surface roughness (and increased surface area?-reaction:chemical rate controlled or mass transfer controlled?) for which Palmore and her colleagues were looking. The foams are made by depositing copper on a surface in the presence of hydrogen and a strong electric current. Hydrogen bubbles cause the copper to be deposited in an arrangement of sponge-like pores and channels of varying sizes.'


'After depositing copper foams on an electrode, the researchers set up experiments to see what kinds of products would be produced in an electrochemical reaction with CO2 in water.'

The experiments showed that the copper foam converted CO2 into formic acid — a compound often used as a feedstock for microbes that produce biofuels — at a much greater efficiency than planar copper. The reaction also produced small amounts of propylene, a useful hydrocarbon that’s never been reported before in reactions involving copper.

“The product distribution was unique and very different from what had been reported with planar electrodes, which was a surprise,” Palmore said. “We’ve identified another parameter to consider in the electroreduction of CO2. It’s not just the kind of metal that’s responsible for the direction this chemistry goes, but also the architecture of the catalyst.”

'Now that it’s clear that architecture matters,  It’s likely, Palmore says, that pores of different depths or diameters will produce different compounds from a CO2 feedstock. Ultimately, it might be possible to tune the copper foam toward a specific desired compound.'


Copper foam turns CO2 into useful chemicals - Materials Today

Entropy | Free Full-Text | Physical Properties of High Entropy Alloys

Introduction 

High entropy alloys (HEAs) are a novel class of metallic material with a distinct design strategy [1,2]. Different from conventional alloys that are typically designed based on one or two principal
elements, HEAs are composed of more than five principal elements. It has been reported that
HEAs possess many attractive properties, such as high hardness [3–7], outstanding wear resistance [8,9], good fatigue resistance characteristics [10], excellent high-temperature strength [11,12], good
thermal stability [13] and, in general, good oxidation [8] and corrosion resistance [14,15]. These
properties suggest great potential in a wide variety of applications. Thus, HEAs have received
significant attention in recent years. Up till now, more than 300 HEAs have been developed,
forming a new frontier of metallic materials. Most studies on HEAs are focused on the
relationships between phase, microstructure, and mechanical properties. Although less attention
was paid to the physical properties of HEAs, they are actually also quite encouraging. This paper
briefly reviews current understanding of the physical properties of HEAs, with emphasis on the
magnetic, electrical, and thermal properties

Examples of magnetic properties:

CLICK to VIEW FULL TABLES

Electrical & Thermal Conductivity

Full paper tables,graphs and references at the link below :

Entropy | Free Full-Text | Physical Properties of High Entropy Alloys

IT IS rocket science - air-breathing rocket engine for plane and space trave

According to Prof.Ken Naitoh of Waseda University   six major challenges lie in the range of scales from nano to tera: 
(I) modern fluid dynamics of turbulence; 
(II) non-equilibrium macroscopic quantum mechanics;
(III) onto-biology; 
(IV) bacteria application for environmental and medical problems; 
(V) hypersonic and automotive engines; and (VI) economic models.
(VI) economic models.
Number 5 in theis list is: Hypersonic and automotive engines. 

Six major challenges lie in the range of scales from nano to tera: (I) modern fluid dynamics of turbulence; (II) non-equilibrium macroscopic quantum mechanics; (III) onto-biology; (IV) bacteria application for environmental and medical problems; (V) hypersonic and automotive engines; and (VI) economic models.
Ultimate goals are the exploration of life in the cosmos using spacecraft with our proposed new aerospace engine and finding potential answers to the question "What is life?”

REF:
It is rocket science - air-breathing rocket engine for plane and space travel | IOM3: The Global Network for Materials, Minerals & Mining Professionals

Full Article on The 6 Major Challenges

Sabre rocket reaction engine l

Uncertainty Gives Scientists New Confidence In Search For Novel Materials - Science News - redOrbit

Uncertainty Gives Scientists New Confidence In Search For Novel Materials - Science News - redOrbit

DOE/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

SLAC, Stanford advance will benefit thousands of computational studies in wide range of fields

Scientists at Stanford University and the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have found a way to estimate uncertainties in computer calculations that are widely used to speed the search for new materials for industry, electronics, energy, drug design and a host of other applications. The technique, reported in the July 11 issue of Science, should quickly be adopted in studies that produce some 30,000 scientific papers per year.

“Over the past 10 years our ability to calculate the properties of materials and chemicals, such as reactivity and mechanical strength, has increased enormously. It’s totally exploded,” said Jens Nørskov, a professor at SLAC and Stanford and director of the SUNCAT Center for Interface Science and Catalysis, who led the research.

“As more and more researchers use computer simulations to predict which materials have the interesting properties we’re looking for – part of a process called ‘materials by design’ — knowing the probability for error in these calculations is essential,” he said. “It tells us exactly how much confidence we can put in our results.”

Nørskov and his colleagues have been at the forefront of developing this approach, using it to find better and cheaper catalysts to speed ammonia synthesis and generate hydrogen gas for fuel, among other things. But the technique they describe in the paper can be broadly applied to all kinds of scientific studies.

Speeding the Material Design Cycle

The set of calculations involved in this study is known as DFT, for Density Functional Theory. It predicts bond energies between atoms based on the principles of quantum mechanics. DFT calculations allow scientists to predict hundreds of chemical and materials properties, from the electronic structures of compounds to density, hardness, optical properties and reactivity.

Because researchers use approximations to simplify the calculations – otherwise they’d take too much computer time – each of these calculated material properties could be off by a fairly wide margin.

To estimate the size of those errors, the team applied a statistical method: They calculated each property thousands of times, each time tweaking one of the variables to produce slightly different results. That variation in results represents the possible range of error.

“Even with the estimated uncertainties included, when we compared the calculated properties of different materials we were able to see clear trends,” said Andrew J. Medford, a graduate student with SUNCAT and first author of the study. “We could predict, for instance, that ruthenium would be a better catalyst for synthesizing ammonia than cobalt or nickel, and say what the likelihood is of our prediction being right.”

An Essential New Tool for Thousands of Studies

DFT calculations are used in the materials genome initiative to search through millions of solids and compounds, and also widely used in drug design, said Kieron Burke, a professor of chemistry and physics at the University of California-Irvine who was not involved in the study.

“There were roughly 30,000 papers published last year using DFT,” he said. “I believe the technique they’ve developed will become absolutely necessary for these kinds of calculations in all fields in a very short period of time.”

Thomas Bligaard, a senior staff scientist in charge of theoretical method development at SUNCAT, said the team has a lot of work ahead in implementing these ideas, especially in calculations attempting to make predictions of new phenomena or new functional materials.

Source: DOE/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Topics: Technology Internet, Chemistry, Science, Physics, Solid, Ammonia, Drug design, Scientific method, Electron, Density functional theory, United States Department of Energy National Laboratories, Stanford University, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Read more at http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1113189480/uncertainty-gives-scientists-new-confidence-in-search-for-novel-materials/#IHiRGVcfslVz6bQh.99

Materials at High Temperatures_ publised by Maney Publications, TOP Publications, Most read,cited, Editors Selection and more, FREE for 1 month

A MUST FOR PRACTISING  METALLURGISTS WORKING IN THE FIELDS OF HIGH TEMPERTURE MATERIALS AND THEIR APPLICATIONS.

           

Materials at High Temperatures publishes articles relating to high temperature applications in the power generation, aerospace, chemical engineering, processing, and furnace industries.

The effects of high temperatures and extreme environments on the corrosion and oxidation, fatigue, creep, strength and wear behaviour of materials are covered. 

FREE FOR A MONTH (LINK) from MANEY ONLINE 

SEE ALSO THE WIDE SELECTION OF SIMILAR WORK & RELATED PAPERS AVAILABLE TO MEMBERS OF IOM3 (web Link)

                 

Energy materials to combat climate change'

Update on Energy Materials from The Royal Academy of Science (RSA)

The menu is as follows and all articles have been made available to all- Climate Change Oblige!?

So dig in and apply my friends.

Preface

• • Peter Bruce, 
  • Richard Catlow, 
  • and Peter Edwards

  Energy materials to combat climate change

  Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A. 2010 368 3225 doi:10.1098/rsta.2010.0105(published 21 June 2010)
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  • J.-M. Tarascon

  Key challenges in future Li-battery research

  Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A. 2010 368 3227-3241 doi:10.1098/rsta.2010.0112(published 21 June 2010)
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  • Chinmayee Subban, 
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  • Heather M. Edvenson, 
  • F. J. DiSalvo, 
  • Semeret Munie, 
  • and Janet Hunting

  Catalyst supports for polymer electrolyte fuel cells

  Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A. 2010 368 3243-3253 doi:10.1098/rsta.2010.0116(published 21 June 2010)
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  • M. Saiful Islam

  Recent atomistic modelling studies of energy materials: batteries included

  Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A. 2010 368 3255-3267 doi:10.1098/rsta.2010.0070(published 21 June 2010)
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  • William C. Chueh and
   
  • Sossina M. Haile

  A thermochemical study of ceria: exploiting an old material for new modes of energy conversion and CO₂ mitigation

  Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A. 2010 368 3269-3294 doi:10.1098/rsta.2010.0114(published 21 June 2010)
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  • A. M. Stoneham

  Nuclear fission: the interplay of science and technology

  Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A. 2010 368 3295-3313 doi:10.1098/rsta.2010.0061(published 21 June 2010)
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  • D. M. Duffy

  Fusion power: a challenge for materials science

  Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A. 2010 368 3315-3328 doi:10.1098/rsta.2010.0060(published 21 June 2010)
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  • Andreas Züttel, 
  • Arndt Remhof, 
  • Andreas Borgschulte, 
  • and Oliver Friedrichs

  Hydrogen: the future energy carrier

  Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A. 2010 368 3329-3342 doi:10.1098/rsta.2010.0113(published 21 June 2010)
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  • Z. Jiang, 
  • T. Xiao, 
  • V. L. Kuznetsov, 
  • and P. P. Edwards

  Turning carbon dioxide into fuel

  Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A. 2010 368 3343-3364 doi:10.1098/rsta.2010.0119(published 21 June 2010)
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  • Katsuhiko Hirose

  Materials towards carbon-free, emission-free and oil-free mobility: hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles—now and in the future

  Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A. 2010 368 3365-3377 doi:10.1098/rsta.2010.0115(published 21 June 2010)
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  • C. R. A. Catlow, 
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  • S. A. Shevlin, 
  • A. G. H. Smith, 
  • A. A. Sokol,
  • A. Walsh, 
  • D. J. Wilson, 
  • and S. M. Woodley

  Advances in computational studies of energy materials

  Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A. 2010 368 3379-3456 doi:10.1098/rsta.2010.0111(published 21 June 2010)
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  • Yury Gogotsi

  Charge storage mechanism in nanoporous carbons and its consequence for electrical double layer capacitors

  Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A. 2010 368 3457-3467 doi:10.1098/rsta.2010.0109(published 21 June 2010)
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  • Timothy J. Foxon

  Stimulating investment in energy materials and technologies to combat climate change: an overview of learning curve analysis and niche market support

  Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A. 2010 368 3469-3483 doi:10.1098/rsta.2010.0106(published 21 June 2010)
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