Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Glass Tougher Than Steel

For all those people who value interesting stuffs, this is a must read post. A new type of glass from opaque titanium and zirconium, which is harder, tougher and weighs less than stainless steel has been invented by the scientists. The experts were very much happy with the result. This involved hard working scientists for years. They must be congratulated for the amount of work they put in over these years. They developed and tested the opaque glass hope it could one-day replace steel and aluminum in a variety of products, from golf clubs to airplanes.  The problem with most types of glass is that they have very bad fatigue resistance, meaning they break easily. They have introduced a second phase that is able to improve the fatigue resistance. Now, it is as good as other high-strength alloys like steel.

The crystalline structures stop any cracks that from moving more than two to five microns in length. The glass gives the material its strength, while the Christmas tree-structures give it toughness. Since the alloy is titanium and zirconium instead of steel, it weighs significantly less than steel. It also melts at much lower temperatures than steel, making it easier and faster to produce. An airplane could be made out of metallic glass. I hope that this post is very informative. 

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