Metallic Glass Created.

I can't possibly not mention this new type of material, metallic-glass, which has properties potentially better than steel:

this new type of damage-tolerant glass has actually demonstrated a durability greater than any known material.

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

An initially sharp impact does not develop into a fully opened crack. Those findings come from experiments conducted at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the California Institute of Technology.

Robert Richie is the materials scientist who led the Berkely contribution to the research. In a press release, he says the new glass is stronger than steel because "that glass undergoes extensive plasticity in response to stress, allowing it to bend rather than crack."

My bold. Palladium is restrictively expensive, and unfortunately rare. Show me glass-metal with titanium, in many ways a cousin of palladium, and you'll have a great product.


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