Researchers Find New Atomic Structures

Researchers Find New Atomic Structures

Drawing on powerful computational tools and a state-of-the-art scanning transmission electron microscope, a team of materials science and engineering researchers has discovered a new nanometer-scale atomic structure in solid metallic materials known as metallic glasses.

Published in the journal Physical Review Letters, the findings fill a gap in researchers’ understanding of this atomic structure. This understanding ultimately could help manufacturers fine-tune such properties of metallic glasses as ductility, the ability to change shape under force without breaking, and formability, the ability to form a glass without crystalizing.