© Douglas Hofmann/CaltechSamples of the new titanium-based metallic-glass composites show their toughness and ductility.
Scientists from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have created a range of structural metallic-glass composites, based in titanium, that are lighter and less expensive than any the group had previously created, while still maintaining their toughness and ductility--the ability to be deformed without breaking.
Earlier this year, the same Caltech group had published a paper in the journal
Nature, describing new strategies for creating the liquid-metal composites. This research resulted in "alloys with unrivaled strength and toughness," notes Douglas Hofmann, visiting scientist and lead author on the
PNAS paper that, along with the
Nature paper, describes work he did while a graduate student at Caltech. "They are among the toughest engineering materials that currently exist."