"Metallic glass" sounds like an oxymoron, but it's Todd Hufnagel's goal. Hufnagel, a researcher at Johns Hopkins University, hopes to create a metallic glass in bulk form with superior strength, elasticity, and magnetic properties that will not crystallize at higher temperatures. A glass is any material that can be cooled from a liquid to a solid without crystallizing. Most metals crystallize as they cool, arranging their atoms into a highly regular spatial pattern called a lattice. If crystallization does not occur, and the atoms settle into a nearly random arrangement, the final form will be a metallic glass. Hufnagel and associates are researching the deformation of glass alloys at high rates; and the phase transformation or crystallization window between liquid and solid states, when the material is soft enough to be molded; as well as new combinations of alloys. "Metallic glass is highly elastic, bending 2 to 3% before it permanently changes shape," Hufnagel says. This makes it a useful material for springs. The first commercial application to date is golf club heads. Mountain bike manufacturers are calling about the possibility of using the material as a shock absorber. Because metallic glass would not shrink, yet is extremely flexible, it may be ideal for injection molding, Hufnagel adds. Other applications: engine parts, electric transformers, and military applications, such as armor-piercing projectiles. FAX: (410) 516-5251.
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At the Design News webinar on June 27, learn all about aluminum extrusion: designing the right shape so it costs the least, is simplest to manufacture, and best fits the application's structural requirements.
A new battery design, which replaces lithium with abundant and low-cost elemental sulfur, is still in its nascent stages but shows real promise for giving batteries more energy potential.
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From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 5
Early in my career, I worked as a draftsman and remember the days of drawing on vellum with numbered pencils and Mylar with plastic lead. This was a fun experience in the sense that I ...
I've been using workstations for more than 10 years and love finding ways to get more performance from my system. With demanding professional applications that require more power each ...
A lasting memory from my first job as an engineer in an auto assembly plant is standing on hard concrete at six in the morning, vending-machine coffee clutched in hand, listening to ...
For industrial control applications, or even a simple assembly line, that machine can go almost 24/7 without a break. But what happens when the task is a little more complex? That’s where the “smart” machine would come in. The smart machine is one that has some simple (or complex in some cases) processing capability to be able to adapt to changing conditions. Such machines are suited for a host of applications, including automotive, aerospace, defense, medical, computers and electronics, telecommunications, consumer goods, and so on. This radio show will show what’s possible with smart machines, and what tradeoffs need to be made to implement such a solution.
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