"D Murphy" wrote in message
...
"Ed Huntress" wrote in
:

Good to see you around. I wish you had stopped into amc, there is a
thread about Liquidmetal (amorphous metal, metal glass) that I'm
betting you
might
know a little bit about.

Historical information only. I wrote some news items and I think a
feature about it...in 1980. g

It's neat stuff. Strong like bull. Ductile. Extremely low magnetic
hysteresis.

There are some new developments. It used to be that it was only practical
to manufacture in thin films or thin cross sections.

They also were making amorphous powder a few years ago, which was
consolidated into tool-steel blocks with HIP. The result was about halfway
between amorphous metal and conventional grain structure, with properties
also halfway between.

Now there are some new
alloys that can be molded like plastic or more accurately die cast at low
temp. It seems they can make a much larger part. One dimension has to stay
under 4 inches otherwise current capabilities can't control the cooling
properly and it turns into ordinary metal. It's claimed to be stronger and
lighter than tool steel.

That's really interesting. Researchers out west somewhere (Univ. of Utah?)
were working on achieving amorphous structures by ultra-precision alloying,
as of three years ago. Maybe this is where it's led.

Anyway, I wouldn't have had anything current to contribute to that
discussion. It sounds like an important subject that's worth looking into.

--
Ed Huntress