Amorphous Alloys

Amorphous alloys are metastable materials that lack the long range order of conventional crystalline metals. They are often produced by casting and rapid quenching techniques, when nucleation and growth of crystalline phases are suppressed during cooling of liquid alloys. In addition, amorphous alloys can be obtained by several other methods such as electro-deposition, physical and chemical vapor deposition, spray deposition, solid state reactions and mechanical milling. In spite of their non-crystalline structure, the attractive interactions and the size differences between atomic species constituting an amorphous alloy, lead to a short and medium-range order characterized by clusters of atoms which connect to fill the space nearly as densely as their crystalline counterparts. The amorphous structure leads to a combination of exceptional mechanical, electrochemical, tribological and magnetic properties which are often superior to those of their crystalline counterparts and therefore attractive for “high-end” applications.

Thus, amorphous alloys have emerged with the progress in Materials Science as an important new category of materials with unique properties, unusual structures and high potential for cutting edge applications in various industrial sectors.