Metallic glasses that save power and boost sustainable development

Innovative amalgamation of advances in disciplines like nanotechnology, thin film engineering and crystallography, has led to the design and fabrication of functional materials such as shape memory alloys, conducting polymers and metallic glass. These new materials exhibit better mechanical strength than the conventional materials and save the time taken in executing a task. One of these materials – the metallic glass, saves the consumption of energy and thus arrests the resultant degradation of environment. It also bears the potential to boost our longevity and health. To develop these materials, alloy of specific metals was rapidly cooled from its melt, restricting the formation of grains. Resulting amorphous material integrates the toughness of metals and the strength of glass, making it stronger than most polymers, ceramics and metals. It exhibits fracture toughness, corrosion resistance, electrical resistivity and the ability to prevent the loss of stored magnetic energy. It also enhances the saving of idling electrical power, reducing in turn the footprint of greenhouse gases and thus augments the sustainability. It has found applications in making nano-moulds and offers super-toughness that is critical for the endurance of aerospace and consumer electronics. In this paper its development, fabrication and applications in modern global industrial arenas are discussed.