
Amorphous metal
Solid metallic material with disordered atomic-scale structure

Solid metallic material with disordered atomic-scale structure
An amorphous metal (also known as metallic glass, glassy metal, or shiny metal) is a solid metallic material, usually an alloy, with disordered atomic-scale structure. Most metals are crystalline in their solid state, which means they have a highly ordered arrangement of atoms. Amorphous metals are non-crystalline, and have a glass-like structure. But unlike common glasses, such as window glass, which are typically electrical insulators, amorphous metals have good electrical conductivity and can show metallic luster. Amorphous metals can be produced in several ways, including extremely rapid cooling, physical vapor deposition, solid-state reaction, ion irradiation, and mechanical alloying. Small batches of amorphous metals have been produced through a variety of quick-cooling methods, such as amorphous metal ribbons produced by sputtering molten metal onto a spinning metal disk (melt spinning). The rapid cooling (millions of degrees Celsius per second) comes too fast for crystals to form...
Read on Wikipedia · Image George Stobbart, Public domain
Open boosters, collect cards and trade them. Free to play.
Play for free