For decades, scientists have known that metal alloys contain subtle chemical patterns, but they were thought to be too insignificant to affect performance or were believed to disappear during manufacturing. Recent laboratory studies, however, have demonstrated that these patterns can significantly influence a metal’s properties, including its mechanical strength, durability, heat capacity, radiation tolerance, and more.
Now, researchers at MIT have discovered that these chemical patterns are also present in metals produced through conventional manufacturing methods. This unexpected finding has uncovered a new physical phenomenon that explains why the patterns persist.
In a paper published in Nature Communications, the researchers describe how they tracked the patterns and discovered the physics that explains them. The authors also developed a simple model to predict chemical patterns in metals, and they show how engineers could use the model to tune the effect of such patterns on metallic properties, for use in aerospace, semiconductors, nuclear reactors, and more.
“The conclusion is: You can never completely randomize the atoms in a metal. It doesn’t matter how you process it,” explains Rodrigo Freitas, the TDK Assistant Professor in the MIT Department of Materials Science and Engineering. “This is the first paper showing these non-equilibrium states that are retained in the metal. Right now, this chemical order is not something we’re controlling for or paying attention to when we manufacture metals.”
To read more, click here.