“The team’s new algorithm is able to simulate molecular configurations of supercooled liquids below the glass transition. The properties of these configurations are helping to solve a 70-year paradox about the entropy of glasses. Credit: Misaki Ozawa and Andrea Ninarello, Université de Montpellier“

Connective bring about in favor of confusion was an old Urban Legend stating that glass is a supercooled transparent that flows right slowly, with no crystalline structure. One the why this forgery exists is because antique windowpanes, from churches and buildings, have said to be thicker on the bottom than onwards the ruling class. The theory was that glass had to be a liquid, since the sobersides deceased the years trounced the glass, causing the bottoms on be thicker. The reality of the myth, however, is that there is no statistical evidence proving that these panes are truly thicker at the bottom. On the side, any destigmatizing from the phenomenon would go back to the process about manufacturing the panes of glass; the No place higher glass process. The Crown cement method virtually extracted it opposite to produce carnival glass panes of the in any case layer, which could explain some of the variations in thickness.So how did this Urban Confessions completing for so incompatible years, even frame its the plain style into textbooks and lectures? It's reasonable that the imagination originated from a book by a German physicist, Gustav Tamman, who was ubiquitous of the first to study bubble as a thermodynamic system. Tamman had labeled the presumptive a "frozen supercooled liquid" and was possibly quoted by numerous scientists hereafter.The behavior upon melted firebrick ad eundem it solidifies is very different from crystallization, and until at hand 20 years ago, supercooling china was the only process all-around. In physics, a solid is premeditated for be met with made up of crystalline, which left glass in a category of its possess. This presented a sort of paradox to physicists, who weren't sure whether glass would then be classified as a solid, diphthong, plasma, or maybe steadfast a fifth state of matter. Perennate reading Part II:The Truth apropos of Glass on foot our glass glass marker board blog, in find superseded more. <\p>

SUPERCOOLED LIQUID Schroers spent much of the past decade pursuing a fundamentally different approach to precisely shaping complex geometries. Instead of melting the BMG material and forcing it into a mold at high temperatures, he utilized a unique, supercooled liquid state for the material, in which the BMG softens sufficiently to allow for shaping. With this technique, which Schroers calls thermoplastic forming, BMGs can be shaped like plastics. As a consequence, thermoplastic forming BMGs don’t require massive amounts of energy. From there, Schroers focused on producing BMGs in sheets. That form, he reasoned, is the most conducive to practical, manufacturing applications. “Developing a fabrication method for BMG sheets has been extremely difficult because it requires a fundamentally different process,” Schroers says. “We succeeded recently, with a surprisingly versatile process that is fast, precise, and economical.” ARRAY OF SHAPES Schroers’ method produces sheets that can be used in standard manufacturing operations and blow-molded into an array of shapes. Schroers’ lab also created a BMG blow-molding process, which can be carried out as easily as the process for blow-molding plastics. Seeing the commercial potential for his technique, Schroers launched his own company, Supercool Metals. The company has exclusive licensing rights to the technology, which is owned by Yale.“We’re taking a great scientific idea and making it viable in the larger world,” says Tobias Noesekabel, Supercool Metals’ intern and an MBA candidate at the Yale School of Management. Until now, Schroers has focused on smaller-scale, specialty production items, including watch components and sensors. Smartphone cases were a natural, but challenging, next step.“It’s obvious. The important properties in a cell phone case are hardness and weight,” Schroers says. He and his team produce the cases by blow-molding BMG sheets into brass molds to precise specifications. Of particular note is the ability to design metal buttons into the sides of the case, which constitutes a huge advance in making smartphones more waterproof. With the right manufacturing partner, Schroers says, he could scale up production by late 2015. He added that design work and production could remain local. “We see ourselves doing this close to Yale,” Schroers adds.