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New horizons for glass formation and stability

Nature Materials volume 14, pages 542–546 (2015)Cite this article

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It has long been thought impossible for pure metals to form stable glasses. Recent work supports earlier evidence of glass formation in pure metals, shows the potential for devices based on rapid glass–crystal phase change, and highlights the lack of an adequate theory for fast crystal growth.

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Figure 1: Glassy spheres of pure iron.
Figure 2: Glass formation in nanobridges.
Figure 3: Potential energies of supercooled liquid, glassy and amorphous states.
Figure 4: The rates of crystal nucleation and growth in supercooled liquids.
Figure 5: Glass-forming ability in the Ni–Cr–Nb–P–B system shows cusp-like variation with composition.

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Acknowledgements

I am particularly grateful to W. L. Johnson, J. Orava and F. Spaepen for their inputs to my thinking, and also to C. A. Angell, M. Baricco, L. Battezzati, M. D. Ediger, S. R. Elliott, J. F. Löffler, M. Salinga, K. Samwer, G. Wilde and M. Zehetbauer for useful discussions. I acknowledge support for visiting positions at the University of Vienna and the University of Turin, during which this Commentary was developed.

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  1. A. Lindsay Greer is in the Department of Materials Science & Metallurgy, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0FS, UK, and at the WPI Advanced Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8577, Japan,

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Greer, A. New horizons for glass formation and stability. Nature Mater 14, 542–546 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat4292

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