A New Type of Metal Glass Processing Technology in U.S.

Not long ago, the California Institute of Technology developed a new type of metal glass processing technology. The metal glass produced by this technology has better strength than steel or titanium and has excellent flexibility.

It is understood that this new technology can heat metallic glass at a rate of 1 million degrees per second and achieve an easy shaping effect within a few milliseconds. Prior to this, the production process of metallic glass was to heat the metal alloy by reaching a melting point above the crystalline phase of the material, which usually required temperatures above 1000 degrees Celsius, and the molten metal was cast into a steel mold before being cooled and crystallized. However, the problem is that ordinary steel molds generally withstand temperatures of only about 600 degrees Celsius. Therefore, the mold must be frequently replaced, which increases the production cost, and since the fluidity of the liquid is extremely high at a temperature of 1000 degrees Celsius, the metal solution easily splashes, resulting in a flow mark defect of the component.

In view of the above defects, the researchers adopted a new “ohmic heating method”: heating the metal alloy by heating a short burst of pulsed current and transmitting more than 1000 joules of energy in about 100 milliseconds. The softened glass solution now takes only one millisecond to inject into the mold and cool, including the half-millisecond clock needed to reach the proper temperature. As long as it is not exposed outdoors, molded products will not be flawed.