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ADVANCED MATERIALS & PROCESSES • MAY 2014 13
classrooms where expensive microscopes are in short supply. Now, he is creating
the 150X lens, which will be available this summer. He manufactures the lenses at
his lab and is working with an optical mold-making company to design more so-
phisticated optics for the new model. For more information: Thomas Larson,
360/250-6894, .
Characterizing bulk metallic glass at lightning speed
The Ronald E. McNair Center for Aerospace In-
novation and Research, at the University of
South Carolina, Columbia, will partner with
Fokker Aerostructures, a subsidiary of Dutch-
based Fokker Technologies, to support and inspire
next-generation aircraft technology development.
Project details will likely involve development of
advanced manufacturing technology for thermo-
plastic composites, use of digital image correlation
to better understand failure mechanisms, and cer-
tification strategies for new advanced composite
structures. McNair Center has 27 researchers
working in a wide range of aerospace-related re-
search fields.
Scientists at Yale University, New Haven, Conn., developed
a significantly faster way to identify and characterize complex
alloys known as bulk metallic glasses (BMGs). Using traditional
methods, it usually takes a full day to identify a single metal alloy
appropriate for making BMGs. The newmethod lets researchers
screen roughly 3000 alloys per day while identifying certain
properties, such as melting temperature and malleability.
BMGs are metal alloys typically composed of three or more
elements, for example, magnesium, copper, and yttrium. They
can be used for producing hard, durable, and seamless complex
shapes that no other metal processing method can achieve. Al-
ready used in watches, golf clubs, and other sporting goods,
BMGs also have likely applications in biomedical technology,
such as implants and stents, mobile phones, and other consumer
electronics, explains Jan Schroers, professor of mechanical engi-
neering and materials science. He says there are an estimated 20
million possible BMG alloys with about 120,000 metallic glasses
produced and characterized so far.
Using standardmethods, it would take approximately 4000 years
to process all possible combinations, Schroers calculates. The new
method could reduce the time to about four years. The technique
combines a process called parallel blow forming with combinatorial
sputtering. Blow forming generates bubble gum-like bubbles from
the alloys and indicates their pliability. Co-sputtering is used to fab-
ricate thousands of alloys simultaneously; alloy elements are mixed
at various controlled ratios, yielding thousands ofmillimeter size and
micron thick samples. Since 2010, his research teamhas tested about
50,000 alloys using the novel method and identified three specific
newBMGalloys. Formore information: Jan Schroers, 203/432-4346,
, .