Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 9, 2026

Methods of Ex Situ and In Situ Investigations of Structural Transformations: The Case of Crystallization of Metallic Glasses
Published on: June 7, 2018
Highly ordered noncrystalline metallic phase
Gabrielle G Long1, Karena W Chapman, Peter J Chupas
1X-Ray Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439, USA. gglong@aps.anl.gov
Abstract:
We report the characterization of a unique metallic glass that, during rapid cooling of an Al-Fe-Si melt, forms by nucleation, followed by growth normal to a moving interface between the solid and melt with partitioning of the chemical elements. We determine experimentally that this is not a polycrystalline composite with nanometer-sized grains, and conclude that this may be a new kind of structure: an atomically ordered, isotropic, noncrystalline solid, possessing no long-range translational symmetry.
Related Concept Videos
Metallic Solids
All metallic solids exhibit high thermal and electrical conductivity, metallic luster, and malleability. Many...
Bonding in Metals
Imperfections in Crystal Structure: Non-Stoichiometric Defects
Structures of Solids
Lattice Centering and Coordination Number
Types of Unit Cells
Imagine taking a large number of identical...
Crystal Field Theory - Octahedral Complexes
To explain the observed behavior of transition metal complexes (such as colors), a model involving electrostatic interactions between the electrons from the ligands and the electrons in the unhybridized d orbitals of the central metal atom has been developed. This electrostatic model is crystal field theory (CFT). It helps to understand, interpret, and predict the colors, magnetic behavior, and some structures of coordination compounds of transition metals.
CFT focuses on...

