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New Research Shows Why Metal Alloys Degrade

Clipped to the Drawing Board by Ali Hamoud

Metal alloys are solids made from at least two different metallic elements. The elements are often mixed together as liquid, and when they "freeze," into solids, tiny grains of crystal form to create a polycrystalline material. A polycrystalline material is made of multiple crystals.

Within each of the grains of crystal, atoms are arranged in a periodic pattern. This pattern isn't perfect, though. For example, some of the places atoms should be are empty. These empty spaces are called vacancies. Atoms of each element in the alloy take advantage of these holes in the lattice. In a process called diffusion, atoms hop through the material, changing its structure.

"It's kind of like musical chairs," said Katsuyo Thornton, assistant professor in the U-M Department of Materials Science and Engineering. "Diffusion happens in nearly every material, and materials can degrade because diffusion causes certain changes in the structure of the material."

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Friday 26 September, 2008 06:12 PM

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