Editing Glass (section)

==== Amorphous metals ====
{{Main|Amorphous metal}}
[[File:Bulk Metallic Glass Sample.jpg|thumb|Samples of amorphous metal, with millimetre scale|alt=Refer to caption]]
In the past, small batches of [[amorphous metal]]s with high surface area configurations (ribbons, wires, films, etc.) have been produced through the implementation of extremely rapid rates of cooling. Amorphous metal wires have been produced by sputtering molten metal onto a spinning metal disk.<ref name=klement60>{{cite journal | last1=Klement | first1=W. Jr. |last2=Willens |first2=R.H. |last3=Duwez |first3=Pol |doi=10.1038/187869b0 |title=Non-crystalline Structure in Solidified Gold-Silicon Alloys |year=1960 |journal=Nature |volume=187 |issue=4740 |page=869| bibcode=1960Natur.187..869K |s2cid=4203025 }}</ref><ref name=lieb76>{{cite journal |last1=Liebermann |first1=H. |last2=Graham |first2=C. |doi=10.1109/TMAG.1976.1059201 |title=Production of Amorphous Alloy Ribbons and Effects of Apparatus Parameters on Ribbon Dimensions |journal=IEEE Transactions on Magnetics |year=1976 |volume=12 |issue=6 |page=921 |bibcode=1976ITM....12..921L}}</ref>

Several alloys have been produced in layers with thicknesses exceeding 1 millimetre. These are known as bulk metallic glasses (BMG). [[Liquidmetal|Liquidmetal Technologies]] sells several [[zirconium]]-based BMGs.

Batches of amorphous steel have also been produced that demonstrate mechanical properties far exceeding those found in conventional steel alloys.<ref name=ponn04>{{cite journal |last1=Ponnambalam |first1=V. |last2=Poon |first2=S. Joseph |last3=Shiflet |first3=Gary J. |title=Fe-based bulk metallic glasses with diameter thickness larger than one centimeter |journal=Journal of Materials Research |year=2004 |volume=19 |issue=5 |page=1320 |doi=10.1557/JMR.2004.0176 |bibcode=2004JMatR..19.1320P|s2cid=138846816 }}</ref>

Experimental evidence indicates that the system Al-Fe-Si may undergo a ''first-order transition'' to an amorphous form (dubbed "q-glass") on rapid cooling from the melt. [[Transmission electron microscopy]] (TEM) images indicate that q-glass nucleates from the melt as discrete particles with uniform spherical growth in all directions. While [[x-ray diffraction]] reveals the isotropic nature of q-glass, a [[nucleation]] barrier exists implying an interfacial discontinuity (or internal surface) between the glass and melt phases.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.metallurgy.nist.gov/techactv2004/TechnicalHighlights.html#glass|title=Metallurgy Division Publications|work=NIST Interagency Report 7127|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080916063500/http://www.metallurgy.nist.gov/techactv2004/TechnicalHighlights.html#glass|archive-date=16 September 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Mendelev |first1=M.I. |last2=Schmalian |first2=J. |last3=Wang |first3=C.Z. |last4=Morris |first4=J.R. |author5=K.M. Ho |doi=10.1103/PhysRevB.74.104206 |bibcode=2006PhRvB..74j4206M |title=Interface Mobility and the Liquid-Glass Transition in a One-Component System |year=2006 |journal=Physical Review B |volume=74 |issue=10|page=104206 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1233751 }}</ref>