Materials scientists can now reshape the internal structure of certain alloys at extremely small scales, allowing them to enhance properties such as strength, durability, and flexibility. One especially promising group of materials is known as intermetallics.
Intermetallics are solid materials made from two or more metallic elements arranged in a highly ordered crystal structure. Their unusual atomic organization can give them exceptional strength, high melting temperatures, and strong resistance to creep, which is the slow deformation of a material under prolonged heat and stress.
These qualities make intermetallics valuable for demanding technologies, including jet engines, gas turbines, energy storage systems, and automotive components. However, many of these materials have a major weakness. They tend to be extremely brittle.
Making a Strong but Brittle Material More Flexible
In research published in Science Advances, engineers at Purdue University demonstrated a new way to combine very high strength with substantial plasticity in cobalt aluminum (CoAl) intermetallics.
