Phoenix (USA), Sep 6 (EFE).- A team of researchers from the Sandia National Laboratories, in New Mexico (USA), is very proud to design the “most wear-resistant metal in the world”, an alloy of platinum and gold based on the union of microstructures, according to what one of the innovators told Efe.
One hundred times more durable than steel, the new compound, not yet “baptized”, was made with 90% platinum and 10% gold. The innovation of this discovery focuses on the proportions, the calculation of atoms and the manufacturing process that scientists used to achieve high resistance.
The main researcher, the Uruguayan Nicolás Argibay, explained to Efe that the team of scientists spent a decade developing sophisticated models to predict the effects of metal friction.
“It was this work that guided us towards the new specific wear-resistant alloy, but we spent the last four years developing it. It is a demonstration of a new class of highly stable nanocrystalline metal alloys,” Argibay detailed.
Using an example to explain such an achievement, the researcher said that the alloy is so durable that, if car tires were made from it, a tire made from the material would wear off just one layer of atoms per skid mile.
“Our work shows that there are ways to tailor the microstructures of metals to impart remarkable wear and mechanical strength. Specifically, we call this ‘grain boundary engineering,’ which is the idea that it is possible to fundamentally alter the behavior of metals by introducing alloying constituents that segregate to grain boundaries,” he said.
Argibay mentioned that they are working on giving a name to the “strongest metal in the world”, but for now he indicated that this discovery could save the electronics industry more than 100 million dollars a year in materials alone, and make electronic products of all sizes and in many industries more profitable, durable and reliable.
“At a minimum, we expect these alloys to provide a substantial improvement over coatings and thin films already widely used in electronics, which essentially consist of nearly pure gold. Our alloy provides a much longer lifetime,” he said.
He also noted that the discovery has much broader potential uses: They are looking to transfer the platinum-gold alloy into a variety of commercial products in a short time.
“We hope that this work will lead to other alloys with similar properties for use in non-electrical applications, for example gears, bearings, car engines,” Argibay said.
According to his point of view, everything from aerospace systems and wind turbines to microelectronics for cell phones and radar systems could benefit from the new material, since the current reliability limitations of metallic microelectronic components were taken into account.
“This work has significant potential for engineering and economic impact. We hope it can lead to radical improvements in reliability and performance for a wide range of commercial devices, including the development of next-generation consumer electronics, wind turbines and spaceships, to name a few,” he projected.
The alloy has excellent mechanical and thermal stability and hardly changes its microstructure during very long periods of friction, which is why it has been classified as a “great discovery”.
Argibay was cautious in acknowledging scientific achievement.
“Anytime a discovery leads to an improvement in performance, you can probably call it an exceptional discovery; however, as researchers we are generally a cautious bunch, so I would recommend that we leave the judgment of whether this is a ‘great discovery’.” ‘ discovery for our colleagues and historians,” he asked.
Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-site operation operated by National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc., for the US Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration.
It has significant research and development responsibilities in nuclear deterrence, global security, defense, energy technologies, and economic competitiveness. Its main facilities are located in the US cities of Albuquerque (New Mexico) and Livermore (California).
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