Scientists create strong nanostructures

PASADENA, Calif., Feb. 10 (UPI) -- California Institute of Technology scientists say they've developed strong nanostructures that may lead to creation of super-strong, yet light, materials.

Assistant Professor Julia Greer and postdoctoral student Dongchan Jang say they've found a way to make some brittle materials ductile -- yet stronger than ever -- simply by reducing their size.

"Historically, structural materials have always had to rely on their processing conditions, and thereby have been 'slaves' to their properties," Greer said. "For example, ceramics are very strong, which makes them great for structural applications. At the same time, these materials are very heavy, which is problematic for many applications, and they are extremely brittle, which is less than ideal for supporting heavy loads."

Metals and alloys, on the other hand, are ductile, and therefore unlikely to shatter, but lack the strength of ceramics, she said.

Greer and Jang said they've developed a process that can make zirconium-rich metallic glass pillars just 100 nanometers in diameter -- roughly 1/400th the width of a human hair, they said.

At that size, Greer said, "the metallic glasses become not only even stronger, but also ductile, which means they can be deformed to a certain elongation without breaking. Strength plus ductility, she said, represents "a very lucrative combination for structural applications."

The research appears in the early online edition of the journal Nature Materials.