| Abstract Scope |
Hardware for the 21st century is becoming increasingly smaller and infinitely complex with mounting expectations for precision and performance. The rapidly expanding demand creates an opening for a disruptive material that meets these expectations. Despite its age, steel still dominates the engineering hardware market owing to its robust, predictable, and reliable properties, as well as its low cost. But its capacity to service 21st century’s hardware market has plateaued. Metallic glass is revered for its strength far outperforming engineering steel and its polymer-like elasticity. These appealing properties, however, are unusually sensitive to size, and as such, not readily transferable to real hardware. But another complementary attribute of metallic glass, its ability to be molded into precision miniaturized hardware, enables its strength and elasticity to be reliably exploited. In this presentation, the key attributes of metallic glass along with a roadmap to becoming a prevalent engineering material will be discussed. |