Normally, with metals, there is a trade-off between strength and electrical conductivity, but new materials may change that. A team of researchers managed to use defects to make silver much stronger than usual, while still maintaining its electrical conductivity. Not only that, but it pushes decades-old theoretical limits.
Defects are an inevitable part of metals, and over time they often cause problems such as brittleness or softening. Combining different metals into alloys can help overcome some of these problems, but often at the expense of electrical conductivity. Finding the best of both worlds is the goal of researchers.
The solution sounds simple enough: They mixed a tiny amount of copper with silver. The end result is 42 per cent stronger than the previous strongest silver, while still conducting electricity. But what's most impressive about the new alloy is that it exceeds the so-called "Hall-Page limit."
Attiecības, kas vairāk nekā 70 gadus ir bijušas materiālu zinātnes ieejas, liek domāt, ka, kad metāla graudi kļūst mazāki, pats materiāls kļūst stiprāks, bet ar robežu ., kad graudi kļūst pārāk mazi (daži nanometri plata), to robežas kļūst nestabilas un materiāli mīkstina {.}}}
Pētniekiem izdevās virzīt šo robežu, izveidojot metālu ar nosaukumu “Nanokristālisks nano-twin” {. Tā kā vara atomi ir nedaudz mazāki nekā sudraba atomi, viņi mēdz iekrist defektos pie graudu robežām . Tas novērš, ka tas vienam un tam pašam laika apstākļos, kas izraisa materiālu, kas nav paredzēts. Caur sudraba atomiem, tādējādi saglabājot to elektrisko vadītspēju .
Komanda saka, ka metodi var izmantot daudziem citiem metāliem, izņemot sudrabu . Tehnoloģiju galu galā varētu izmantot, lai padarītu efektīvākus saules paneļus, vieglāku gaisa kuģi vai drošākas atomelektrostacijas .
