Artificial Intelligence Accelerates Discovery of Metallic Glass

Ryan Trojan

May 4, 2018

Engineering

"Combining artificial intelligence with experimentation sped up the discovery of metallic glass by 200 times. The new material's glassy nature makes it stronger, lighter and more corrosion-resistant than today's best steel."

If you combine two or three metals together, you will get an alloy that usually looks and acts like a metal, with its atoms organized in rigid geometric patterns. 

But sometimes, under perfect conditions, you get something entirely new: a futuristic alloy called metallic glass. The formless material's atoms are arranged every which way, much like the atoms of the glass in a window. Its glassy nature makes it stronger and lighter than today's best steel, and it stands up better to corrosion.



Northwestern University. "Artificial intelligence accelerates discovery of metallic glass: Machine learning algorithms pinpoint new materials 200 times faster than previously possible." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 13 April 2018.