An oxide glass that can plastically deform under unconfined loading conditions would be a big asset in potential applications. An international team of researchers found alumina glass films exhibit such an ability.
Read MoreBoth glass and ceramics can be quite brittle. Two recent studies look at increasing the ductility of each—one through the consolidation of glassy nanoparticles, and the other through flash sintering.
Read MoreIf we’re going to colonize Mars someday, we’ll need to build durable structures to shelter us from the elements. Materials scientists at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., have developed a concrete material using only what’s available on the red planet and without using water.
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