Upadrasta Ramamurty, associate professor, department of materials engineering, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, talks to Down To Earth about metallic glasses

The possible applications:

Materials like steel are cheap and easy to manufacture. Hence the shift to metallic glass is yet to happen. Also, the metallic glass, available so far, was prone to fatigue. The current study takes care of this. Experiments show that it can be used in sporting goods, like golf heads, where performance is important. Continuously moving parts of cars, aeroplanes, read and write devices of computers and washing machines can also be made of metallic glass. It has applications in defence equipment as well. In India, we used the material to make armour piercing missiles. The missile, made of metallic glass, sharpened itself as it hit the armour, allowing for deeper penetration.

Focus of research in India:

Indian researchers are looking at mechanical behaviour of the material and are studying its deformation under different conditions. At IISc, we are working with the same alloys as the California researchers.