The hottest metal glass prepared in China can be u

China's preparation of "metal glass" can be used for satellite solar cells

disk extension rod for satellite solar cells. The 20 cm long spiral disk extension rod can be up to 2 meters long after opening

after many years of research, Chinese scientists have made a series of significant progress in the preparation and mechanism research of metal glass in recent years due to the frequent use of jaws, Amorphous alloy materials for satellite solar cells and other extension mechanisms were successfully prepared

amorphous alloy, also known as metallic glass, because of its special atomic arrangement structure, which is different from crystal, shows special properties such as ultra-high specific strength, large elastic deformation ability and low thermal expansion coefficient. It has attracted the attention of scientists all over the world. It has become one of the most active research fields of materials science, and is pregnant with the third material industrial revolution after steel and plastics. Since the late 1980s, the United States, Japan and the European Union have increased their support for this field and set up relevant major research projects

since 2007, with the support of the Ministry of science and technology, the National Natural Science Foundation of China and other departments, scientists from Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the Institute of physics and metals of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing University of science and technology, Tsinghua University and other institutions have formed the research team of the national "973" plan "Research on some key basic problems of high-performance light-weight amorphous alloys", and launched scientific research in the field of high-performance amorphous alloys

Zhang Tao, a 47 year old professor at Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics and chief scientist of the "973" project, is one of the founders of bulk amorphous alloys. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, when studying in Japan, he explored and found bulk amorphous alloys such as rare earth based and zirconium based alloys, which became blocks, while nylon became the preferred bulk amorphous alloy for such materials in the automotive industry. The beginning of the research on amorphous alloys attracted the attention of the international material industry. He also made iron, nickel, copper and other alloys into high-strength metallic glass

"compared with the corresponding crystalline alloys, amorphous alloys have the characteristics of high strength, low melting point, good fluidity and so on. They can almost form like plastics, and can realize the precise preparation of components with complex shapes in a short process." Zhang Tao said

parts and components such as the extension mechanism of large solar array and the disk extension rod of space detector are key components of satellite, which require materials with high strength and high elasticity. Since China does not have such high-performance materials, these components often rely on imports. Zhang Tao's team successfully prepared amorphous alloy materials for the extension mechanism of satellite solar array, creating the possibility of application. In the laboratory, we saw this kind of disk extension rod for satellite solar cells made of titanium based metallic glass. The 20 cm long spiral disk extension rod can reach 2 meters long after opening

"this means that in the future, China's large solar array may be inserted with 'Chinese wings' made of metallic glass. Polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, polypropylene, polystyrene, thermoplastic polyester, polycarbonate, polyamide, cellulose acetate and polyacetal resin can be used for blow molding, but they are beneficial to the transformation and upgrading of enterprises and fly into space." Zhang Tao said happily

scientists also used metallic glass powder in lubrication and other fields, using its high hardness, high elasticity, low friction coefficient and other characteristics to improve the performance of lubricating oil

"the research of metallic glass is still in its infancy, and there are still a lot of basic and application problems to be studied." Zhang Tao said that the research group will carry out more applied research in aerospace and other fields while strengthening basic research