The most important characteristics of amorphous solids are that they: (1) do not have long-range, regular atomic order, (2) form irregular shapes, (3) soften over a range of temperatures depending on their composition and thermal history, (4) fracture in irregular, unpredictable patterns (e....
are normally combinations of metallic elements. They have large numbers of nonlocalized electrons; that is, these electrons are not bound to particular atoms. Many properties of metals are directly attributable to these electrons. Metals are extremely good conductors of electricity and heat and are ...
Amorphous solids have peculiar properties distinct from crystals. One of the most fundamental mysteries is the emergence of solidity in such nonequilibrium, disordered state without the protection by long-range translational order. A jammed system at zer
making the process sensitive to micro-mixing effects on scale up. Amorphous solids also have significantly lower thermodynamic stability than related crystalline material and may subsequently crystallize during formulation and storage. Because of the non-uniformity of the amorphous solid it can more easily...
(ii) whether the hypervalent local coordination is observed in a diversity of amorphous (chalcogenide) materials; (iii) what is the general rule, if any, governing the manifestation of hypervalent units in amorphous solids; and more importantly, (iv) how are they related to microscopic or ...
Crystalline solidshave sharp melting points, that is, they change into liquids at definite temperatures. Amorphous solids, on the other hand, are thought to be liquids at all temperatures. This is because, on being heated, they do not abruptly change into liquids, but instead soften and start...
Selected facets of magnetization behavior in site disordered rare earth-transition metal compounds are presented. Examples are given for the relation of weak exchange links to intrinsic hardness, for the similarity of magnetization behavior between amorphous and site disordered crystalline materials and for...
These materials are then called hydrogenated amorphous carbon. As with all amorfous solids, some short-range order can be observed. Amorphous carbon is often abbreviated to a-C for general amorphous carbon, a-C: H or HAC for hydrogenated amorphous carbon, or tta-C for tetrahedral amorphous ...
Molecular self-assembly into crystallised films or wires on surfaces produces a big family of motifs exhibiting unique optoelectronic properties. However, little attention has been paid to the fundamental mechanism of molecular crystallisation. Here we r
Amorphous solids have no faces and cannot be identified as either habits or polymorphs. Because the properties of amorphous solids are direction independent, these solids are called isotropic. Amorphous solids are characterized by a unique glass transition temperature, the temperature at which it ...