section_path: Types/Non-silicate glasses/Amorphous metals
section_name: Amorphous metals
paragraph_text: Amorphous metals
  
  In the past, small batches of amorphous metals with high surface area configurations (ribbons, wires, films, etc.) have been produced through the implementation of extremely rapid rates of cooling. Amorphous metal wires have been produced by sputtering molten metal onto a spinning metal disk.
  
  Several alloys have been produced in layers with thicknesses exceeding 1 millimetre. These are known as bulk metallic glasses (BMG). Liquidmetal Technologies sells several zirconium -based BMGs.
  
  Batches of amorphous steel have also been produced that demonstrate mechanical properties far exceeding those found in conventional steel alloys.
  
  Experimental evidence indicates that the system Al-Fe-Si may undergo a first-order transition to an amorphous form (dubbed "q-glass") on rapid cooling from the melt. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images indicate that q-glass nucleates from the melt as discrete particles with uniform spherical growth in all directions. While x-ray diffraction reveals the isotropic nature of q-glass, a nucleation barrier exists implying an interfacial discontinuity (or internal surface) between the glass and melt phases.