• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
Monday, October 27, 2025
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Chemistry

Chains of atoms move at lightning speed inside metals

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
October 15, 2019
in Chemistry
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0
IMAGE
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

Superioniclike diffusion in an elemental crystal: Bcc titanium

IMAGE

Credit: Davide Sangiovanni


A phenomenon that has previously been seen when researchers simulate the properties of planet cores at extreme pressures has now also been observed in pure titanium at atmospheric pressure. Chains of atoms dash around at lightning speeds inside the solid material.

“The phenomenon we have discovered changes the way we think about mass transport in metals. It explains properties of metals that we have, until now, not been able to understand. It’s too early to say what this means in practical terms, but the more we know about how materials function in different conditions, the better possibilities we have to develop materials with new or improved properties”, says Davide Sangiovanni, researcher in the Division of Theoretical Physics at LIU and principal author of an article that has been published in Physical Review Letters.

In solid materials such as metals, the atoms are arranged in a well-organised crystal structure, at definite distances from each other. Diffusion typically occurs as isolated “rare” hops of atoms into vacancies (crystal defects). However, for some materials – such as fast ion conductors at elevated temperatures, or water (“superionic ice”) and iron at the extreme pressures found in planetary-cores – long chains of atoms/ions can suddenly start to move at surprisingly high speed as an entity. The process occurs on time scales of picoseconds or nanoseconds, and does not affect the crystal structure. The phenomenon is sometimes called “concerted diffusion”, “superionic diffusion” or “liquid-like diffusion”, and has been described in a number of theoretical papers.

The most exciting discovery that he has made, however, together with colleagues at Linköping University and universities in Germany and Russia, is that the same diffusion can take place in the cubic phase of pure titanium, at normal atmosphere pressure and at a temperature below the melting point.

Titanium, zirconium and hafnium, which are all in Group IVB of the periodic table, have several characteristic properties that researchers have not been able to explain – until now.

“In the article, we show that the anomalous properties of Group IVB metals in their cubic structure originate from concerted diffusion, in which the atomic chains wriggle through the solid crystal”, says Davide Sangiovanni.

###

The simulations have been carried out at the National Supercomputer Centre in Sweden, and the research has been financed by the Olle Engkvist Foundation, the Swedish Research Council (VR), the Swedish Government Strategic Research Area in Materials Science on Functional Materials at Linköping University, and the VINN Excellence Center Functional Nanoscale Materials (FunMat-2).

Superioniclike Diffusion in an Elemental Crystal: bcc Titanium, D. G. Sangiovanni, J. Klarbring, D Smirnova, N. V. Skripnyak, D. Gambino, M. Mrovec, S. I. Simak, and I. A. Abrikosov. Physical Review Letters 2019. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.123.105501

Contact: Davide Sangiovanni, [email protected]

Media Contact
Davide Sangiovanni
[email protected]

Original Source

https://liu.se/en/news-item/kedjor-av-atomer-far-runt-i-fasta-material

Related Journal Article

http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.123.105501

Tags: AstrophysicsAtomic/Molecular/Particle PhysicsChemistry/Physics/Materials SciencesMaterialsParticle Physics
Share15Tweet10Share3ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

blank

Bezos Earth Fund Awards $2M to UC Davis and American Heart Association to Pioneer AI-Designed Foods

October 24, 2025
Organocatalytic Intramolecular Macrocyclization of Quinone Methylidenes with Alcohols Achieves Enantio-, Atropo-, and Diastereoselectivity

Organocatalytic Intramolecular Macrocyclization of Quinone Methylidenes with Alcohols Achieves Enantio-, Atropo-, and Diastereoselectivity

October 24, 2025

Breakthrough Discovery of Elusive Solar Waves That May Energize the Sun’s Corona

October 24, 2025

From Wastewater to Fertile Ground: Chinese Researchers Achieve Dual Breakthroughs in Phosphorus Recycling

October 23, 2025
Please login to join discussion

POPULAR NEWS

  • Sperm MicroRNAs: Crucial Mediators of Paternal Exercise Capacity Transmission

    1285 shares
    Share 513 Tweet 321
  • Stinkbug Leg Organ Hosts Symbiotic Fungi That Protect Eggs from Parasitic Wasps

    310 shares
    Share 124 Tweet 78
  • ESMO 2025: mRNA COVID Vaccines Enhance Efficacy of Cancer Immunotherapy

    196 shares
    Share 78 Tweet 49
  • New Study Suggests ALS and MS May Stem from Common Environmental Factor

    134 shares
    Share 54 Tweet 34

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

Unlocking Henna’s Healing Power: A Breakthrough Chemical from Lawsonia inermis Fights Fibrosis

ACHO: Enhancing Treatment Adherence through Digital Care

Decline in Opioid Prescriptions for Pain Management Observed in Canada

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 67 other subscribers
  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.