2016年7月22日
在赖斯实验室发现的钛比钢的难度高四倍。
艾米利亚Morosan (left) and Eteri Svanidze (Photo by Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)
钛被用作人造髋关节和膝关节的关键材料，因为它耐用，无毒且耐磨损。但是，一个无法预测的发现莱斯大学物理学家表明，通过添加一些真实的黄金，可以进一步改善用于人造关节的黄金标准。
它比大多数钢质要大约3-4倍。它比纯钛要四倍，这是当前在大多数牙科植入物和替换关节中使用的东西。
莱斯大学教授Emilia Morosan
The new study in Science Advances that explains the properties of a 3-to-1 mixture of titanium and gold with a particular atomic structure that imparts hardness.
Morosan, a physicist who is a specialist in designing and synthesizing compounds with exotic magnetic and electronic properties, pointed out that new study is“对我来说，这是多种方式。这种化合物并不难，也不是一种新材料。”
It was previously discovered that in atomic structure of the material atoms are tightly packed in the form of a cubic crystalline structure which is usually associated with hardness. It is still uncertain as to whether Morosan and former graduate student Eteri Svanidze, the study’s lead co-author, were the ones to first develop a pure sample of the ultrahard “beta” form of the compound. However, due to their good fortune they and their co-authors were the first to document the material’s exceptional properties.
这始于我的核心研究。不久前，我们发表了一项关于钛金（钛金）的研究，这是一种1对1比的化合物，它是由非磁性元素制成的磁性材料。当我们制造新化合物时，我们要做的一件事是尝试将其磨成粉末。这有助于识别组成，纯度，晶体结构和其他结构特性。当我们试图磨碎钛金币时，我们做不到。”she recalled.“我什至买了一颗钻石（涂层）砂浆和杵，我们仍然无法磨。
艾米利亚Morosan,Professor, Rice University
Morosan和Svanidze决定进行多种测试以确定化合物的确切硬度，他们还计划确定黄金和钛的其他组成的硬度，该硬度被用作原始研究中的比较。多余的化合物之一是在高温下开发的三个钛和一份金的组合。
The team had not discovered at the time that making titanium-3-gold at comparatively high temperature has the capability to produce a pure form of crystalline of the beta version of the alloy which is a crystal structure that is four times harder than titanium. When exposed to lower temperatures, the atoms allow themselves to be arranged in another cubic structure which is the alpha form of titanium-3-gold. The alpha structure is equally hard when compared to regular titanium. Labs that measured the hardness of titanium-3-gold previously had measured samples that largely consisted of the alpha arrangement of atoms.
该小组确定了佛罗里达州立大学国家高磁场实验室以及德克萨斯A＆M大学的涡轮机械实验室，Morosan和Svanidze在国家高磁场实验室以及德克萨斯州A＆M大学的国家高磁场实验室的结合形式的硬度。
For example, with biomedical implants the two key measures are biocompatibility and wear resistance. Since gold and titanium are among the most biocompatible metals and are usually implemented in medical implants, the researchers believed that titanium-3-gold could be compared. In a point of fact, tests conducted by researchers at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston established that the new alloy was even better in terms of biocompatibility when compared to pure titanium. The result was similar even in wear resistance: Titanium-3-gold outmatched pure titanium.
Morosan said she did not plan on becoming a materials scientist or entirely change her lab’s focus, however she said her team is planning to conduct a series of tests to further investigate the crystal structure of beta titanium-3-gold and to observe if chemical dopants could be further improved in terms of hardness.
其他合着者包括Pulickel Ajayan，Sruthi Radhakrishnan和Chandra Sekhar Tiwary，所有的米饭；Tiglet Besara，Yan Xin，Ke Han和Theo Siegrist，佛罗里达州；德克萨斯州A＆M的Fevzi Ozaydin和Hong Liang；和MD Anderson的Senturai Mani。该研究得到了国家科学基金会，得克萨斯州A＆M的涡轮机械实验室和佛罗里达州立大学研究基金亚博老虎机网登录会的支持。