Forum 2024
The 2024 Armourers and Brasiers' Cambridge Forum will be held on Tuesday 18th June 2024. The afternoon programme includes talks, the award of the Armourers & Brasiers’ Materials Science Venture Prize, displays of current research, and the 25th Kelly Lecture.
Glasses, but not as you know them!
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AbstractPhysical vapour deposition (PVD) can produce glasses with remarkable properties, including high density and high kinetic stability. By some metrics, these are the most stable glasses on the planet. The properties of PVD glasses can be explained by the surface equilibration mechanism. Even though the substrate is held below the glass-transition temperature Tg, the glass surface is highly mobile and this allows incoming molecules to sample many packing arrangements before being buried by further deposition. In this process, the sample can equilibrate well below the conventional Tg. Initial work with organic glasses has now been extended to show aspects of ultrastability in metallic and chalcogenide glasses. The primary application of PVD glasses is organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays, which are used for almost every mobile phone. High-stability glasses make displays that last longer. During PVD, equilibration occurs in an anisotropic environment (the free surface) and this creates the opportunity to form anisotropic glasses. For OLEDs, controlling anisotropy leads to brighter displays. Co-deposition allows controlled preparation of domain structures and this may be important for organic photovoltaic devices. The surface equilibration mechanism allows an understanding of all these examples. |
Promoting Materials Science to Industry and Academia
The Armourers and Brasiers' Cambridge Forum is held annually at the Department of Materials Science & Metallurgy in Cambridge with the aim of raising the profile of materials science in the UK academic and industrial communities, while being international in scope. The Forum attracts high-level involvement from industry, research councils and other influential bodies. It incorporates the Kelly Lecture and the Gordon Seminars, inaugurated in 1999 to mark the opening of the Gordon Laboratory in the Department. It is generously supported by the Armourers and Brasiers' Livery Company and a number of other sponsors.