Materials Development Division

In our laboratory, we are developing advanced structural/functional materials such as metallic glasses, which have remarkably different structure from those of ordinary metallic materials,　and nanocomposite/nanoporous materials, which show interconnected morphologies, through employing nonequilibrium and liquid metal dealloying processes. By freely designing these unique structures, various new functions can be added to these materials. Metallic glass is a glassy solid mainly prepared by rapidly quenching its liquid state. It shows “glass transition” phenomenon at far below the melting temperature. We focus on this peculiar phenomenon from the view point of fundamental and application researches. Based on the strategy of alloy design for metallic glass formation, we also developed new dealloying method, called “liquid metal dealloying”, for fabrication of nanocomposite/nanoporus materials. We are currently elucidating their basic properties and creating new functional materials.