The first Bulk Metallic Glass that can be found in history was an alloy produced in Caltech by W. Klement (Jr.), Willens and Duwez in 1960. The high cooling speed of the process, however, led to the defect of a reduced range of forms in which BMGs could be produced and very limited thickness (the samples had thicknesses less than one hundred micrometers).
The research went on and in 1976 H. Liebermann and C. Graham developed a new method for making thin strips of amorphous metal with an alloy of iron, nickel, phosphorus and boron, whose name was Metglas.
At the beginning of the 1980s, glassy ingots with a diameter of 5 mm were produced from the alloy of 55% palladium, 22.5% lead and 22.5% antimony.
Between 1988 and 1992, other studies discovered multiple glass alloys with a glass transition and a supercooled liquid region. From these studies, loose glass alloys of La, Mg and Zr were made and these alloys showed plasticity even when their web thickness was increased from 20 μm to 50 μm. Plasticity was a clear difference compared to the amorphous metals of the past that became brittle at those thicknesses.
In the 90s of the last century new alloys were developed capable of forming glass at cooling rates equal to one kelvin per second. These "loose" amorphous alloys can be melted in parts of a thickness up to several centimeters (the maximum thickness can vary according to the alloy) maintaining an amorphous structure. The best alloys for the formation of glass are based on zirconium and palladium.
Many amorphous alloys are formed by exploiting a phenomenon called the "confusion" effect: after cooling at sufficiently high speeds, the atoms cannot coordinate in the crystalline state of equilibrium before their mobility is interrupted. In this way we intervene to block the random disordered state of the atoms, obtaining different properties.
In 1992, the amorphous commercial alloy, Vitreloy 1 was developed at Caltech, as part of NASA's Department of Energy and Research for new aerospace materials.
In 2018, a team from the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Northwestern University reported on the use of artificial intelligence to predict and evaluate samples of 20,000 different metallic glass alloys in a year. Their methods promise to accelerate research and time to market for new amorphous metal alloys.
Indie music conglomerate BMG announced a “new structure” for its staff across the globe today (Nov. 30), one which new CEO Thomas Coesfeld says is part of “a strategy for future growth.”
The plan, which BMG executives communicated to staff today, is part of a strategy that Coesfeld calls “local where necessary, global where possible,” and will move BMG’s catalog, sales and marketing teams in its recorded music division into global roles, joining its investments, technology, rights and royalties functions, which already have a global purview. In local markets, artist relations and marketing campaign managers will be able to tap into those global teams for analytics, content creation and media planning and buying, the company said.
“We are changing the way we do things,” Coesfeld said in a statement. “We will combine creative intuition with data-driven insights to deliver the best service for our clients and customers.”
Additional changes outlined by the company include a new global catalog team based in Los Angeles; a “recalibration” of its presence in continental Europe in line with the new local-global emphasis, which will involve focusing on “functional centers of excellence within Europe,” as well as aggregation of budgets and expertise; a further acceleration of its investments in tech and its myBMG system for artists; and the clarification of roles and structures that the company says will make it “more accountable to its artist and songwriter clients.”
“Fifteen years after the emergence of streaming, music is going through another tectonic change,” Coesfeld said in a statement. “It is vital we now reengineer our business to make the most of that opportunity. BMG has challenged the conventions of the music industry ever since we began, bringing music publishing and recordings under one roof with a distinctive service-orientated and transparent approach. Now new ways of creating and consuming music and looming changes in streaming economics are challenging us to do even better for our clients.”
The new structure is the latest move that Coesfeld has made since taking over from longtime CEO Hartwig Masuch in July. The biggest change involved ending its distribution agreement with the Warner Music Group’s ADA and bringing its digital distribution in-house, while striking a deal with the Universal Music Group for its physical distribution. Then, last month, BMG laid off around 40 employees, which involved discontinuing its international marketing department for recordings, its television, film and theatrical departments and the shuttering of its Modern Recordings label, and saw executives like executive vp of global repertoire Fred Casimir and senior vp of global repertoire Jason Hradil leave the company.
The news means that “a number of existing positions will end,” the company tells Billboard, while Los Angeles will now become the primary hub for catalog. The company says that the approach aligns recordings with its existing strategy in its publishing division.
“This is a strategy for future growth,” Coesfeld added. “But in a business in which change is a constant, we ourselves need to change to grow further. Standing still is not an option if we want to deliver for our artist and songwriter clients.”