Researchers create 'impossible' alloy

A team of international researchers say they’ve achieved a first: creating a new alloy between two elements that are normally incompatible with each other.

By subjecting cerium and aluminium to high pressure, the scientists were able to force the elements together into a “substitional alloy.” The elements aren’t usually compatible because of their differing atomic radii and electronegativity.

“This discovery opens up the possibility for finding new alloys with other ratios between cerium and aluminium, as well as alloys with cerium and other incompatible elements,” says Rajeev Ahuja of Uppsala University. “These new alloys may possess interesting and useful mechanical, electronic and magnetic properties.”

The research team, led by Ahuja and H.K. Mao of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, has published its findings in this week’s issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.