The Alloy Of The Future

Scientists have created an alloy that’s believed to be the most wear resistant metal in the world. If you owned a car with tyres made out of the stuff, you could skid around the equator 500 times before wearing it out. This advancement could save the electronics industry more than $100 million a year in materials alone. Pictured is Sandia National Laboratories researchers Michael Chandross, left, and Nic Argibay showing a computer simulation used to predict the unprecedented wear resistance of their platinum-gold alloy, and an environmental tribometer used to demonstrate it.