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From the actual paper: """ For example, the absence of deformation pathways based on gliding dislocations leads to exceptional yield strength and wear resistance """

Yield strength means "how much strain a material can handle before it fractures or otherwise breaks"

In crystalline metals, a crack that forms anywhere can propagate through the lattice quickly and lead to bulk fracture (see the southwest engine failure recently). In an amorphous material, the deformation caused by a local crack can be "absorbed" by the surrounding atoms because they're able to reposition more easily.



How come this does not make regular glass strong?


It does, check out its properties compared to other materials. The process of turning silica into glass makes it much stronger than other materials made of silica.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strength_of_glass

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohs_scale_of_mineral_hardness

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultimate_tensile_strength


Material properties can be confusing.

Strength, hardness, Flexibility all mean different things when engineers talk about them.

Glass is a brittle material which means it will not deform (change dimensions i.e. stretch) when you apply an external force. The opposite of brittle is a ductile material, like steel, which yields and begins to deform once you apply a load above the material's yield threshold. Depending on the material's application ductility/brittleness can be a desired property.




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