The thermophysical properties and deformation behavior of a systematic series of model metallic glasses was investigated. For Zr-based metallic glasses with all metallic constituents, the activation energy of glass transition was determined to be in the range of 74-173 kJ/mol while the activation energy of crystallization was in the range of 155-170 kJ/mol. The reduced glass transition temperature was roughly the same for all the alloys (~ 0.6) while the supercooled liquid region was in the range of 100-150 K, indicating varying degree of thermal stability. In contrast, the metal-metalloid systems (such as Ni-Pd-P-B) showed relatively higher activation energy of crystallization from short range ordering in the form of triagonal prism clusters with strongly bonded metal-metalloid atomic pairs. Deformation mechanisms of all the alloys were investigated by uniaxial compression tests, strain rate sensitivity (SRS) measurements, and detailed characterization of the fracture surface morphology. For the metal-metal systems, plasticity was found to be directly correlated with shear transformation zone (STZ) size, with systems of larger STZ size showing better plasticity. In metal-metalloid amorphous alloys, plasticity was limited by the distribution of STZ units, with lower activation energy leading to more STZ units and better plasticity. The alloys with relatively higher plasticity showed multiple shear bands while the brittle alloys showed a single dominant shear band and vein-pattern on the fracture surface indicating sudden catastrophic failure. The effect of chemistry change on thermodynamics, kinetics, and deformation behavior was investigated for the model binary NixP100-x and CoxP100-x metallic glasses. Alloys with higher phosphorous content showed greater activation energy of crystallization, indicating better thermal stability. In addition, metallic glasses with higher % P showed greater hardness, modulus, and serrated flow behavior during indentation that is characteristic of inhomogeneous deformation.

In this thesis we aim to study the structural evolution under x-ray illumination in a selection of oxide glass formers as a function of the radiation dose. The irradiated specimens are investigated by means of XPCS experiments and also by means of “exsitu” experiments as luminescence, Raman and x-ray diffraction that have been carried out after the irradiation protocol. As far as we know, the “ex-situ” investigations here reported are the first in the field and have allowed us to evaluate the nature of the point defects, the structural modifications and the nature of the vibrational excitations of the samples exposed to the x-ray dose. The work carried out in the thesis has helped us to elucidate the microscopic evolution of the glass structure under irradiation and to verify whether the transformation can be envisioned as an evolution in the energy landscape, either as an “annealing” or as a “rejuvenation” process.

Lack of crystalline order and microstructural features such as grain/grain-boundary in metallic glasses results in a suite of remarkable attributes including very high strength, close to theoretical elasticity, high corrosion and wear resistance, and soft magnetic properties. By altering the morphology and tuning of composition, MGs may be transformed into high-performance catalytic materials. In this study, the catalytic properties of metallic glass powders were demonstrated in dissociating toxic organic chemicals such as AZO dye. BMG powders showed superior performance compared to state of the art crystalline iron because of their high catalytic activity, durability, and reusability. To enhance the catalytic properties, high energy mechanical milling was performed to increase the surface area and defect density. Iron-based bulk metallic glass (BMG) of composition Fe48Cr15Mo14Y2C15B6 was used because of its low cost and ability to make large surface area by high energy ball milling. AZO dye was degraded in less than 20 minutes for the 9 hours milled Fe-BMG. However, subsequent increase in ball milling time resulted in devitrification and loss of catalytic activity as measured using UV-Visible spectroscopy. Aluminum-based bulk metallic glass (Al-BMG) powder of composition Al82Fe3Ni8Y7 was synthesized by arc-melting the constituent elements followed by gas-atomization. The particle size and morphology were similar to Fe-BMG with a fully amorphous structure. A small percentage of transition metal constituents (Fe and Ni) in a mostly aluminum alloy showed high catalytic activity, with no toxic by-products and no change in surface characteristics. Al-alloy particles, being light-weight, were easily dispersed in aqueous medium and accelerated the redox reactions. The mechanism of dye dissociation was studied using Raman and Infrared (IR) spectroscopy. Breaking of -C-H- and - C-N- bonds of AZO dye was found to be the primary mechanism. Mechanical behavior of individual BMG particles was evaluated by in situ pico-indentation in a scanning electron microscope (SEM) to understand the fracture mechanisms. Catastrophic shear banding was found to be the primary fracture mode, which supported the observation of flake formation during high energy ball milling.

Les besoins de nouvelles technologies en télécommunications motivent la recherche de matériaux participant à la formation de composants optiques. Dans ce but, l’étude de la photostructuration de nouvelles formulations de verres possédant des propriétés optiques ajustables a été réalisée. Deux cas ont été étudiés : la modification du réseau vitreux ou l’introduction d’ions photosensibles au sein du verre. - Des verres oxysulfures de germanium et de gallium ont été élaborés sous forme de massif, et sous forme de couche mince. Leurs propriétés optiques sont intermédiaires à celles des composés purs Ge(Ga)O2 et Ge(Ga)S2. La photosensibilité des verres diminue avec l’augmentation de la valeur du rapport O/S des matériaux. - L’ajout d’ions argent au sein de verres phosphates de zinc a été étudié. Plusieurs techniques de réduction de l’ion argent dans ces verres ont été explorées comme l’irradiation par faisceau électronique, par rayonnement gamma ou par Laser. Dans le cas particulier d’une irradiation par laser femtoseconde de cadence de 8 Mhz et émettant à 1030 nm, il a été possible de créer des structures optiques de 85 nm environ, donc bien inférieur à la longueur d’onde utilisée pour l’écriture. Ces premiers résultats offrent une nouvelle alternative à la création dans le futur de structures photoniques composites. / The increment of the need of new technologies in photonics is a perfect vector for the research and development of new components for integrated optics. The photostructuration of new glassy materials with novel optical properties is proposed. Two approaches have been conducted : Modification of the glass matrix or addition of photosensitive ions. - Germanium and gallium oxysulfide glasses have been elaborated into bulk glasses as well as amorphous thin films. They exhibit optical properties in between their respective pure sulphide or oxide counterpart in the Ge(Ga)O2 - Ge(Ga)S2 system. The photosensitivity of the oxysulfide glasses lowers as the oxygen/sulphur ratio of the glasses is increased. - The photosensitivity of silver ions within silver phosphate glasses was studied as well. Several techniques were used in order to trigger the reduction of silver such as gamma ray or electron beam irradiation, or laser beam exposure. Under a femtosecond laser with a repetition rate of 8 Mhz, emitting at 1030 nm, it was possible to create optical objects, below the diffraction limit, of about 85 nm. Those results are a new alternative for the creation of photonic composite structures.

This thesis concerns the development of a new series of Sr-doped phosphate-based glasses for biomedical applications. Such glasses in powder form are envisaged to have applications in novel composite restorations where the following is achievable: dentin cell-mediated bioremineralization, dental pulp regeneration and as carrier for therapeutics or antibacterial ions.The initial aim was to produce soluble porous phosphate glasses using the sol-gel method (phosphate-alkoxide based sol-gel process). Knowing the effect that the variation of Ca content has on the dissolution properties of the glass, a series of glasses where Ca was progressively increased at the expense of Na was produced. The structure of the prepared samples was probed by XRD, XRF and FTIR to confirm the successful synthesis of the target phosphate-based glass compositions. After that a promising methodology was established, attempts were made to replace Ca with Sr. Different Sr sources were used without success due to the difficulty to fully dissolve those precursors in the sol-gel mixture. Subsequently, the issue of the toxicity of some precursors and solvents used in the sol-gel procedure was recognised. To overcome this obstacle, efforts were made to replace the toxic precursor chemicals with safer ones. Nevertheless, due to the low solubility of some new precursors and the low reactivity of others, the sol-gel process did not proceed in a predictable and reproducible fashion. At this stage, the sol-gel route was put aside, and two alternative soft and water-based chemical approaches were experimented: the precipitation method and the coacervation process. The first one was found to be unsuitable for our needs for two main reasons: 1) the presence of Na in the composition generated a crystalline material (instead of a glassy amorphous one); 2) the Ca/P ratio of our composition fell in the range of crystalline phase by using this method. In addition, the yield was really low. The second method (coacervation process) was a complete success. The glassy nature of the materials obtained was proved by XRD and XRF and the surface features were tested by BET and SEM. The process was retained for a while as the preferred synthesis route and both the scale-up effect and the possibility to add Sr were analysed. The production scale of the material was increased by 5 times and different Sr sources were tested to find the best one. XRD and XRF analysis proved both the success of the scale-up and the incorporation of the Sr in glass composition / This thesis concerns the development of a new series of Sr-doped phosphate-based glasses for biomedical applications. Such glasses in powder form are envisaged to have applications in novel composite restorations where the following is achievable: dentin cell-mediated bioremineralization, dental pulp regeneration and as carrier for therapeutics or antibacterial ions.The initial aim was to produce soluble porous phosphate glasses using the sol-gel method (phosphate-alkoxide based sol-gel process). Knowing the effect that the variation of Ca content has on the dissolution properties of the glass, a series of glasses where Ca was progressively increased at the expense of Na was produced. The structure of the prepared samples was probed by XRD, XRF and FTIR to confirm the successful synthesis of the target phosphate-based glass compositions. After that a promising methodology was established, attempts were made to replace Ca with Sr. Different Sr sources were used without success due to the difficulty to fully dissolve those precursors in the sol-gel mixture. Subsequently, the issue of the toxicity of some precursors and solvents used in the sol-gel procedure was recognised. To overcome this obstacle, efforts were made to replace the toxic precursor chemicals with safer ones. Nevertheless, due to the low solubility of some new precursors and the low reactivity of others, the sol-gel process did not proceed in a predictable and reproducible fashion. At this stage, the sol-gel route was put aside, and two alternative soft and water-based chemical approaches were experimented: the precipitation method and the coacervation process. The first one was found to be unsuitable for our needs for two main reasons: 1) the presence of Na in the composition generated a crystalline material (instead of a glassy amorphous one); 2) the Ca/P ratio of our composition fell in the range of crystalline phase by using this method. In addition, the yield was really low. The second method (coacervation process) was a complete success. The glassy nature of the materials obtained was proved by XRD and XRF and the surface features were tested by BET and SEM. The process was retained for a while as the preferred synthesis route and both the scale-up effect and the possibility to add Sr were analysed. The production scale of the material was increased by 5 times and different Sr sources were tested to find the best one. XRD and XRF analysis proved both the success of the scale-up and the incorporation of the Sr in glass composition

Bulk metallic glasses represent a newly developed class of materials. Some metallic glasses possess combinations of very good or even excellent mechanical, chemical and/or magnetic properties uncovering a broad range of both industrial and vital applications. Besides all advantages metallic glasses have also significant drawbacks, which have to be overcome for commercial application. Apart from low critical thicknesses, brittleness and chemical inhomogeneity one important problem of metallic glasses is the lack of an appropriate theory describing their structure. Therefore, the search for new glass forming compositions as well as the improving of existing ones occurs at present by means of trial-and-error methods and a number of empirical rules. Empirical rules for good glass-forming ability of bulk metallic glasses have been established in recent years by Inoue and Egami. Two of these rules, (i) Preference of more than 3 elements and (ii) Need of more than 12 % radii difference of base elements, seem to be closely related to topological (geometrical) criteria. From this point of view topological parameters contribute essentially to the glass-forming ability. The third rule (iii) demands a negative mixing enthalpy of base elements and refers to the chemical interaction of the atoms. The generalized Bernal’s model (hard-sphere approximation) was used for the simulation of monatomic, binary and multi-component structures. Excluding chemical interaction, this method allows the investigation of topological criteria of the glass-forming ability. Bernal’s hard-sphere model was shown to be a good approximation for bulk metallic glasses and metallic liquids and yields good coincidence of experimental and theoretical results. • The Laguerre (weighted Voronoi) tessellation technique was used as the main tool for the structural analysis. Due to very complex structures it is impossible to determine the structure of bulk metallic glasses by means of standard crystallographic methods. • Density, radial distribution function, coordination number and Laguerre polyhedra analysis confirm amorphism of the simulated structures and are in a good agreement with available experimental results. • The ratio of the fractions of non-crystalline to crystalline Laguerre polyhedra faces was introduced as a new parameter . This parameter reflects the total non-crystallinity of a structure and the amount of atomic rearrangements necessary for crystallization. Thus, the parameter is related to the glass-forming ability. It depends strongly on composition and atomic size ratio and indicates a region of enhanced glass-forming ability in binary mixtures at 80 % of small atoms and atomic size ratio of 1.3. All found maxima of parameter for ternary mixtures have compositions and size ratios which are nearly the same as for the binary mixture with the maximum value of . • A new method of multiple-compression was introduces in order to test the tendency towards densification and/or crystallization of the simulated mixtures. The results of the multiple-compression of monatomic mixtures indicate a limiting value of about 0.6464 for the density of the amorphous state. Further densification is necessarily connected to formation and growth of nano-crystalline regions. • The results of the multiple-compression for binary mixtures shows a new maximum of the density at the size ratio of 1.3 and 30 % to 90 % of small atoms. This maximum indicates a local island of stability of the amorphous state. The maximal receivable density without crystallization in this region is enhanced compared to neighbouring regions. • The comparison of the parameter and the density to the distribution of known binary bulk metallic (metal-metal) glasses clearly shows that both parameters play a significant role in the glass-forming ability. • The polyhedra analysis shows regions with enhanced fraction of the icosahedral short-range order (polyhedron (0, 0, 12)) in the binary systems with the maximum at 80 % of small atoms and size ratio of 1.3. Comparison of the distribution of the (0, 0, 12) polyhedra to the distribution of known binary metallic (metal-metal) glasses and to the parameter shows that icosahedral short-range order is not related to the glass-forming ability and is a consequence of the high non-crystallinity (high values of ) of the mixtures and non vice versa. Results for the ternary mixtures confirm this observation. • A new approach for the calculation of the mixing enthalpy is proposed. The new method is based on the combination of Miedema’s semi-empirical model and Laguerre tessellation technique. The new method as well as 6 other methods including the original Miedema’s model were tested for more than 1400 ternary and quaternary alloys. The results show a better agreement with experimental values of the mixing enthalpy for the new model compared to all other methods. The new model takes into account the local structure at atom site and can be applied to all metallic alloys without additional extrapolations if the atomic structure of the considered alloy is known from a suitable atomistic structure model.

Plastic flow in bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) localizes into narrow bands, which, in the absence of a microstructure that could obstruct them, propagate unhindered under tensile loading. In constrained deformation conditions such as indentation and at notch roots, extensive shear band formation can occur. A key issue in the context of fracture of BMGs that is yet to be understood comprehensively is how their toughness is controlled by various state parameters. Towards this end, the change in fracture toughness and plasticity with short term annealing above and below the glass transition temperature, Tg, is studied in a Zr-based BMG. Elastic properties like shear modulus, Poisson's ratio as well as parameters defining the internal state like the fictive temperature, Tf, density, and free volume are measured and correlation with the toughness was attempted at. While the elastic properties may help in distinguishing between tough and brittle glasses, they fail to reveal the reasons behind the toughness variations. Spherical-tip nanoindentation and microindentation tests were employed to probe the size, distributions and activation energies of the microscopic plastic carriers with the former and shear band densities with the latter. Results indicate that specimens annealed at a higher temperature, Ta, exhibit profuse shear banding with negligible changes in the local yield strengths. Statistical analysis of the nanoindentation data by incorporating the nucleation rate theory and the results of the cooperative shear model (CSM), reveals that short term annealing doesn't alter the shear transformation zone (STZ) size much. However, density estimates indicate changes in the free volume content across specimens. A model combining STZ activation and free volume accumulation predicts a higher rate in the reduction of the cumulative STZ activation barrier in specimens with a higher initial free volume content. Of the macroscopic physical properties, the specimen density is revealed to be a useful qualitative measure of enhancement in fracture toughness and plasticity in BMGs. We turn our attention next to the brittle fracture in BMGs, with the specific objective of understanding the mechanisms of failure. For this purpose, mode I fracture experiments were conducted on embrittled BMG samples and the fracture surface features were analyzed in detail. Wallner lines, which result from the interaction between the propagating crack front and shear waves emanating from a secondary source, were observed on the fracture surface and geometric analysis of them indicates that the maximum crack velocity to be ~800 m/s, which corresponds to ~0.32 times the shear wave speed. Fractography reveals that the sharp crack nucleation at the notch tip occurs at the mid-section of the specimens with the observation of flat and half-penny shaped cracks. On this basis, we conclude that the crack initiation in brittle BMGs occurs through hydrostatic stress assisted cavity nucleation ahead of the notch tip. High magnification scanning electron and atomic force microscopies of the dynamic crack growth regions reveal highly organized, nanoscale periodic patterns with a spacing of ~79 nm. Juxtaposition of the crack velocity with this spacing suggests that that the crack takes ~10-10 s for peak-to-peak propagation. This, and the estimated adiabatic temperature rise ahead of the propagating crack tip that suggests local softening, are utilized to critically discuss possible causes for the nanocorrugation formation. The Taylor’s fluid meniscus instability is unequivocally ruled out. Then, two other possible mechanisms, viz. (a) crack tip blunting and resharpening through nanovoid nucleation and growth ahead of the crack tip and eventual coalescence, and (b) dynamic oscillation of the crack in a thin slab of softened zone ahead of the crack-tip, are critically discussed. One way of alleviating the fracture-related issues in BMGs is to impart a microstructure to it, which would either impede the growth of shear bands or promote the multiplication of them. One such approach is through the BMG composites (BMGCs) route, wherein a crystalline second phase incorporated in the BMG matrix. There is a need to study the effects of reinforcement content, size and distribution on the mechanical behavior of the BMGC so as to achieve an optimum combination of strength and ductility. For this purpose, an investigation into the microstructure and tensile properties of Zr/Ti-based BMG composites of the same composition, but produced by different routes, was conducted so as to identify “structure–property” connections in these materials. This was accomplished by employing four different processing methods—arc melting, suction casting, semi-solid forging and induction melting on a water-cooled copper boat—on composites with two different dendrite volume fractions, Vd. The change in processing parameters only affects microstructural length scales such as the interdendritic spacing, λ, and dendrite size, δ, whereas compositions of the matrix and dendrite are unaffected. Broadly, the composite’s properties are insensitive to the microstructural length scales when Vd is high (∼75%), whereas they become process dependent for relatively lower Vd (∼55%). Larger δ in arc-melted and forged specimens result in higher ductility (7–9%) and lower hardening rates, whereas smaller dendrites increase the hardening rate. A bimodal distribution of dendrites offers excellent ductility at a marginal cost of yield strength. Finer λ result in marked improvements in both ductility and yield strength, due to the confinement of shear band nucleation sites in smaller volumes of the glassy phase. Forging in the semi-solid state imparts such a microstructure.

Le comportement des verres sous pression, lié à leurs structures topologiques, est un enjeu majeur à la fois fondamental et appliqué. L’anomalie élastique de la silice à 2,5GPa est un phénomène connu et son existence est plus que probable dans le verre de GeO2. Il semblait alors légitime de questionner son existence dans des verres plus répandus de compositions chimiques complexes comme les verres alumino sodo silicatés. L’anomalie élastique a été étudiée in situ par Diffusion Brillouin et Raman pour le verre de GeO2 et trois verres alumino sodo silicaté de compositions chimiques : (Al2O3)X(Na2O)25−X(SiO2)75 où X=0, 6 et 12%. Il a été montré que l’existence de l’anomalie de compressibilité dans le domaine élastique n’était pas réduite qu’à la silice uniquement mais au contraire persistait sur un vaste domaine de compositions chimiques et semblait être liée à la présence d’anneaux à 6 tétraèdres. Au delà de la limite élastique, les modifications structurales à l’origine du phénomène de densification permanente ont été étudiées pour la silice, le verre de GeO2 et six verres d’alumino sodo silicatés (contenant X=0, 2, 6, 9, 12 et 16% d’Al2O3). Tout d’abord nous avons observé par diffusion Brillouin la disparition progressive de l’anomalie élastique de la silice avec la densification. Ce phénomène a été interprété en termes de transformations induites par la pression d’une forme amorphe basse densité (LDA) en une forme amorphe haute densité (HDA) : LDA → HDA. Des études in situ et ex situ par Diffusion Brillouin et Raman, Résonance Magnétique Nucléaire (RMN) et aussi de Spectroscopie d’Absorption des Rayons X proche du seuil (XANES) ont montré que les modifications structurales à l’origine de la densification permanente dépendaient grandement de la composition chimique. En particulier la présence de cation sodique semble favoriser les modifications à courte portée comme la formation d’espèces hautement coordonnées d’aluminium ou encore de silicium ainsi que la dépolymérisation du réseau. Au contraire les verres les plus riches en aluminium semblent montrer une densification plus proche structurellement de celle de la silice pure c’est à dire modifiant principalement l’ordre à moyenne distance avec diminution de l’angle inter-tétraèdre et de la taille des anneaux / The structural study of glasses under pressure is of fundamental interest in Physics, Earth Science and is technologically important for the comprehension of industrial material properties. The elastic anomaly at 2.5GPa in pure silica glass is a well known phenomenon and its existence is more than likely in GeO2 glass. In this work the persistence of the elastic anomaly in more complex and more widely glass compositions as sodium alumino silicate glasses was studied. The elastic anomaly was studied in situ in GeO2 and three sodium alumino silicate glasses by Brillouin and Raman scattering. The studied sodium alumino silicate glasses had the following compositions : (Al2O3)X(Na2O)25−X(SiO2)75 where X=0, 6 et 12% and is the molar percentage of Al2O3. The elastic anomaly was shown to persist in a broad domain of chemical compositions thus its existence is not reduced to pure silica glass. Its existence seems to be linked to the presence of 6 membered rings. Beyond the elastic limit, the structural modifications was studied in pure silica, GeO2 glass and sodium alumino silica glasses (with X=0, 2, 6, 9, 12 et 16% of Al2O3) in order to structurally better understand the densification phenomenon. Firstly the elastic anomaly was studied by Brillouin scattering experiments, was shown to progressively disappear with the densification. This progressive disappearance was interpreted in terms of a progressive structure induced transformation from a Low Density Amorphous form (LDA) into a High Density Amorphous form (HDA) : LDA → HDA. In situ and ex situ studies by Brillouin and Raman scattering, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and X-ray Absorption Near Edge Structure (XANES) showed that the pressure induced structural transformation was highly dependent of the glass chemical composition. For instance the presence of sodium cations promotes short range order modifications, such as formation of highly coordinated species (Al, Si) and network depolymerization. On the other hand, glasses with a high aluminum concentration show a densification process closer to that of pure silica glass, with mainly middle range order structural modifications such as a decrease of the inter-tetrahedral angle or ring size decrease

Bulk metallic glasses represent a newly developed class of materials. Some metallic glasses possess combinations of very good or even excellent mechanical, chemical and/or magnetic properties uncovering a broad range of both industrial and vital applications. Besides all advantages metallic glasses have also significant drawbacks, which have to be overcome for commercial application. Apart from low critical thicknesses, brittleness and chemical inhomogeneity one important problem of metallic glasses is the lack of an appropriate theory describing their structure. Therefore, the search for new glass forming compositions as well as the improving of existing ones occurs at present by means of trial-and-error methods and a number of empirical rules. Empirical rules for good glass-forming ability of bulk metallic glasses have been established in recent years by Inoue and Egami. Two of these rules, (i) Preference of more than 3 elements and (ii) Need of more than 12 % radii difference of base elements, seem to be closely related to topological (geometrical) criteria. From this point of view topological parameters contribute essentially to the glass-forming ability. The third rule (iii) demands a negative mixing enthalpy of base elements and refers to the chemical interaction of the atoms. The generalized Bernal’s model (hard-sphere approximation) was used for the simulation of monatomic, binary and multi-component structures. Excluding chemical interaction, this method allows the investigation of topological criteria of the glass-forming ability. Bernal’s hard-sphere model was shown to be a good approximation for bulk metallic glasses and metallic liquids and yields good coincidence of experimental and theoretical results. • The Laguerre (weighted Voronoi) tessellation technique was used as the main tool for the structural analysis. Due to very complex structures it is impossible to determine the structure of bulk metallic glasses by means of standard crystallographic methods. • Density, radial distribution function, coordination number and Laguerre polyhedra analysis confirm amorphism of the simulated structures and are in a good agreement with available experimental results. • The ratio of the fractions of non-crystalline to crystalline Laguerre polyhedra faces was introduced as a new parameter . This parameter reflects the total non-crystallinity of a structure and the amount of atomic rearrangements necessary for crystallization. Thus, the parameter is related to the glass-forming ability. It depends strongly on composition and atomic size ratio and indicates a region of enhanced glass-forming ability in binary mixtures at 80 % of small atoms and atomic size ratio of 1.3. All found maxima of parameter for ternary mixtures have compositions and size ratios which are nearly the same as for the binary mixture with the maximum value of . • A new method of multiple-compression was introduces in order to test the tendency towards densification and/or crystallization of the simulated mixtures. The results of the multiple-compression of monatomic mixtures indicate a limiting value of about 0.6464 for the density of the amorphous state. Further densification is necessarily connected to formation and growth of nano-crystalline regions. • The results of the multiple-compression for binary mixtures shows a new maximum of the density at the size ratio of 1.3 and 30 % to 90 % of small atoms. This maximum indicates a local island of stability of the amorphous state. The maximal receivable density without crystallization in this region is enhanced compared to neighbouring regions. • The comparison of the parameter and the density to the distribution of known binary bulk metallic (metal-metal) glasses clearly shows that both parameters play a significant role in the glass-forming ability. • The polyhedra analysis shows regions with enhanced fraction of the icosahedral short-range order (polyhedron (0, 0, 12)) in the binary systems with the maximum at 80 % of small atoms and size ratio of 1.3. Comparison of the distribution of the (0, 0, 12) polyhedra to the distribution of known binary metallic (metal-metal) glasses and to the parameter shows that icosahedral short-range order is not related to the glass-forming ability and is a consequence of the high non-crystallinity (high values of ) of the mixtures and non vice versa. Results for the ternary mixtures confirm this observation. • A new approach for the calculation of the mixing enthalpy is proposed. The new method is based on the combination of Miedema’s semi-empirical model and Laguerre tessellation technique. The new method as well as 6 other methods including the original Miedema’s model were tested for more than 1400 ternary and quaternary alloys. The results show a better agreement with experimental values of the mixing enthalpy for the new model compared to all other methods. The new model takes into account the local structure at atom site and can be applied to all metallic alloys without additional extrapolations if the atomic structure of the considered alloy is known from a suitable atomistic structure model.

When paramedics arrive at an accident site there are a lot of complex variables that they must keep in mind when making decisions. Thus, a problem of too much information presented at once makes the decision-making harder. To aid paramedics, smart glasses can be used to streamline the workflow and present relevant information immediately. Attempts at implementing smart glasses within prehospital care have previously been made. However, with no extensive research regarding what an implementation of how the user interface could look like has been presented. In addition, providing paramedics with optimal information to aid in decision making. Thus the goal of this thesis is to develop an Android application for the Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2 to visualise a patient's vital signs to aid paramedics to focus more on treating the patient. A limitation of the project was to only focus on the visualisation of the following vital parameters were focused: pulse from ECG, SpO2, EtCO2, and NiBP. To determine what would be demanded from the application, interviews with paramedics of varying seniority ranging from 7 to 23 years experience, were conducted. The paramedics interviewed were from different regions within Sweden and the UK. This gave a generalised understanding of how paramedics work and what would be desired by paramedics from smart glasses as an assisting tool. The Android application used a Wi-Fi Direct connection with the MobiMed Patient Unit which was transmitting the patient's vital sign data. The data was packaged in a JSON file and then transmitted over User Datagram Protocol to the Google Glass. The data was visualised with a focused layout of only one vital sign showing. In addition, a dual view where two vitals are shown simultaneously was created. The implementation was then run through different experiments to ensure that the glasses would be able to perform under relevant circumstances that could occur at an accident site. Finally, several topics for future development and use cases for the project in pre-hospital and hospital care were explored. / När ambulanspersonal anländer till en olycksplats finns många komplexa variabler som bör beaktas vid fattande av ett avgörande beslut. Genom detta uppstår ett problem där ett överflöde av information presenteras samtidigt vilket försvårar beslutstagande. För att lösa detta introduceras smarta glasögon då det kan effektivisera arbetet och medföra relevant information med en gång. Försök att implementera smarta glasögon inom den prehospitala vården har tidigare gjorts. Men utan omfattande forskning om hur en implementering skulle se ut samt att tillföra ambulanspersonal med information för att underlätta deras beslutsfattande har tidigare gjorts. Därför är målet med detta examensarbete att utveckla en Android-applikation för Google Glass för att visualisera en patients vitalparametrar för att hjälpa ambulanspersonal att fokusera mer på att behandla patienten. För att avgränsa projektet fokuserades visualisering på följande patient parametrarna; puls från EKG, SpO2, EtCO2, och NiBP. För att avgöra vad som skulle krävas från ambulanspersonalen så utfördes en intervjustudie med personal av varierande tjänstgöringstid från 7 till 23 år. Ambulanspersonalen som intervjuades var från olika län i Sverige och Storbritannien. Detta gav en generaliserad förståelse för hur ambulanspersonal arbetar och vad som skulle önskas av ambulanspersonal från smarta glasögon som ett hjälpmedel. Android-applikationen som skapades använde en Wi-Fi Direct-anslutning med MobiMed patientenheten som överför patientens vitalparametrar. Informationen paketerades i en JSON-fil och överfördes sedan via UDP till Google Glass. Data visualiserades med en fokuserad design där endast en parameter visas. Dessutom skapades en dubbelparameter design där två parametrar visas samtidigt. Implementeringen kördes sedan genom olika experiment för att säkerställa att glasögonen skulle kunna prestera under vissa omständigheter som skulle kunna inträffa vid vårdtillfällen. Slutligen undersöktes framtida utvecklingsarbeten och användningsfall för projektet.