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How does your daily life relate to the secret of negative heat expansion?
In our daily life, we are always exposed to the physical phenomenon of thermal expansion.When most materials are heated, they expand and increase in volume, while some materials shrink when heated, a phenomenon known as negative thermal expansion (NTE).When people think of hotness, it may be difficult to match with the concept of shrinking, but this is an important principle involving many life applications.
Negative thermal expansion refers to the shrinkage of certain materials as temperature increases, rather than expansion as most materials.
Water is one of the most well-known materials for negative thermal expansion.For example, between 0°C and 3.98°C, the density of water is lower than liquid during its solid (ice) stage, which is why ice floats on the water.Behind this physical phenomenon, there are profound scientific principles and potential applications, which are fascinating.
The Origin of Negative Thermal Expansion
The phenomenon of negative thermal expansion can be traced back to various physical processes.For example, lateral vibration mode, rigid unit mode and phase changes can all cause the material to shrink when the temperature is increased.In 2011, a research team discovered that the NTE phenomenon originated from the increase in entropy caused by high-voltage and small-voltage configurations, which exist in the stable phase matrix through thermal fluctuations.
This phenomenon shows that the microdesign of the material and its internal structure have a decisive effect on the positive and negative thermal expansion behavior.
Negative thermal expansion in daily life
In daily life, the design of many materials needs to take into account the characteristics of negative thermal expansion.For example, these materials are able to withstand drastic temperature changes when making glass-ceramic stoves.Due to the special design of its internal structure, some materials can have positive and negative thermal expansion properties at the same time, thereby maintaining stability during heating to avoid cracking problems.
From professional filling materials for teeth to high-tech aerospace materials, the application of negative thermal expansion is omnipresent.Patients' teeth design also need to consider using composite materials containing negative thermal expansion materials, which ensures that the degree of expansion of the filler material is consistent with the teeth, thereby reducing pain caused by thermal expansion and contraction.
Potential Application of Negative Thermal Expansion
In the field of engineering, how to effectively combine a common positive thermal expansion material with a material with negative thermal expansion characteristics to form a composite material will be a major challenge in the future.Appropriate proportional adjustment can regulate the thermal expansion coefficient to a level close to zero, which is particularly important for precision instruments.
In practical applications, the use of negative thermal expansion materials is not limited to industry. The selection of bottled water materials and even some novel electronic component designs are inseparable from this scientific principle.
The impact of negative thermal expansion on materials science is gradually expanding and will be widely used in many fields in the future.This includes from the stability of optical devices to high-performance aerospace materials, and can even be applied to the manufacturing of electronic devices such as environmentally friendly and sustainable technologies.
In some high-tech industries, the stringent requirements for system performance make the characteristics of negative thermal expansion more important, because performing stable materials over a wide temperature range is one of the keys to solving the problem.
Did you realize that many daily objects around you are actually using this negative thermal expansion characteristic to ensure the stability and reliability of their usage performance?
