Thin layers of stainless steel are stacked in a 3D printing process, forming subtle half-moons. Under a microscope, streaks of color are revealed, reflecting the order of the atoms in the 8-millimeter sphere. The shorter the colorful streaks, the more uniform the atomic structure and the stronger the material. For Brazilian materials engineer Luiz Unti, obtaining this image was the most satisfying part of the study, carried out at Ohio State University, USA, by a group led by Colombian scientist Antonio Ramirez. The image won the optical microscopy category of the XXII Metmat Prize, awarded by the Polytechnic School at the University of São Paulo (Poli-USP).
Image submitted by Luiz Fernando Kultz Unti, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Campinas (UNICAMP)
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