Silica from meteorites may hold key to controlling industrial heat

Researchers at Columbia University have identified a unique form of silicon dioxide called tridymite, originally found in meteorites and also present on Mars, which exhibits hybrid crystal-glass thermal properties. Unlike typical materials where thermal conductivity either decreases (crystals) or increases (glasses) with temperature, tridymite maintains a nearly constant thermal conductivity over a wide temperature range (80 K to 380 K). This discovery was made possible by applying a unified equation for heat conduction in both crystals and glasses, developed by Professor Michele Simoncelli’s team using machine learning to overcome computational challenges. Experimental validation was conducted on a tridymite sample from a 1724 meteorite found in Germany, confirming its intermediate atomic structure and stable heat conduction behavior. This breakthrough has significant implications for industrial heat management, particularly in sectors like electronics, aerospace, and steel manufacturing. For instance, tridymite could form in refractory bricks used in steel furnaces after prolonged thermal aging, potentially enabling more efficient heat control and reducing the