Metallic glasses form when mixtures of metallic elements are cooled fast enough to avoid the formation of crystal.  They are similar to common silicate glasses not in their optical transmission properties ( they are not transparent and thus a poor choice for windows), but in their interatomic arrangements.  Unlike crystalline materials, whose atoms are arranged in a highly regular spatial pattern, amorphous materials have no long range atomic order.  When looking at their structure using X-ray diffraction analysis, the difference between these materials becomes clear. 
These glasses are formed by ejecting the liquid metal onto a rapidly rotating wheel, which produces fully amorphous ribbons.  When subjected to annealing, crystals begin to form in the material. The glasses that we study form very dense dispersions of nanometer-sized grains, which can only be seen using transmission electron microscopy.  Click here for a typical image.  By subjecting the glasses to annealing steps and studying the resulting grain densities and size distributions, insight can be gained into the nature of this peculiar transformation.  This data is understood using the framework of classical nucleation theory.  By combining our observations with the known materials properties of these alloys, we have construct numerical models which simulate the behaviour of the systems.  These models will help to elicit the atomic mechanism which leads to the nanocrystallization of these glasses.  The developed models should be useful for materials scientists who are attemption to form alloys with specific materials properties.  The models will also be applied to the understanding of thermal analysis data (differential scanning calorimetry and differential thernal analysis).  The NASA Microgravity Research Program is interested in this project mainly because much of their studies of materials in space missions relies on the analysis of such data. 
Other interest in these materials stems from their unique properties.  When annealed to a partially crystalline state, they possess extreme hardness.  The only commercial application currently is in the production of high-end golf clubs, but more applications are envisioned.