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Transparent Aluminum a Reality

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the how-quaint dept.

TuballoyThunder writes "Many of us remember the scene from Star Trek IV where Scotty barters the formula for transparent aluminum for a small run. It now appears that we can now add transparent aluminum to the science fact column."

9 of 759 comments (clear)

  1. A Great Send-Off by jIyajbe · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Very appropriate to announce this discovery at the same time James Doohan's remains are being sent into space. One wonders if there is a closet Trekker in the military press office. :-)

    Cheers,

    jIyajbe

    --
    "Don't blame the log for the fire." --Andrew Ratshin
  2. transparent oxide-nitride, not a metal by Muhammar · · Score: 5, Interesting

    when you read the article, you find out that the material is not aluminum metal. It is just a transparent corund-like substance. Al203 alone is pretty hard (and easy to make - including gem colored versions) and the mixed oxide-nitride is probably harder.

    --
    I doubt that we will ever figure out - and I suspect that even if we did figure out we couldn't do much about it
  3. Ooooh. by DrEldarion · · Score: 4, Interesting

    What'll be really nice is when prices get down to be viable for use in consumer-grade products. Say goodbye to broken windows from baseballs, cracked screens on dropped iPods, chipped windshields from rocks, and all sorts of other fun uses.

    It should open up some cool architectural possibilities as well.

  4. Re:Or as the brits say... by mccalli · · Score: 3, Interesting
    transparent aluminium.
    What is with that, anyway?

    Aluminium is the 'correct' and internationally recommended way of writing it, with aluminum being a local variant. Personally, even as a Brit I think the second sounds more correct, but there you go.

    As ever, Wikipedia reveals all.

    Cheers,
    Ian

  5. This is cool stuff here by KylePflug · · Score: 3, Interesting
    In a June 2004demonstration, an ALONtm test pieces held up to both a .30 caliber Russian M-44 sniper rifle and a .50 caliber Browning Sniper Rifle with armor piercing bullets. While the bullets pierced the glass samples, the armor withstood the impact with no penetration.
    OK, I'm not exactly a gun nut, but that's damn impressive. .50 cal snipers are designed to take out the engine blocks of vehicles. A window stopping them is just plain cool.

    The uses go way beyond windshields. How about full-length transparent SWAT shields? If it'll take a .50-cal, should be more than safe enough. How about implrementing some of this in monitor screens? Watch faces? Heck, light fixtures in gymnasiums.

    What about airplanes? Make much of the body out of this, making maintenance that much easier.

    ... in retrospect, that last is a horrible idea. But the others remain good ;)
  6. Aluminium Reality or Aluminum Realty? by kt0157 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Then there's Helum, that noble gas. And Kurchatovum, that incredibly unstable element. And Lithum, of which batteries are made. Not forgetting Valum, for people too depressed to worry about spelling.

    Yes, yes, I know, a whole continent of people can't spell that metal's name. It's just like the English who wrote "cocoa" when they should have written "cacao". Amazing how an illiterate in the wrong place at the wrong time can screw up a dictionary.

    K.

  7. Pictures by pev · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Google finds some pics as expected (Sorry, PDF) :
        http://www.surmet.com/docs/Processing_ALON.pdf

    I'm not 100% certain if they're genuine or mock ups though...

    ~Pev

  8. Re:Super Polish by hey! · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It comes down to the fact that materials break due to initial cracks that grow bigger under stress.

    Back in the late 70s early 80s I used to polish my bike components, particuarly brake calipers, for that very reason. It was in that era that there was a massive increase in technical and manufacturing sophistication from the Japanese makers, as a result of which anybody can now get well finished, non-pot-metal bike parts without having to spend a fortune for Campagnolo.

    --
    Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
  9. Refractive index? by wowbagger · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I wonder what the refractive index of this material is? For those of us who look through tank windshield all day (figuratively speaking), if this material can be reduced in price and has a refractive index significantly greater than 1.66, then it would make our lenses much thinner, as well as being much more scratch resistant than polycarbonate.

    Given that sapphire has a refractive index over 1.75, this *could* be a great breakthrough - if Big Green starts to consume large quantities of this, then the amortized NRE will be greatly reduced.

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