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Iron Alloy Could Create Earthquake-Proof Buildings

Posted by samzenpus on from the shake-all-you-want dept.

separsons writes "Researchers at Japan's Tohoku University designed a new shape memory metal alloy. The super elastic iron alloy can endure serious stretching and still return to its original shape. The scientists say that once optimized, the material could be used in everything from braces to medical stents to earthquake-proof buildings!"

9 of 107 comments (clear)

  1. It will be expensive and unused by BadAnalogyGuy · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Modern construction techniques and materials are actually really good. Except for the occasional airliner or two crashing into them, our buildings are able to withstand tremendous strain. These days, most new buildings in the modern world are built with these techniques and materials. Flexible yet firm. Light yet strong. We've come a long way in this respect.

    But we also have the money to build these things. Take a look at some recent tragedies caused by earthquakes. Bam, Chile, etc. These aren't places that have especially tall buildings. In fact, most of their buildings are slapped together walls with heavy roofs. When the ground starts shaking, these things are death traps.

    So this new technology is great, but don't expect to see it saving lives in the Third World. Those places will continue to lose people by the thousands every time a 6+ magnitude earthquake hits. They just don't have the money to build correctly.

    1. Re:It will be expensive and unused by mjwx · · Score: 2, Interesting

      So this new technology is great, but don't expect to see it saving lives in the Third World. Those places will continue to lose people by the thousands every time a 6+ magnitude earthquake hits. They just don't have the money to build correctly.

      Sorry BAG but I have to disagree with you here. Plenty of third world nations have (or potentially) heaps of money, nations like Indonesia have lots of oil, Thailand has massive exports with food and finished products.

      The problem is twofold, 1. Skills Shortage. The education systems in the third world do not produce many skilled labourers like Electricians, Fitters, Boilermakers and Architects and certainly not to the standards of the western world. 2. Politics, corruption at all levels as well as lack of standards and standards enforcement means that buildings that are clearly unfit or will fall down as soon as a strong wind blows are built. Going back to the labour situation, in the west the government forces you to use certified architects and electricians (enforcing standards) but they cost double a basic labourer, in the third world a few units of the local currency into the right hands and you can employ barely trained workers for any complex task or pretty much whatever you want.

      Imagine for a moment how rich Sierra Leone would be without all that war, a dictators wealth would rival that of Carlos Slim or the sultan of Brunei, a non dictatorial government would have turned it into the Monaco of Africa.

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
    2. Re:It will be expensive and unused by cenc · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Chile is not Haiti. It is not even California. The building codes are law, and they are enforced. However, there is something to the natural selection thing, but not the way you mean.

      Thousands of buildings went through the 8.8 earthquake with little more than a few cracked windows. It looks like total building collapse amounts to 1 building that litterally fell over on its side, and about 100 or so others that failed by design. The ones that failed on a wide scale where 200+ year old adobe houses (mostly one and two story structures). Those adobe structures did survive to some degree because they had never taken a full earthquake. The big ones had always been north or south of the 7th and 8th regions that got hit the hardest by this quake.

      The death however was not really caused by the earthquake, but by the tsunami waves that came 3 hours apart. The navy screwed up by lifting the alert too soon, and people started returning to the beach.

      My office building (15 floors), took an 8.0 about 200 miles from the epicenter. We lost a couple glass doors when the metal frame flexed, a few cracks, and one broken water pipe on a floor. It was built about 10 years ago.

      No one even gets up and leaves the building anymore for anything under a 6.0 around here.

      --
      Living in Chile
  2. Flexible concrete is better and we already have it by JDmetro · · Score: 5, Interesting

    http://www.physorg.com/news3985.html
    Even the beams being put into bridges are concrete because they are stronger and lighter than metal.

  3. Flexibility != Ability to Carry Loads by Game_Ender · · Score: 2, Interesting

    What is important for construction is the load before the metal begins to yield. If the material yields very early, it doesn't matter how well it snaps back into shape, because it you won't actually be able to build a structure out of the stuff. Just look at some plastics, they are very springy, but try make anything out of the them, and the entire structure starts to flex and sway.

    Short version: A material actually needs some stiffness to be practical

  4. Re:Flexible concrete is better and we already have by MrMista_B · · Score: 2, Interesting

    How the hell could you use something like flexible concrete that for braces or medical stents? This new alloy isn't /just/ for earthquakes, you know. And that info's right even there in the summary!

    Flexible concrete is worse for medical stents or braces than this alloy. Ridiculously worse.

  5. At first glance defense applications come to mind by bdwoolman · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Vehicle armor especially.

    Body armor maybe -- perhaps too heavy.

    Could work in a weave though.

    --
    "No fear. No envy. No meanness." Liam Clancy
  6. Re:What'd be the final goals? by crimperman · · Score: 2, Interesting

    How flexible are you expecting this stuff to be? I doubt it will give us buildings that bend like reeds thus staircases are not going to be bending enough to be useless. More likely it gives a greater flexibility around joints within specific small tolerances. Thus the building core: stairs etc. remains intact for longer and permits a greater number of people to escape. Most buildings are already designed in this way anyway with the core escape zone built to withstand more than the rest of the building.

  7. Re:What'd be the final goals? by tomdarch · · Score: 2, Interesting

    As an architect, I can say that you are thinking about this problem exactly how architects and engineers do, and you've identified most of the critical problems. Along with the fact that "falling stuff inside the building" (e.g. filing cabinets and light fixtures) kill building occupants, fire also kills many people in earthquakes. This "more stretchy" steel won't necessarily help with either of these. Most of our systems for limiting the spread of fire (like drywall, spray-on-fireproofing and concrete block interior walls) are very much "not stretchy" and will crack/crumble when the building frame deforms, leaving them useless for limiting the spread of smoke and fire when the shaking stops. This stuff may turn out to be great, but it won't make much of a difference any time soon, and it doesn't sound like it would be particularly "revolutionary."