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It Looks a Lot Like Glass, but It’s Tough as Steel
NY Times ^ | January 10, 2011 | SINDYA N. BHANOO

Posted on 01/11/2011 9:25:18 PM PST by neverdem

The moment a crack forms in a piece of glass, it is prone to spread. That’s because although glass is very strong and resistant to deformation, it lacks the toughness that metals like aluminum and steel have.

Now, researchers from the California Institute of Technology and the University of California, Berkeley, report that they have devised a new type of metallic glass that is as strong as glass, but as tough as steel — the toughest of all metals.

“Typically with materials it’s very hard to get both toughness and strength; either you get one or the other,” said Marios Demetriou , a materials engineer at Caltech and the study’s lead author.

He and his colleagues report their findings in the journal Nature Materials.

There is, however, a catch to the seemingly transformational discovery.

“The cost of this material is very high, and it’s essentially high enough to be prohibitive for commodity-type products,” Dr. Demetriou said, though he did not have exact numbers...

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Technical; Testing
KEYWORDS: aluminium; aluminum; anhydrous; damagetolerantglass; materialsscience; metallicglass; regolith
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A damage-tolerant glass
1 posted on 01/11/2011 9:25:23 PM PST by neverdem
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To: neverdem

Transparent Aluminum!


2 posted on 01/11/2011 9:26:30 PM PST by ffusco (The President will return this country to what it once was...An arctic wasteland covered in ice.)
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To: ffusco

The Germans did this a few years ago: they named it ‘aluminium’.


3 posted on 01/11/2011 9:29:30 PM PST by SatinDoll (NO FOREIGN NATIONALS AS OUR PRESIDENT!)
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To: ffusco

Ya beat me to it.


4 posted on 01/11/2011 9:29:59 PM PST by sinanju
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To: ffusco

Cool...now we can build starships....

all we need is a wrap core...

*grin*


5 posted on 01/11/2011 9:30:28 PM PST by Crim (The Obama Doctrine : A doctrine based on complete ignorance,applied with extreme incompetence..)
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To: neverdem

Reardon metal, right on schedule.


6 posted on 01/11/2011 9:30:38 PM PST by SpaceBar
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To: ffusco

Make a dadgum iPhone screen out of it!


7 posted on 01/11/2011 9:30:57 PM PST by PetroniusMaximus
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To: ffusco

Scottie, we miss ya!


8 posted on 01/11/2011 9:31:13 PM PST by SeaWolf (Orwell must have foreseen the 21st Century US Congress when he wrote 1984)
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To: neverdem

Who cares how expensive it is, this is just what Dan Burton and Congress are looking for!

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2655267/posts


9 posted on 01/11/2011 9:32:11 PM PST by EternalVigilance (How strangely will the Tools of a Tyrant pervert the plain Meaning of Words! -- Samuel Adams)
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To: ffusco

The price will go down.


10 posted on 01/11/2011 9:32:24 PM PST by RobbyS (Pray with the suffering souls.)
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To: ffusco

Beat me to it too :)


11 posted on 01/11/2011 9:33:18 PM PST by StayoutdaBushesWay (Why Johnny Ringo, you look like someone just walked over your grave!)
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To: SatinDoll

Yes, transparent aluminum already exists, and as yo usay the Germans did this a couple years ago. Posted a pic of it. Kind of opaque.


12 posted on 01/11/2011 9:34:31 PM PST by Secret Agent Man (I'd like to tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.)
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To: ffusco
LOL! When I saw the title I wondered if anyone had made that reference!
13 posted on 01/11/2011 9:37:17 PM PST by higgmeister ( In the Shadow of The Big Chicken!)
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To: SeaWolf
The American Cultural Lexicon is the true great leveler!
14 posted on 01/11/2011 9:40:02 PM PST by higgmeister ( In the Shadow of The Big Chicken!)
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To: ffusco

*snort* That was my first thought, as well!


15 posted on 01/11/2011 9:48:23 PM PST by SuziQ
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To: neverdem
WARNING:
Coarseness ahead. Highlight to read, do nothing to ignore.

There once was a man from Madras,
Whose testes were made of spun glass,
When he clicks them together,
They play Stormy Weather,
And lightning shoots out of his ass.


16 posted on 01/11/2011 9:50:25 PM PST by I see my hands (How's that ballot box working out for you?)
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To: neverdem

The planet and whales are saved!!!!


17 posted on 01/11/2011 9:51:35 PM PST by Razzz42
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To: ffusco

Aye, Scottie!!!


18 posted on 01/11/2011 9:51:54 PM PST by BreitbartSentMe ((Ex-Dem since 2001 *Folding@Home for the Gipper - Join the FReeper Folders*))
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To: neverdem

What’s the difference between toughness and strength?


19 posted on 01/11/2011 9:52:44 PM PST by Harpo Speaks (Honk! Honk! Honk! Either it's foggy out, or make that a dozen hard boiled eggs.)
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To: neverdem

didn’t Scotty invent that in Star Trek IV??


20 posted on 01/11/2011 9:54:30 PM PST by Coleus (The Immaculate Conception: O Mary, conceived without sin, Pray for us, who have recourse to Thee)
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