Scientists develop metallic glass
posted March 31st 2005 11:10AM
Researches at Liquidmetal Technologies in Lake Forest, California are close to perfecting a new material called metallic glass that has puzzled scientists since the 1960s. The new material is said to be three times stronger than the best industrial steel and ten times springier. Metallic glass is created by cooling molten alloys extremely fast so that crystalization, which creates points of weakness, is stopped instantly, essentially giving the solid material the atomic properties of a liquid. So why isn't Moto busting out a metallic glass RAZR? The problem is that even though Liquidmetal has managed to refine the process of creating metallic glass,there are still a few issues to be worked out (like cost and brittleness) before it can be commercialized. Right now it's made of 60 percent platinum, something which automatically drives the price way up.
This is the first step towards the crystalline Aluminum the Scottie worked out on that tiny Mac in the early Star Trek film!
Ken
... Or was it "transparent Aluminum"?
Ken
60% platinum? That's just crazy. Call me when they can make liquid metal out of rusty iron.
It was transparent aluminum. We're about 19 years late, though, and I'm sure it was cheaper than transparent platinum.
It was in fact transparent Aluminum, which, G-d only knows how he managed, was created (or re-created) on a Mac Plus.
i knew there was no way i could be the first person to mention transparent aluminum. I guess , however, that this does mean you can change the laws of physics, captain.
Crystalline? Liquid? Transparent? Did you guys read any of the article?
Ah yes, transparent aluminum... does everyone remember the scene?
"Computer? Hello Computer?"
"Just use the keyboard..."
"The keyboard...how quaint!" :)
Liquidmetal's is not 60 percent platinum. In fact, I don't think it has an platinum at all. AFAIK it's a mixture of titanium, copper, nickel, zirconium and beryllium.
See story from 2002: http://www.detnews.com/2002/technology/0207/08/technology-530590.htm
I never understood why they needed a transparent aluminium to transport the whale in the first place? Maybe just to see whales swimming inside the ship, otherwise a "plain" aluminium would probably do :-))
i think it had to be transparent aluminum so that spock could chat with the whales.
also, transparent aluminum is here.. sort of:
http://www.rense.com/general20/transparentalum.htm
http://physicsweb.org/articles/news/8/8/9
also, to explain this to us non-physicists, this article explains it a little bit further:
http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/Science-Fiction-News.asp?NewsNum=202
the above article also clarifies that scottie gave the guy the formula for transparent aluminum as a trade for the Plexiglass needed to build the tanks for the whales.
But transparent aluminum already exists, guys. Didn't you hear?
http://tonytalkstech.com/2004/08/23/transparent-aluminum/
:P
D'oh. Beaten by madtracer. Stupid approval process. ;-)
Oh, and #8:
Last year the search paid off. Johnson's group finally found a glassy mixture of platinum, copper, nickel and phosphorus that is not brittle. When they applied a force to it, lots of shear bands appeared, but each one was small and thin. These bands appear to increase overall toughness by interfering with each other so that no one band can extend into a long crack (Physical Review Letters, vol 93, p 255506). "This is the first time that a combination of these properties has been seen," says Schroers, "not only for bulk metallic glasses, but for all metal alloys".
Since the new glass is almost 60 per cent platinum it is too expensive for widespread use. But the numerous studies have hinted at a pattern that might help researchers find alternatives more quickly. It turns out that the springier a metallic glass is, the less likely it is to be brittle.
Metallic glasses are nothing new, now a real commercial application...that would be nice
I say you're a little slow on the bandwagon, guys. There was an article about this in Discover back in the April 2004 issue. A whole year! But it is cool that you got to it eventually.
This is really old news. I did work on this as an undergrad. Lot of research into using tantalum. Oh, and I built a melt spinner (the way you get rapid cooling).
The reason they needed transparant alluminum was that the thickness required to contain that much water would have been unfeasible without transparent alluminum.
I really need to go kiss a girl now......
whoa attack of the trekies!
Transparent Aluminum is allready invented!!!
8 months ago i saw this: http://physicsweb.org/articles/news/8/8/9 And the first thing that came to my mind, was ofcause 'Star Trek - The Voyage Home'... My favorit StarTrek movie :)
Today is march 31st and the article is dated April 2nd. How and who got this article??? It is not even in New Scientist's front pages yet!!!!!!!!!!! WTF!?!?!??!?!
/me drags comments back onto topic ...
So is this metallic glass that's mentioned here on engadget transparent/translucent?
Liquid metal is already used in Nokia's luxury Vertu line of $4000 cell phones:
http://www.ammagazine.com/CDA/ArticleInformation/features/BNP__Features__Item/0,2606,136707,00.html
C'mon, we've had this material for over 50 years. MY friends father has some at his house cause he worked for xxxxxx at/near Groom Lake.
Don't believe me? contact me?
(Apparently we were given this technology by something a long time ago.. it's wasn't until recently we have been able to replicate because of it's complex structure. You can find reports of this stuff as early as the first area 51 sightings)
external beings DO EXSIST! BELIEVE IT OR NOT, this metal is your proof!
Benjamin Redden
They didn't need or use transparent aluminum for the whale tank in Star Trek IV. Scotty only gave him the structure of transparent aluminum as "payment" for the material he needed, which was 6" thick plastic.
scotty did need the transparent aluminium as far as i rem, he gave the formula details in exchange for some of the stuff, as far as i know.