Liquid Metals -- future materials now

[island911]

Cool stuff

http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/technologies/liquidmetal.html

[M.D. Holloway]

island911 - that is cool stuff. The co that is doing it is real stingy with allowing the technology to be used elsewhere. Too bad.

[M.D. Holloway]

forms an amorphus structure. They achieve it by combine five differnt metals at a particular ratio. The size of the metal atoms and their bonding forces somehow discourages an ordered arrangement. Chrystallinity cannot ensue so the atoms remain in a bonded state but not in an ordered state. This would make for molding fabrication to be easy and at some point I wonder if you could get light transmittance? It would also establish the material to have greater elastisity and strength to weight ratio because their would be less of an incident angle for any cleaving to occur which would produce a fracture.

I can see great applications in coatings and in medicine in the form for prostetics not to mention components in everything known to require strength and reduced weight. I wonder what the electrical properties are?

[M.D. Holloway]

This stuff would make for a cool PhD dissertation, easily funded by NSF and NASA...hmmmm, maybe I'll hang up the lube stuff for awhile and go back to school?

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Way cool. How do I buy their stock?

[kach22i]

a mix of three or more metals, with characteristics similar to plastic that cools quickly and has more than twice the strength of titanium.

Just more stuff from the Roswell crash.

[M.D. Holloway]

stolen...
The atomic structure is the most striking characteristic of the liquid metal alloys as it fundamentally differentiates liquid metal alloys from ordinary metals.

The atomic structure of ordinary or conventional metals and alloys is periodic, where the layout of atomic elements shows repeating patterns over an extended range. This atomic structure is called "crystalline" and limits the overall performance of conventional metals.

Liquid metal alloys possess an "amorphous" atomic structure, which is truly unique. By contrast to the crystalline structure, no discernable patterns exist in the atomic structure of the unique liquid metal alloys. As such, properties superior to the limits of conventional metals can be achieved.

This amorphous atomic structure leads to a unique set of characteristic properties for the family of liquid metal alloys.

These characteristic properties are:
- High Yield Strength
- High Hardness
- Superior Strength/Weight Ratio
- Superior Elastic Limit
- High Corrosion Resistance
- High Wear-Resistance
- Unique Acoustical Properties
One of the direct results of the unique atomic structure of liquid metal alloys is very high yield strength, which approaches the theoretical limit and far exceeds the strength currently available in crystalline metals and alloys. For example, yield strength of over 250 ksi has been achieved in Zr-base and Ti-base Liquidmetal alloys (VIT-001 series). This is more than twice the strength of conventional titanium alloys.

[Schrup]

I wonder why they got out of the golf equipment business.

[Wrecked944]

Combine this with the recent development of TRANSPARENT ALUMINUM

http://www.rense.com/general20/transparentalum.htm

...and we can live in both Star Trek and Terminator simultaneously!

[Wrecked944]

Oh yeah, and how does affect my car??? Will I be able to buy super strong and lightweight axles, wheels, crank shafts, and cup holders????

[M.D. Holloway]

Janus - way cool stuff!

Years ago in grad school I was able to make a polyacrylate with over 52% lead. It was still transparent with a slight grey tint. The up-side, it shielded X-Rays, down side it was toxic as hell if it ever caught fire...oh well.

Here is something that is being used today:

DiamondGuard™ SRG
Glass that’s nearly diamond-like -- tough and beautiful.
DiamondGuard® SRG (Scratch Resistance Glass) is a family of permanent protective coatings that provides glass with exceptional scratch resistance. In fact, glass with one of our DiamondGuard SRG coatings is proven to be over 10 times more scratch resistant than tempered and chemically strengthened glass.

Developed by Guardian’s Science and Technology Center using a patented process of diamond-like carbon deposition on glass, these coatings are not only renowned for their toughness, but their versatility and beauty as well.


Characteristics Include:
Scratch resistant
Low maintenance
Highly transparent
Chemically inert

Applications:
Transportation
Store fixtures and display cases
Custom tabletops
Furniture
Institutional – hospitals, schools, transportation
Vending machines

They actually made floor tiles out of the stuff - had mirror behind. Put it in the lobby of a hotel and for 6 minths it was like walking on a mirror and it never srcatched! The hotel had to take it out because men were looking up womens dresses - the hotal was getting complaints!