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Transparent Aluminum

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Re: Transparent Aluminum

#11

Post by A_D_E_P_T »

spauka wrote: post #6

Worth noting that the material is not conductive or otherwise metallic in any way. In a lot of ways this material is similar to Alumina (Sapphire) which you could also describe as "Transparent Aluminum". Conductive transparent materials do exist (see ITO https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indium_tin_oxide ), but this is not it.

It's also highly brittle, with a fracture toughness of 2 MPa.m1/2 -- which makes it only marginally tougher than borosilicate glass, and broadly equivalent to many brittle ceramics such as silicon carbide.

6061 aluminum has a fracture toughness of roughly 29 MPa.m1/2.

So "transparent aluminum" exhibits fracture behavior that is much more glass-like than aluminum-like.

Re: Transparent Aluminum

#12

Post by jldugger »

lostmsu wrote: post #5
DoreenMichele wrote: post #4

Technically, the Wikipedia article is called Aluminium oxynitride . Please don't tell the mod. This title (Transparent Aluminum) is more informative and also works as a Star Trek reference, which isn't a bad thing.

> This title is more informative No, it is not. It is no more "transparent aluminium" than glass is a "transparent silicon".

I mean, thats more or less correct, though. It just isn't like, what we make interstellar spaceship chassis out of. But we might put it in windows of the ISS.

Re: Transparent Aluminum

#13

Post by [deleted] »

lostmsu wrote: post #5
DoreenMichele wrote: post #4

Technically, the Wikipedia article is called Aluminium oxynitride . Please don't tell the mod. This title (Transparent Aluminum) is more informative and also works as a Star Trek reference, which isn't a bad thing.

> This title is more informative No, it is not. It is no more "transparent aluminium" than glass is a "transparent silicon".

[deleted]

Re: Transparent Aluminum

#16

Post by bunabhucan »

jbm wrote: post #14

I wish there was an actual picture instead of just a molecular structure graph. I found one here: https://makezine.com/article/science/transparent-aluminum/ Also a video of it being used as Armor? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnUszxx2pYc

http://www.surmet.com/technology/alon-optical-ceramics/

Re: Transparent Aluminum

#17

Post by jksmith »

LeoPanthera wrote: post #8

Since everyone is now thinking of Star Trek IV: The computer that Scotty uses in the Plexicorp scene appears to be a Macintosh Plus, but its internals were completely changed for filming. Its screen was replaced with one from an IBM PC to make it easier to synchronize its video refresh rate with the film camera's frame rate, and the "transparent aluminum" animation was created on an IBM PC by computer graphics compan…

>The computer that Scotty uses to show transparent aluminum was originally going to be an Amiga, but Commodore would only give permission if they bought their own. Apple Computer was willing to give them a Mac for free.

Without knowing all the details, that seems like a dumb move by Commodore. Too bad though that some geeks weren't consulted, since they might have fixed up a Symbolics machine for the scene, which was a movie prop during the 80's.

Re: Transparent Aluminum

#19

Post by bigmattystyles »

LeoPanthera wrote: post #8

Since everyone is now thinking of Star Trek IV: The computer that Scotty uses in the Plexicorp scene appears to be a Macintosh Plus, but its internals were completely changed for filming. Its screen was replaced with one from an IBM PC to make it easier to synchronize its video refresh rate with the film camera's frame rate, and the "transparent aluminum" animation was created on an IBM PC by computer graphics compan…

I like this scene a lot but my favorite one is McCoy in the hospital, especially the scene in the elevator where he is horrified we’re still using chemotherapy.

Re: Transparent Aluminum

#20

Post by andrewflnr »

spauka wrote: post #6

Worth noting that the material is not conductive or otherwise metallic in any way. In a lot of ways this material is similar to Alumina (Sapphire) which you could also describe as "Transparent Aluminum". Conductive transparent materials do exist (see ITO https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indium_tin_oxide ), but this is not it.

Yeah, I was kind of wondering what they need that nitrogen there for. Maybe ALON is easier to manufacture in bulk or something...
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