Not a single mention in the article of their biggest downside, environmental costs.
A New Age of Materials Is Dawning, for Everything from Smartphones to Missiles
11–20 of 135 posts
Re: A New Age of Materials Is Dawning, for Everything from Smartphones to Missiles
#12> All of that is possible because composites, while they have their challenges, are often able to perform just as well as high-strength metal parts, but with a fraction of the weight.
That's what Rush (who perished in the Titan submersible) also thought....
Re: A New Age of Materials Is Dawning, for Everything from Smartphones to Missiles
#13> While composites might seem like a futuristic technology, in many ways, they hark back to millions of years of human and even pre-human material technology. Wood, after all, is the original composite material, as it’s composed of long and short fibers glued together by other substances—much like modern synthetic composites are often made up of carbon fiber held together by epoxy resins. Wood was a chief enabler of…
Wood was a chief enabler of the success of our species Wood was the chief enabler of trees. Trees have to be big, strong, lightweight, and bendable. Homogeneous materials won't work for that application. You need a composite. So evolution invented one. Even more amazing: Trees 3D print themselves out of carbon dioxide.
>Trees have to be big, strong, lightweight, and bendable. Homogeneous materials won't work for that application.
Why wouldn't titanium work for that application? (Assume that somehow the plant can move nutrients and fluids around some other way.) Or even steel, as long as it's not solid? Obviously, nature can't produce hollow steel tubes, but lots of metals satisfy your requirement list here.
Re: A New Age of Materials Is Dawning, for Everything from Smartphones to Missiles
#14As a hiker/outdoors person, materials evolution has been a fantastic improvement in so many ways. Even lightweight traveling.
Re: A New Age of Materials Is Dawning, for Everything from Smartphones to Missiles
#15> All of that is possible because composites, while they have their challenges, are often able to perform just as well as high-strength metal parts, but with a fraction of the weight. That's what Rush (who perished in the Titan submersible) also thought....
The problem here is that the OP's statement is correct, if you qualify it more: if the composite material is appropriate for the application, and properly designed for it, it can perform just as well. If the composite material is a stupid choice for the application for various reasons, and being touted by a guy who thinks safety standards are dumb, then you get OceanGate.
Still, you have a good point: in engineering (and especially safety-critical projects), you can't just throw some composite material in there willy-nilly and expect it to work out great. OceanGate was a great example of some really stupid and reckless engineering.
Re: A New Age of Materials Is Dawning, for Everything from Smartphones to Missiles
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wood was a chief enabler of the success of our species Wood was the chief enabler of trees. Trees have to be big, strong, lightweight, and bendable. Homogeneous materials won't work for that application. You need a composite. So evolution invented one. Even more amazing: Trees 3D print themselves out of carbon dioxide.
>Trees have to be big, strong, lightweight, and bendable. Homogeneous materials won't work for that application. Why wouldn't titanium work for that application? (Assume that somehow the plant can move nutrients and fluids around some other way.) Or even steel, as long as it's not solid? Obviously, nature can't produce hollow steel tubes, but lots of metals satisfy your requirement list here.
I think mainly because trees are not steel plants
Re: A New Age of Materials Is Dawning, for Everything from Smartphones to Missiles
#17> All of that is possible because composites, while they have their challenges, are often able to perform just as well as high-strength metal parts, but with a fraction of the weight. That's what Rush (who perished in the Titan submersible) also thought....
Hence the inclusion of the word "often" in the original sentence. There are many different types of strength - just from the get-go using carbon fiber in a sub is insane because (even ignoring the interface problem with different materials) carbon fiber is known for its strength in tension, not so much its strength in compression.
Re: A New Age of Materials Is Dawning, for Everything from Smartphones to Missiles
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wood was a chief enabler of the success of our species Wood was the chief enabler of trees. Trees have to be big, strong, lightweight, and bendable. Homogeneous materials won't work for that application. You need a composite. So evolution invented one. Even more amazing: Trees 3D print themselves out of carbon dioxide.
>Trees have to be big, strong, lightweight, and bendable. Homogeneous materials won't work for that application. Why wouldn't titanium work for that application? (Assume that somehow the plant can move nutrients and fluids around some other way.) Or even steel, as long as it's not solid? Obviously, nature can't produce hollow steel tubes, but lots of metals satisfy your requirement list here.
Trees did not evolve with bountiful access to titanium, but it would be interesting to ponder how they would have evolved on a metal planet
Re: A New Age of Materials Is Dawning, for Everything from Smartphones to Missiles
#19It's been amazing to see how it's affected sailing and other water sports over the past 2-3 of decades. Cuben fiber sails, Carbon-fiber hulls, hydrofoils on everything; something happened and then inflatable paddle boards were everywhere.
Re: A New Age of Materials Is Dawning, for Everything from Smartphones to Missiles
#20> While composites might seem like a futuristic technology, in many ways, they hark back to millions of years of human and even pre-human material technology. Wood, after all, is the original composite material, as it’s composed of long and short fibers glued together by other substances—much like modern synthetic composites are often made up of carbon fiber held together by epoxy resins. Wood was a chief enabler of…
I think they’re just trying to make composite more relatable to the Everyman without actually understanding it themselves. At least they’re trying.
They're trying, and succeeding, and it's beautiful analogy akin to ones my best physics professors would provide.