Were the soviets that far ahead? Because the T3 trams from the 60s were already made of composites.
A New Age of Materials Is Dawning, for Everything from Smartphones to Missiles
41–50 of 135 posts
Re: A New Age of Materials Is Dawning, for Everything from Smartphones to Missiles
#42Why aren't more regular cars made of carbon fiber? Especially with EVs needing to be as efficient as possible.
The BMW i3 had a carbon fiber frame and was still reasonably priced back in 2013, yet no other normal cars seem to have went this way.
Re: A New Age of Materials Is Dawning, for Everything from Smartphones to Missiles
#43As a hiker/outdoors person, materials evolution has been a fantastic improvement in so many ways. Even lightweight traveling.
Probably not great for the environment though, with plastic microfibers washing into our oceans and DWR coatings being toxic and leaching into waterways. Compared to, say, what they climbed Everest with originally, yeah, our gear today is lighter, cheaper, more effective, but also more environmentally impactful and much less degradable. It's all just byproducts of the oil industry. We're a lot more comfortable now, b…
Most of the new gear also doesn't last nearly as long.
Re: A New Age of Materials Is Dawning, for Everything from Smartphones to Missiles
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
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
>but it would be interesting to ponder how they would have evolved on a metal planet It overlaps a whole lot with the concept of a dyson trees, but the core problem is that it needs to be able to use the metal in the first place - earth is a metal planet, in the sense that ~10% of the planet is iron, and yet our trees are not steel.
I don't really think that's a fair assessment, since most of it is in the core. That's some very long and heat resistant roots.
I also can't help but wonder, could trees even use iron if it was plentiful in the upper crust? You need a lot of energy to separate iron oxide into elemental iron. Betting against what evolution can make is usually a bad idea, but that would be a neat trick.
Re: A New Age of Materials Is Dawning, for Everything from Smartphones to Missiles
#45Why aren't more regular cars made of carbon fiber? Especially with EVs needing to be as efficient as possible. The BMW i3 had a carbon fiber frame and was still reasonably priced back in 2013, yet no other normal cars seem to have went this way.
In the case of the BMW i3, European legislation was introduced that made manufacturers accountable for the recyclability of their cars.
Something the article completely sidesteps when talking about metals versus composites :-)
Cost versus steel may well have been a factor as well.
Re: A New Age of Materials Is Dawning, for Everything from Smartphones to Missiles
#46One of my biggest everyday QoL upgrade is men's casual pants finally getting elastane.
E: not just elastane but performance fabrics from athleisure in general, good moisture/odour/temperature control, easy to maintain etc. Some people like break in into their cotton/denim classics, but performance fabrics tend to not need break in in at all.
Re: A New Age of Materials Is Dawning, for Everything from Smartphones to Missiles
#47Why aren't more regular cars made of carbon fiber? Especially with EVs needing to be as efficient as possible. The BMW i3 had a carbon fiber frame and was still reasonably priced back in 2013, yet no other normal cars seem to have went this way.
from what I understand it's because it's a lot more expensive than its alternatives.
Like yes, for a bunch of structures you can neatly automate it (see most rocket production), but the shapes of (current) cars don't easily offer themselves to similar options. Automation is possible but would probably be finicky and require a lot of space and energy (for the heating).
but someone else please jump in if you know better/more.
Re: A New Age of Materials Is Dawning, for Everything from Smartphones to Missiles
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
>but it would be interesting to ponder how they would have evolved on a metal planet It overlaps a whole lot with the concept of a dyson trees, but the core problem is that it needs to be able to use the metal in the first place - earth is a metal planet, in the sense that ~10% of the planet is iron, and yet our trees are not steel.
I don't really think that's a fair assessment, since most of it is in the core. That's some very long and heat resistant roots. I also can't help but wonder, could trees even use iron if it was plentiful in the upper crust? You need a lot of energy to separate iron oxide into elemental iron. Betting against what evolution can make is usually a bad idea, but that would be a neat trick.
Both iron and titanium are ubiquitous in the crust. I think they are the 4th and 9th most common elements, and definitely far more common than carbon.
Re: A New Age of Materials Is Dawning, for Everything from Smartphones to Missiles
#49As a hiker/outdoors person, materials evolution has been a fantastic improvement in so many ways. Even lightweight traveling.
Probably not great for the environment though, with plastic microfibers washing into our oceans and DWR coatings being toxic and leaching into waterways. Compared to, say, what they climbed Everest with originally, yeah, our gear today is lighter, cheaper, more effective, but also more environmentally impactful and much less degradable. It's all just byproducts of the oil industry. We're a lot more comfortable now, b…
It's cheaper and doesn't last as long, but wouldn't that translate into being more degradable, not less? There are fewer atoms there, and the whole microplastics problem is it losing atoms.
Re: A New Age of Materials Is Dawning, for Everything from Smartphones to Missiles
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't really think that's a fair assessment, since most of it is in the core. That's some very long and heat resistant roots. I also can't help but wonder, could trees even use iron if it was plentiful in the upper crust? You need a lot of energy to separate iron oxide into elemental iron. Betting against what evolution can make is usually a bad idea, but that would be a neat trick.
Both iron and titanium are ubiquitous in the crust. I think they are the 4th and 9th most common elements, and definitely far more common than carbon.
Yeah, but plants don't normally pull carbon out of the ground; they get it from the air.