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A New Age of Materials Is Dawning, for Everything from Smartphones to Missiles

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Re: A New Age of Materials Is Dawning, for Everything from Smartphones to Missiles

#51

Post by weightedreply »

maxglute wrote: post #46

One 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.

I'm glad there's more choice but I wish my favorite Levi's still had a 100% cotton option. After years of easy jean shopping I now have to find another brand.

Re: A New Age of Materials Is Dawning, for Everything from Smartphones to Missiles

#52

Post by [deleted] »

talldayo wrote: post #28
1024core wrote: post #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....

To give the steel industry it's fair shake, the Titanic was also claimed to be "unsinkable".

[deleted]

Re: A New Age of Materials Is Dawning, for Everything from Smartphones to Missiles

#53

Post by nmadden »

solardev wrote: post #40
ghaff wrote: post #14

As 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…

I agree with the thrust of your argument, but I just want to point out that wool is not environmentally neutral. Sheep are incredibly destructive and have historical caused a lot of degradation of habitats.

https://www.monbiot.com/2013/05/30/sheepwrecked/

Re: A New Age of Materials Is Dawning, for Everything from Smartphones to Missiles

#56

Post by fifticon »

jaggederest wrote: post #9
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kinda feels like you're missing the point of the quoted sentence. That is, it's not that wood is actually a composite material as we define it now, but that wood has the characteristics of a composite, i.e. different substances intertwined in a way to give better properties than any individual material alone, and going with the theme of the article, this is a direct contrast to materials like steel or plastic.

The other important property that wood shares with modern manmade composites is that it is anisotropic - i.e., it is stronger in some directions of force than others. You can use bodyweight to snap a short grain board that would, if it were long grain, hold up under a ton or more.

note when you make OSB2 and OSB3, you to some degree can make up for this(?)

Re: A New Age of Materials Is Dawning, for Everything from Smartphones to Missiles

#57

Post by [deleted] »

aranchelk wrote: post #27

Nitpick time: > Modern composites, starting with Bakelite AFAIK Bakelite is a resin, not a composite. No mention of fiberglass, which had been used for many decades before carbon fiber went into widespread use. > composites—which are amalgamations of a variety of fibers, embedded in a variety of plastics Steel reinforced concrete is a composite and doesn’t fit this definition.

[deleted]

Re: A New Age of Materials Is Dawning, for Everything from Smartphones to Missiles

#58

Post by fuzztester »

nyanpasu64 wrote: post #33
aranchelk wrote: post #27

Nitpick time: > Modern composites, starting with Bakelite AFAIK Bakelite is a resin, not a composite. No mention of fiberglass, which had been used for many decades before carbon fiber went into widespread use. > composites—which are amalgamations of a variety of fibers, embedded in a variety of plastics Steel reinforced concrete is a composite and doesn’t fit this definition.

I looked it up on Wikipedia ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakelite ) which said: > Because molded Bakelite incorporated fillers to give it strength, it tended to be made in concealing dark colors.[9]

In older style corded land line phones, the body was made of black bakelite, in India.

Re: A New Age of Materials Is Dawning, for Everything from Smartphones to Missiles

#59

Post by thr33 »

maxglute wrote: post #46

One 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.

complete disaster. terrible for your skin, feels gross, falls apart, and cannot be repaired. meanwhile my cotton pants that have been repaired many times are still treasured wardrobe items almost 10 years on.

Re: A New Age of Materials Is Dawning, for Everything from Smartphones to Missiles

#60

Post by imp0cat »

jillesvangurp wrote: post #54
Anotheroneagain wrote: post #41

Were the soviets that far ahead? Because the T3 trams from the 60s were already made of composites.

Parts of the DDR era Trabant cars were also made out of composites.

Papier-mache, to be exact. ;)
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