DailyDirt: Novel Materials... And We're Not Talking About Books

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

History used to be defined by materials: the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, the Iron Age, etc. We don't really do that anymore... now that there are so many novel composite materials with properties that far surpass simple alloys or ceramics. Still, the development of new materials is important to creating items/gadgets that are thinner, lighter and/or safer. For your reading pleasure, here are just a few more examples of materials that could help improve our lives.
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Filed Under: aluminum, glass, nanocomposite, neodymium, rare earth metal, teeth


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  • identicon
    Lawrence D'Oliveiro, 27 Jan 2011 @ 5:33pm

    Since People Are Living Longer ...

    ... we could call ourselves the Age Age.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Michael Ho (profile), 27 Jan 2011 @ 6:32pm

      Re: Nitinol

      That's a good one... metal alloys that exhibit shape memory and superelasticity are pretty cool...

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Pixelation, 27 Jan 2011 @ 9:48pm

    "Now I'm just waiting for bullet-proof iPhones."

    Well Mr Bond, it seems you are still alive. Why of course I am, I had my iphone over my heart which stopped that bullet cold.

    On another note...

    I watched a show last night that talked about aerogel. Very cool. Especially since it was discovered in 1931. I'm amazed we don't have more material derived from it yet.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Michael Ho (profile), 28 Jan 2011 @ 1:54pm

      Re:

      Aerogels are extremely brittle... and aren't that easy/cheap to mass produce, if memory serves me correctly. So aerogels find their way into Shuttle heat shield tiles... but their performance/price isn't really justified anywhere else.

      And I think they've even found better heat shield materials...

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Rose M. Welch (profile), 28 Jan 2011 @ 6:18am

    Nah, we're the Novel Composite Materials Age.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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