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.- Blast-resistant glass that is thinner and tougher is making its way into buildings to protect people from the possibility of flying glass shards. Now I'm just waiting for bullet-proof iPhones. [url]
- Metal foams could be used in ship hulls, reducing freight vessel weight by about 30%. The real trick is, as always, making this material as cheap or cheaper than the good ol' steel plates to be replaced. [url]
- Nanocomposite magnets that use far fewer rare-earth metals might save us from China's monopoly on neodymium. Designing materials with desirable electro-magnetic properties is not easy... so by the time these new magnets are ready, we'll probably have rare earth metal mines running all over the globe. [url]
- Studying ancient tooth enamel could help people design better nanocomposites. Hopefully, though, new nanocomposites won't need to be brushed and flossed every day. [url]
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: aluminum, glass, nanocomposite, neodymium, rare earth metal, teeth
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Since People Are Living Longer ...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel_titanium
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLGaF6cWl04
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Nitinol
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
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 ]
Re:
And I think they've even found better heat shield materials...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]