Super-hard metal 'four times tougher than titanium'

BBC ^ | 07/22/2016 | Helen Briggs

[BenLurkin]

A super-hard metal has been made in the laboratory by melting together titanium and gold.

The alloy is the hardest known metallic substance compatible with living tissues, say US physicists.

The material is four times harder than pure titanium and has applications in making longer-lasting medical implants, they say.

Conventional knee and hip implants have to be replaced after about 10 years due to wear and tear.

Details of the new metal - an alloy of gold and titanium - are revealed in the journal, Science Advances.

Prof Emilia Morosan, of Rice University, Houston, said her team had made the discovery while working on unconventional magnets made from titanium and gold.

The new materials needed to be made into powders to check their purity, but beta-Ti3Au, as it is known, was too tough to be ground in a diamond-coated mortar and pestle.

[longfellow]

Holy wolverine,batman.

[Sybeck1]

adamantium

[fwdude]

I’m thinking more on the lines of Steve Austin (aging myself, I know.)

[MortMan]

Reardon metal.

[uncle fenders]

Using gold to make something harder seems so unlikely. It will be interesting to watch this over time.

[tomkat]

hardashellium

[Stentor]

Roswell.

[butlerweave]

This made me think of a xmas fruitcake

[BenLurkin]

Ah!

This explains why the aliens want our gold.

[fwdude]

This made me think of a xmas fruitcake

Or a Democrat's skull.

[IronJack]

Tougher than tungsten?

[Scrambler Bob]

So what happens when two pieces are rubbed against each other?

What gives?

[rjsimmon]

Unobtanium

[COBOL2Java]

I collect metals as a hobby. I’d love to get a sample (few grams would be nice), but I’d wager at this point beta-Ti3Au would be prohibitively expensive.

[COBOL2Java]

So what happens when two pieces are rubbed against each other?

What gives?

See you on the other side!

[Wolfie]

[Oratam]

[left that other site]

(((Shrug))))

[Stentor]

This explains why the aliens want our gold.

While it destroys the "you can't eat gold argument". You could trade it to the aliens for an interociter.