Exceptionally strong and lightweight new metal created [Reardon Metal?]

phys.org ^ | December 23, 2015 | Provided by: University of California, Los Angeles

[Ancesthntr]

The solution for guns that you want to be lighter, yet have the same strength, is Flash Bainite (a specially, though cheaply, processed steel). See http://nextbigfuture.com/2015/12/super-strong-flash-bainite-steel.html

Make the barrel and all components exposed to high heat out of Flash Bainite steel, and the rest can be made of anything at all. Maybe the 2 processes can even be combined?

[Ancesthntr]

I forget who said it, but some VERY bright and notable scientist once said that if a young scientist says that something is possible, listen to him; OTOH, if some old scientist says it is impossible, just ignore him. I guess that the old scientists were advising the government back then, but the bureaucratic imperative (grow or die) preserved the Patent Office.

I don’t think that anyone, save literal Communists, will ever make that assinine suggestion again.

[USMCPOP]

What about guns? They already make guns out of the lightest materials. Steel (or possibly Titanium or a steel insert with carbon fiber wrap)) for the barrel and hard-wearing parts. Plastic frames. Get too light and the gun is unmanageable. As in, it hurts to fire it.

[Boogieman]

I doubt we’ll ever get the space elevator idea to work, the forces just seem a bit too insurmountable. I think a more practical approach, like rail gun launchers, or dirigible launch platforms, will be the way to go.

[USMCPOP]

The solution for guns that you want to be lighter, yet have the same strength, is Flash Bainite

I went to school with that guy. We called him "Jiffy Stiff".

[SpaceBar]

Perhaps one other engineering property should be mentioned is that silicon carbide is extremely hard and is an abrasive. Machining this stuff will require diamond tools, as it would chew up a high speed drill bit for example like it were a cooked noodle.

[Covenantor]

I’m think space elevators...

IIRC, a space elevator has to be on the equator, so the first thing is location, location, location. Assuming a sea anchor point is pretty much out of the equation, and Africa is, well Africa. That leaves a small sector in northern South America.

An area where the political climate is as iffy as the tectonic activity. Interesting problem, no?

[Red Badger]

IIRC, likes can machine likes. So a silicon carbide tool should be able to machine it..................or :

http://phys.org/news/2009-02-scientists-material-harder-diamond.html

[no-s]

That's Clarke's (1st) Law of Prediction: When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.

[free_life]

Wonder if same can be dome with aluminum, magnesium is 2.5 times higher price than aluminum.

[Lake Living]

Oh, how well I remember. I rebuilt my wife’s back in the early 70’s. But I think the finned cylinders were steel. I was just wondering if the weight was a big enough factor that they might go with a Mg block and sleeve it out - or if that would be needed. I’m guessing it still would be.

[Bob434]

woohoo- metal toilet paper coming soon (did I say that out loud?)

[pas]

Just say no go GMO metals.

[rmichaelj]

Oh, when/if we develop the technology for a space elevator, brazil may be a superpower, who knows. Btw like your tagline- I’m a big Chesterton fan. Speaking of Chesterton- “Do you know how angels fly?...........They take themselves lightly!” And given the time of year.

The House of Christmas

There fared a mother driven forth
Out of an inn to roam;
In the place where she was homeless
All men are at home.
The crazy stable close at hand,
With shaking timber and shifting sand,
Grew a stronger thing to abide and stand
Than the square stones of Rome.

For men are homesick in their homes,
And strangers under the sun,
And they lay on their heads in a foreign land
Whenever the day is done.
Here we have battle and blazing eyes,
And chance and honour and high surprise,
But our homes are under miraculous skies
Where the yule tale was begun.

A Child in a foul stable,
Where the beasts feed and foam;
Only where He was homeless
Are you and I at home;
We have hands that fashion and heads that know,
But our hearts we lost – how long ago!
In a place no chart nor ship can show
Under the sky’s dome.

This world is wild as an old wives’ tale,
And strange the plain things are,
The earth is enough and the air is enough
For our wonder and our war;
But our rest is as far as the fire-drake swings
And our peace is put in impossible things
Where clashed and thundered unthinkable wings
Round an incredible star.

To an open house in the evening
Home shall men come,
To an older place than Eden
And a taller town than Rome.
To the end of the way of the wandering star,
To the things that cannot be and that are,
To the place where God was homeless
And all men are at home.
.........GK Chesterton

[Some Fat Guy in L.A.]

Can it be welded? What about flammability?

[PA Engineer]

how will it burn ? like beryllium or lithium ?

That is exactly what I was thinking.

[Covenantor]

Thanks for the Chesterton insert. Hadn’t come across it before.

Very Merry and joyous Christmas greetings.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Red Badger.

[Ozark Tom]

Manages a passivation similar to aluminum.

https://www.scienceandtechnologyresearchnews.com/discovery-of-stainless-magnesium-could-herald-transport-revolution/

[Red Badger]

Or any metal, since this particular alloy is just silicon carbide nanoparticles infused within the magnesium structure. The possibilities are endless................................