Posted on 10/01/2005 6:10:57 PM PDT by strategofr
Every time an astronaut gets off the ground, he or she owes a debt to the Wright brothers, not just because the boys dared to fly, but because they were smart enough to use a newfangled aluminum alloy to lighten the load of their engine and make flight possible.
The art and science of creating new, lighter and stronger metal alloys has progressed remarkably in the intervening 100 years. But many scientists now envision a looming limit to this progress owing to a mature science that will now make only incremental gains.
Then along comes Takashi Saito, a Japanese researcher who appears to have shattered the glass ceiling on metal-alloy development limitations.
Saito, of the Toyota Central Research and Development Laboratories, and his colleagues have jettisoned the traditional art approach to alloy development -- the trial and error used at Kitty Hawk and everywhere since -- and turned to pure science, specifically quantum mechanics and high-powered computer computation, to create new mixtures of metal which, one outside scientist says, have spectacular properties of strength and flexibility.
In the April 17 issue of the journal Science, Saito's team writes that their titanium-based alloys exhibit "super" properties, such as ultrahigh strength and super elasticity. The new materials could prove useful for spaceflight, where precision operations are conducted in ruthless conditions.
The alloys approach "magic" upper property limits that previous methods could not attain, the scientists say.
Alloys of myriad mixings are used in various parts on satellites, deep space probes and the shuttle fleet. The new alloys could be particularly suitable for ultralightweight springs, as one example, or other "precision instruments for use in rugged environments such as in outer space," the researchers report.
To develop an alloy, researchers add one ore more so-called solute elements to a metallic solvent, such as aluminum or titanium, explains Gary Shiflet, who wrote an analysis of the new results for the journal. But there is a practically infinite number of possible atomic combinations that, in the end, result in wildly differing structural properties.
Saito's group has made "major advances in specific material properties that would be exceedingly difficult to achieve by trial and error," says Shiflet, who works in materials science and engineering at the University of Virginia.
The result, Shiflet says, is an alloy with "spectacular properties" and the promise of materials that "may have the strength to carry a load and be able to perform another distinctive capacity, such as sensing damage and perhaps even repairing themselves."
Shiflet said the discovery, and the computer work that drove it, are incentives for other researchers to concoct new metal mixtures.
Take diamonds which are the hardest material known at put it at 100, then take the softest stuff you know of and put it at 1, and you've got the Rockwell (named after the inventor) scale.
Thanks for the ping.
By the PR, this new metal is impressive, however I would rather see more done with carbon.
"I think you'd have been a good one."
I'd like to think so, but probably not. I got most of my training in math with "New Math" and developed a terrible hatred of it. Then, in high school, my Algebra teacher told me that the reason I needed to learn Algebra was "To graduate from High School." Smart@ss that I was (and probably still am, come to think of it) I said "oh, yeah?"
I finally got a clue while I was in the Air Force. Still haven't made it thorough Trig, though. When I have a little more spare time, I'll retake it, repeating as necessary, until I pass, then do the same for Calc and Analytic Geometry. In the meantime, I'm trying to become a high school teacher. I did mention that I finally got a clue, right? Now I know what Algebra is good for, among other things.
Imagine what would happen if these were used in the Moller SkyCar?
The one that was in Popular Mechanics back in the sixties, and the founder has actually produced these.
And they look just like the original, which amazes me.
Right now these things have vertical liftoff, can cruise at 350mph and have four hour fuel capacity. Can carry four people.
Imagine.
lol....
I think you've been caught on film. Was this you?
Please add me to the FT ping list. Thanks for your work!
What is going to keep the car on the ground at speed and/or a strong side wind?
And stop riding in the middle of the road at rush hour holding traffic to 15 MPH when it would go 40 MPH - and when there is a perfectly good bicycle path - right next to the road - fer chrissakes.
My high school ring was made of Futurium. Balfour, in the class ring pamphlet, proclaimed Futurium "the metal of the future". Even though it was cutting edge technology, it was much much cheaper than gold or silver.
I wonder if these guys are on the cusp of rediscovering an alloy which Balfour had already unwittingly perfected.
"No tandem riding..."
It's legal in virtually ever state. Besides, it makes no difference, given the law of physics stating that two objects cannot occupy the same space.
No, I'm not gonna ride on the white line so you can "slide thru" at 55 mph, missing me by inches.
"And cyclists... among them some Freepers... will still flip us the bird for having the gall to ride on THEIR roads. "
You pass me all nice and proper, and don't cut me off, and I'll wave "thank you."
"Who pays the fuel taxes?"
Trucks. By your logic the guys who haul the A1 tanks, along with cement mixers, own your a&&.
Now, who puts virtually zero demands on the pavement? And who breaks up the pavement?
Not about flying squirrels. Rocky's full name was Rocket J Squirrel.
Typical bicycle A'hole behavior. You wonder why people flip you off. You just answered your own question.
Does this mean I'm finally going to get a flying car?
Zero demands as far as weight, space is another matter.
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