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Keyword: aluminumoxide

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  • See the 'Star of India,' decades after it was nabbed in a heist [NYC]

    06/11/2021 11:51:04 AM PDT · by Red Badger · 5,467 replies
    https://www.livescience.com ^ | JUNE 11, 2021 | By Mindy Weisberger - Senior Writer
    At 563 carats, the Star of India is the world’s largest gem-quality blue star sapphire, and is approximately 2 billion years old. (Image credit: D. Finnin/Copyright AMNH) ================================================================== What does the legendary Star of India — a 563-carat star sapphire the size of a golf ball — have in common with a 35-million-year-old petrified redwood slab; a massive cluster of sword-like crystals that looks like it came from "Game of Thrones;" and a 5-ton (4.5-metric ton) stone pillar that can "sing?" You can see all of them, along with 5,000 other amazing stones, in the newly renovated Mignone Hall of...
  • New glass almost as tough as steel [Transparent Aluminum!]

    11/04/2015 1:21:58 PM PST · by Red Badger · 103 replies
    phys.org ^ | 11/04/2015 | Staff
    Transmittance spectrum of the 54Al2O3-46Ta2O5 glass in the UV/vis region. The inset picture shows the glass sample used for the transmittance experiment. Credit: (c) 2015 Scientific Reports (2015). DOI: 10.1038/srep15233 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ (Phys.org)—A team of researchers with The University of Tokyo and Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute has created a type of glass that is stronger than many metals. In their paper published in the journal Scientific Reports, the researchers describe how they overcame one of the major hurdles in creating glass imbued with extra amounts of an oxide of aluminum, by using what they call aerodynamic levitation. Glass that does...