6mo ago

US makes strongest-ever armor material with 100 trillion bonds/cm²

interestingengineering.com

50 comments

Now this is a technology post!
- I don't know if I'd call materials science technology, exactly, but it's certainly more on topic than "business but at a tech company" posts.
  
  Of course material science is technology lol
  
  Wow what a stupid comment. Materials science is technology.
  
  Yeah, everyone knows that technology only involves computers and they're basically just made out of metal and not some fancy material.
  
  What would you say is technology? Materials science isn't technology, but what about things made out of the materials created by materials science?
....and uses it to oppress and/or disenfranchise poor people
- You mispronounced promote American interests.
Could this be used to make a space elevator?
- No.
  
  What about a space escalator?
- It would probably be strong enough, but not viable to manufacture.
  
  Extreme doubt on strong enough. The author of this article barely understands the words they are using. Cool it strain hardens, so do so many other materials. Cool it's tough like many other materials. Wow it has more links than others. No actual numbers about toughness, yield, ultimate strength, cycle limits, etc. It's great research, but it absolutely isn't going to magically solve the space elevator issue.
- I think I remember reading that a structure strong enough would have to be wider than the earth
  
  The stronger the material the thinner it could be.
  There are a lot of properties in the word 'stronger' though.
I can't wait to find out how toxic this is.
- Good news, it’s completely non toxic.
  Bad news, it costs 2 million dollars per square foot.
  The pentagon will now take your whole paycheck.
  Thank you for your support, patriot.
  
  Good news, it costs 2 million dollars per square foot, so they won't militarise the police further with it.
  
  The article says the process is scalable.
- They will make it into a mandatory dress uniform for school children.
molecular chainmail
Goes on to form company called General Products, builds spacecraft hulls. 😉
- Please, could we move to Known Space?
I'm sure this is real, but I see a headline like that and I think of schoolyard talk. Like, nuh uh, my armour has 100 trillion bonds, you can't shoot me.
- They must have hired some former Nvidia marketing guys.
Paper link: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ads4968
- This is still basic research, it's not close to commercialization.
China, please respect this secret. Its made up with grapheme threads. Its impossible to understand exactly so we made a little picture with the molecules and such so you can't copy it.
hello I would like to order a thousand full plate mails
I skimmed the article, scrolled down but people hasn't mentioned its mechanically Chain mail in atomic scale yet? Did I read it wrong?
- It is
i could make stronger
- I did your mom stronger
- Me when the only thing I eat all day is weed and cheese.
Why don't they just use diamond, the hardest metal?
- Hardness isn't the best thing to have in armor. In fact, extreme hardness means extreme brittleness.
  Tensile strength is more desirable in armor. That's the sort of strength that a string or rope, or Kevlar will have.
  Those can stretch a bit before breaking.
  Kevlar will stretch a bit when catching a bullet, this does a few things, but importantly it slows the bullet before stopping it.
  So this new material will likely show extreme tensile strength rather than hardness.
  
  Correct. 🙂 Reminds me of when I wanted new tires & I was complaining about how some tires were rated for a criminally short life. I wondered which ones lasted the longest.
  The mechanic then remarked that sure, they can make tires that last a hell of a long time & never puncture. But the ride would be so terrible because the tires would be tough, stiff, would work your suspension harder, and it would cost a fortune to boot. It's not worth it. There are multiple material, usage considerations when making a product. Really makes you appreciate the experts in their various fields.
- Currently, garbage. They used it to reinforce a polymer to go from a strength of 50 MPa to 70 MPa. Kevlar is 10x stronger, commercially scaled, and cheap
Surely I can't be the only one who thought this were interleaved DNA chains
- Anecdotal evidence would seem to suggest that DNA is not a particularly effective armor.
100 trillion barry bonds
- At least it’s not 100 trillion James Bonds.
  
  Not if Hank Scorpio has anything to say about it.

50 comments