Breakthrough Technology: Glassy Metal

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Mikey_
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Breakthrough Technology: Glassy Metal

Post by Mikey_ »

Two years ago, Discover Magazine wrote a story on a new material that's stronger than metal/steel -- 2 sheets of the new Glassy Metal as thin as aluminum foil can ALMOST withstand a bomb!

It can also be molded like plastic, enabling car manufacturers to create light, strong bumpers... It's even strong enough to be used to construct buildings.

Crazy... I can also see how it could be used for war. That's a scary thought.

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Post by mb_rockstar »

I read, somewhere, that they were going to start using that material on aircrafts soon or maybe they are using it for certain parts right now. Apparently, it's a pretty expensive material. It would have been nice to construct a whole airplane using that material.

Hmm...yea, I guess it would be scary if that material was applied in war. Although, I try to think of all the good things it would do for the world.

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Post by Eddy »

wow, what a contradiction .......... its like that old chinese story of a man with the best sword which can cut through anything and he also has the best shield which can protect him from anything....... .....i'm thinking of the bomb and the material.

i thought i had read you, mike, wrote something about this type of metal a while ago, didn't you? i could be dreaming.....

anyways, if all cars will be made of that material......then wouldn't it just be the samething ? all hours will be build with that material, seems like the only thing getting weaker are us, the humans........we still wear the same 100% cotton or wool materials...........this reminds of that commercial where chevy was having a 25% off but then the next week.....all the other automakers had 25% off as well.....something like that....... don't its that exact discount number but you get the point...

yeah, it does seem very scary knowing how much more easier it is for US to domolish other nations.....

i'm still waiting for my poster monitor, didn't you guys write something about that couple years back? our monitors/keyboards will be foldable and "rollable" like posters?
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Post by Mikey_ »

Hi Eddy,

I'm not sure if I wrote about this metal before, but I do remember having read the same article in the past.

The Chevrolet thing was that employee discount for everyone program :)

And in regards to the foldable computer display and laser-beamed keyboards... technology always takes a long time to implement, not to mention go down in price enough for mass consumption. So, give it another 5 years or so, I guess :) Maybe even 10.
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Post by Mikey_ »

Eddy, here's a good reason for why Glassy Metals aren't widely adopted yet:

They cost 15x more than aluminum and 60x more than steel :)

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Post by Mikey_ »

Guess what? Glassy Metals are ALREADY being used :) The company that's manufacturing them is LiquidMetal Technologies in Lake Forest, CA.

Products include Liquidmetal golf clubs and a tennis racket frame that Andre Agassi used in 2003 -- the glassy metal property, instead of absorbing the balls' energy, actually trampoline the balls back. There's almost no less in energy apparently.

The military (Army, Navy) are also developing products with it.

Some prototypes are stronger, lighter laptop cases, cell phone bodies, ... They just aren't widely used yet due to the cost of the material.
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Post by Eddy »

i can just see this being used as the future of baseball bats so we don't have to keep talking about the steriods stuff.
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