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FYI- Transparent Aluminum is a real thing

Fritzo

Fritzo

Lifer
Damn Scotty messed up our timeline!

http://www.ohgizmo.com/2012/05/09/did-you-know-that-transparent-aluminum-exists/

By David Ponce

alon-plates-500x333.jpg

Maybe you watched Star Trek IV and thought the idea of having a whale tank made from transparent aluminum to be one of those far fetched sci-fi gimmicks. But would you be surprised to find out that at the time the movie was made, that particular material already existed? Not from the metallic aluminum you know and love, mind you, but from an aluminum-based ceramic called aluminum oxynitride, aka “AlON.” You may be thinking to yourself that this is not the same, but hey, this is still a transparent, aluminum-based material that is capable of stopping a .50 bullet with a plate 1.6 inches in thickness. A 3.7 inch slab of laminate glass not only doesn’t stop this same bullet, but lets it go through with enough speed for it to do some serious damage to a dummy skull on the other side.

Transparent aluminum starts out as a pile of white aluminum oxynitride powder. That powder gets packed into a rubber mold in the rough shape of the desired part, and subjected to a procedure called isostatic pressing, in which the mold is compressed in a tank of hydraulic fluid to 15,000 psi, which mashes the AlON into a grainy “green body.” The grainy structure is then fused together by heating at 2000 °C for several days. The surface of the resulting part is cloudy, and has to be mechanically polished to make it optically clear.

Of course this material is super expensive, and is usually reserved for high-performance military applications. “AlON is manufactured by Massachusetts-based Surmet Corporation for use in armored windows, lenses for battlefield optics, and “seeker domes,” which are the clear round windows covering the sensor heads on the business ends of many missiles.”
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Want a exoskeleton made of this stuff so I can be the supersteaker!


trademark applied for naked superhero
 
lokiju said:
Well they (and many other companies) have been using "Transparent Aluminum" for a few years now.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorilla_Glass
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Gorilla glass isn't aluminum oxynitride. Gorilla glass is made sort of like regular glass. There are sodium atoms present in regular glass. During this manufacturing process, sodium ions migrate out and are replaced by potassium ions which are larger. This more or less pushes all the other atoms tighter together. Think of it like having a coblestone driveway. Pull out some of the pieces and drive in bigger pieces which will then act as wedges pushing everything else tighter together.

If you want, you can take your household glasses & treat them. Then, you could drop your glasses on the floor and they (probably) wouldn't break. At the very least, they'll survive most impacts a lot better than untreated glasses would. One of my old profs from ceramic engineering runs a company on the side which does exactly this, though they can't use the name "gorilla glass." For anyone who doesn't want to use plastic water bottles, or wants to "go green", glasses/bottles made by this process are the ideal solution. The problem with glass has been, "too fragile" - this solves that problem, though the bottles are a little more expensive. Hmmm... compared to some of the plastic trendy bottles though, not really much more expensive.


http://hercuglass.com/index.php?main_page=page_2
 
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