Super-Hard Metal "Four Times Tougher Than Titanium" Created

Megalith

Megalith

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Are we getting any closer to figuring out how to make adamantium? A university team has discovered how to make a material that is much stronger than pure titanium and compatible with living tissues.

Prof Emilia Morosan, of Rice University, Houston, said her team had made the discovery while working on unconventional magnets made from titanium and gold. The new materials needed to be made into powders to check their purity, but beta-Ti3Au, as it is known, was too tough to be ground in a diamond-coated mortar and pestle. The material "showed the highest hardness of all Ti-Au [titanium-gold] alloys and compounds, but also compared to many other engineering alloys", said Prof Morosan. She said the hardness of the substance, together with its higher biocompatibility, made it a "next generation compound for substantively extending the lifetime of dental implants and replacement joints".
 
I've always had a interest and fascination with materials technology and metallurgy.
 
Tungsten is still better in industrial applications.

This is really a medical advance. The article greatly under estimates the life of conventional implants. However, with work injuries, a longer lasting implant means a potentially younger recipient never having the implant replaced.

A doctor feeling confident that a replacement joint in a 30-something year old will last forever would be a tremendous leap forward.
 
Megalith said:
"next generation compound for substantively extending the lifetime of dental implants and replacement joints".
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Then
Twisted Kidney said:
The article greatly under estimates the life of conventional implants. However, with work injuries, a longer lasting implant means a potentially younger recipient never having the implant replaced.
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Teeth aren't wearing out. I have a 40 year old gold cap on a molar which is in great shape (had a cracked tooth when I was very young).

Joints are wearing out? Probably have advances in the operations that replace them; perhaps replacable contact areas that could wear out, instead of GOLD replacement pieces. I can't imagine any insurance company paying for that, they'd rather fly you to a country with cheaper surgery and just do it again with a standard replacement joint when necessary. Besides, other than the replacement joints that are screwed up in the first place, there really isn't a high percentage of artificial joints wearing out.
 
Now if they can create something akin to Adamantium as it "exists" in the comics, and then create "Vibranium" as it too exists in the comics (which is what Captain America's shield originally was, a mixture of both), then mix 'em together we'll be getting somewhere. :)

Imagine a world where vehicles in crashes had no actual damage and the passengers felt almost nothing because a) the Adamantium would not crumple or be damaged in any respects and b) the Vibranium would absorb practically all of the kinetic energy from the impact.

Of course, that would fucking ruin junk box derby situations entirely but I suppose they'd just make use of all the now useless and deadly death trap traditional vehicles we use every day.
 
Tiberian said:
Now if they can create something akin to Adamantium as it "exists" in the comics, and then create "Vibranium" as it too exists in the comics (which is what Captain America's shield originally was, a mixture of both), then mix 'em together we'll be getting somewhere. :)

Imagine a world where vehicles in crashes had no actual damage and the passengers felt almost nothing because a) the Adamantium would not crumple or be damaged in any respects and b) the Vibranium would absorb practically all of the kinetic energy from the impact.

Of course, that would fucking ruin junk box derby situations entirely but I suppose they'd just make use of all the now useless and deadly death trap traditional vehicles we use every day.
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You have a flaw in your super car. It would only work if the car was standing still, then no matter what hit it, the car would not move.

Hmm on that thought, why has no one thought of a vibranium "cow pusher" for assault vehicles in the comics? I mean nothing could stop it right, it would just get hotter and hotter as pushed cars out of the way.
 
nightfly said:
Teeth aren't wearing out. I have a 40 year old gold cap on a molar which is in great shape (had a cracked tooth when I was very young).

Joints are wearing out? Probably have advances in the operations that replace them; perhaps replacable contact areas that could wear out, instead of GOLD replacement pieces. I can't imagine any insurance company paying for that, they'd rather fly you to a country with cheaper surgery and just do it again with a standard replacement joint when necessary. Besides, other than the replacement joints that are screwed up in the first place, there really isn't a high percentage of artificial joints wearing out.
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The rule of thumb for hips and knees is 13-17 years before they have to be watched for failure. Titanium starts to splinter, in countries with barriers to healthcare those splinters can kill people if the breakage goes undetected. Right now responsible orthopaedic surgeons try to delay hip and knee replacements as long as possible due to the fact that they absolutely 100% will wear out, titanium does not heal, ever. A 30 year old is going to need another hip replacement. Period. Replacing hip replacements becomes more complicated and less effective, very few surgeons have any experience with second and third joint replacements. They don't do replacements unless they absolutely have to in young patients with injuries, that can lead to decades of really horrible pain. A replacement that lasts 50 or 60 years would eliminate the need for that long period of suffering and deteriorating quality of life.

Long story short: Doctors don't do replacements on younger patients because they WILL wear out, new materials that make a replacement outlast the lifespan of a healthy human would change the game entirely.
 
nightanole said:
You have a flaw in your super car. It would only work if the car was standing still, then no matter what hit it, the car would not move.
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I did say practically all of the kinetic energy as some of it would actually end up affecting the passengers in the compartment inside sure, and yes the car would certainly move. Think of a basketball hitting another basketball, as a very rough analogy, as they'll simply bounce off each other.

It's not perfect, certainly not, but it's a basic idea that could theoretically actually become a possibility if such a compound could ever be created.
 
nightanole said:
You have a flaw in your super car. It would only work if the car was standing still, then no matter what hit it, the car would not move.

Hmm on that thought, why has no one thought of a vibranium "cow pusher" for assault vehicles in the comics? I mean nothing could stop it right, it would just get hotter and hotter as pushed cars out of the way.
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Physics, unfortunately, has to crash the party. Regardless of how resistant to vibration a material is, kinetic energy is still kinetic energy. If you made a car out of the imaginary stuff, it would still come to a stop if it ran into a brick wall. Even if it were some super crazy magic material that resisted all forms of force, it would be impossible to then get moving, and would eventually fly off into space/under the ground as earth's rotation and revolution would put the planet in a different inertial frame of reference which would conflict with the magic material's velocity through space.

Old cars used to be solid as a rock, anyone who was alive during the 60's and 70's remembers what a mid-speed collision looked like on the cars of the time: They may get a few dents, they may even have a bumper fly off, but a few days in the shop would make 'em fine again. The people on the inside of the vehicle, however, would be turned into jelly from the vehicle essentially conducting most of the force from the crash onto them. This is why cars have crumple zones, to act like a spring instead of a rod.
 
KazeoHin said:
Physics, unfortunately, has to crash the party. Regardless of how resistant to vibration a material is, kinetic energy is still kinetic energy. If you made a car out of the imaginary stuff, it would still come to a stop if it ran into a brick wall. Even if it were some super crazy magic material that resisted all forms of force, it would be impossible to then get moving, and would eventually fly off into space/under the ground as earth's rotation and revolution would put the planet in a different inertial frame of reference which would conflict with the magic material's velocity through space.

Old cars used to be solid as a rock, anyone who was alive during the 60's and 70's remembers what a mid-speed collision looked like on the cars of the time: They may get a few dents, they may even have a bumper fly off, but a few days in the shop would make 'em fine again. The people on the inside of the vehicle, however, would be turned into jelly from the vehicle essentially conducting most of the force from the crash onto them. This is why cars have crumple zones, to act like a spring instead of a rod.
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Yep! Mostly.

Slight correction, the crumple zones absorb kinetic energy. Spring-like would not be an accurate description. Pillow-like would be more correct descriptor. The crumple zones job is to dampen kinetic energy, not return it

:geek:
 
Kwaz said:
Yep! Mostly.

Slight correction, the crumple zones absorb kinetic energy. Spring-like would not be an accurate description. Pillow-like would be more correct descriptor. The crumple zones job is to dampen kinetic energy, not return it

:geek:
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I thought about that after I posted: I was thinking of the purpose a spring uses in suspension, as in dampening, but that is when the spring has a constant force of varying strength applied, not a sudden presence of force. My bad.

Wrecked Em said:
Pure titanium isn't strong at all. It has to be alloyed to become useful for structural applications. Plain carbon steel is much stronger.
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You are correct, but I think the whole hub-bub is because the material is of a similar density to titanium and it does not chemically react with our body. You can't use steel as replacement bones because it's too damn heavy and it does not react well with our body chemistry.
 
KazeoHin said:
I thought about that after I posted: I was thinking of the purpose a spring uses in suspension, as in dampening, but that is when the spring has a constant force of varying strength applied, not a sudden presence of force. My bad.
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Suspension is a great example. Springs compress, but rebound. And the shocks control the compression and rebound. Crumple zones do exactly that by controlling deceleration.
 
KazeoHin said:
Old cars used to be solid as a rock, anyone who was alive during the 60's and 70's remembers what a mid-speed collision looked like on the cars of the time: They may get a few dents, they may even have a bumper fly off, but a few days in the shop would make 'em fine again. The people on the inside of the vehicle, however, would be turned into jelly from the vehicle essentially conducting most of the force from the crash onto them. This is why cars have crumple zones, to act like a spring instead of a rod.
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I used to think that too until I saw this video:
Modern cars essentially have a solid cage around the passenger area and everything external to the cage is designed to crumple. You also want to be wearing a seatbelt so your body isn't going full speed into your suddenly stopped car interior.
 
jpm100 said:
'toughness' is a measure of a material's ability to be both hard and have high yield strength, together.
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No. Toughness increases as the material becomes stronger and more ductile, not hard.
 
Is an interesting development, I wonder how brittle it is myself.

Youn said:
strong enough for a space ladder?
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I doubt that.

It would be very expensive to produce to begin with in small amounts from the sound of it, I would imagine.
 
DocSavage said:
I used to think that too until I saw this video:
Modern cars essentially have a solid cage around the passenger area and everything external to the cage is designed to crumple. You also want to be wearing a seatbelt so your body isn't going full speed into your suddenly stopped car interior.
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Older cars seemed more solid because they weighed a ton from the sheet metal being a lot heavier gage att.

The frames usually were not as well built as many modern cars.
 
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