Super-hard metal 'four times tougher than titanium'

a reply to: cavtrooper7

I don't understand the question.

a reply to: thesungod

Is it a damascus application at the molecular level?
How are the metals BLENDED?

a reply to: cavtrooper7

Ah. That info wasn't released, I assume to protect the product sort of thing.

If I had to guess from reading the technical data I'd say yes or at least in part. I do know from the data that they mixed them during various "phases of state."

I am not a metals expert, a HAM at best.

a reply to: thesungod
AH that would mean PLASMATIC, I think or molecular (?)a deposit method of some kind, maybe.
Meta materials are popping up so much it's hard to keep track anymore...

originally posted by: cavtrooper7
a reply to: thesungod

Is it a damascus application at the molecular level?
How are the metals BLENDED?

They are intermetallic compounds rather than blobs of one metal in another. Consider them products of a chemical reaction.
They are melted and mixed. Sometimes melting has to be repeated a few times. In this case, the melting point is lower than titanium alone which is an advantage. Hardness is important for wear resistance of mating parts as is biocompatibility for medical applications.

a reply to: pteridine

Awesome. A metal nerd, no offense. It's a badge of honor in my book.

What exactly do they mean by mixing them at various phases of state?

Like mixing them at various stages of melting? That's my guess anyway.

a reply to: pteridine

Unfortunately it uses GOLD so we can't build the NEXT A-10 from it.

originally posted by: thesungod
a reply to: Substracto

Yep. A lot of gold used in the space industry as well. I'm curious if this alloy will have any uses in that field.

It would seem like a logical choice.

cpb.iphy.ac.cn...
Gold under high pressure is very tough, but we think for some reasons that it is very soft

a reply to: thesungod

And combine this new alloy with the other Ti alloy called Nitinol, and we have super hard and resilient materials, that can morph shape, perform actions and orientate itself depending on temperatures applied to the alloy.

Interesting biotechnology potential.

Imagine an artificial heart made from Ti3Au and NiTi, which could 'beat' and of course pump blood due to a small heating element turning on and off 60 or 70 times a minute, and you end up with a very tough, body safe heart, no rejection issues and the more it beats, expanding and contracting the NiTI lattice, it gets stronger as it goes.

Who needs to grow an organic heart when one made of this stuff and NiTi could last several lifetimes?

a reply to: MysterX

Rejection/Immunosuppression drugs are some of the worst, despite being a life saver. The whole tacro/sirolimus line are killers.