See through Aluminium!

www.afmc.af.mil...

Just came across this on google, have to say WOW! It can withstand multiple .30 cal ARMOUR PIERCING rounds from a sniper!! Also it can take a .50cal armour piercing round! That is impressive for such a thin material (compared to current bullet proof glass).

The possibilities are almost endless for such a great new material, have to give it to the chemical engineer who discovered this.

Now I would personally like to see a hud for soldiers made from this stuff, then we can see helmets of the type only ever seen in computer games. That would be cool (not to mention life saveing, coupled with combat armour suits).

Now this looks like some wonderful stuff Though I do believe they say it's a ceramic, and not aluminum?

Either way... good find ... +star

This would be great news for the soldiers...

I remember being told in Basic that if you even dropped your kevlar on the ground, you would "ruin" the structural integrity of it...

Sweet! They send you to war with equipment from the lowest bidder...no wonder our boys and girls are stressed - they get to play global police officer with 2nd best...

Shame on my country...

This IS NOT the holy grail of Transparent Aluminum as postulated in
in the old 1986 Star Trek 4 movie The Voyage Home as Scotty
"gives" the chemical formula for "Transparent Aluminum" to 1980's
era engineers in exchange for some needed materials.

The material the Air Force is using is called Aluminum Oxynitride
or aluminum + oxygen + nitrogen compounds to form a glass-like
composite ceramic that can NOT ONLY take bullets but ALSO withstand
HIGH HEAT!!!

Aluminum is NOT crystaline under general
Earth conditions and there is no foreseeable
technology available to make it both ductile
AND see-through yet still having it's normal
strength and lightness.

We still have to wait for that magical day to get
Super-strong and Light Transparent Metals.

Polycarbonate compounds are light, string AND see-through
BUT NOT heat-resistant so we have to keep trying in order to find that
magical material that's strong, light, see-through AND heat-resistant.

NEXT!

reply to post by StargateSG7


"ALON is virtually scratch resistant, offers substantial impact resistance, and provides better durability and protection against armor piercing threats, at roughly half the weight and half the thickness of traditional glass transparent armor, said the lieutenant."

They said it is stronger and lighter than any current transparent armor. It can stop a .50 caliber armor piercing round, and has half the weight of bulletproof glass.

Wow great to put on windows so so no bullets come in your home.

Ama

Wow

Now not only can They not see our thoughts, but now they can't even see our hats!

Just saying that Aluminum BY ITSELF is not crystaline or see through
because it is a METAL. Aluminum Oxide or Alumina is a CERAMIC
and with some extra rare earths and other compounds forms
a COMPOSITE CERAMIC which CAN be see-through and light and
heat resistant...BUT IT IS NOT A METAL ergo there CANNOT BE
TRANSPARENT METALLIC ALUMINUM under normal Earth conditions.

The ONE PROBLEM with the Air Force ceramic is it's COST which is
over 5 times higher than comparable polycarbonate.

Right now, you have to pick any four of the five desired qualities of
Light, Strong, Heat Resistant, See Through, Cheap...but trying
to get ALL FIVE qualities is whole nother ball game!

reply to post by Saf85


I am disappointed because i thought it was about seeing through aluminum and not about see-through aluminum. There is a difference.

reply to post by pluckynoonez


Okay now my curiosity has been aroused. What does the plucky need to see through aluminum for?? It makes us tinfoil aficionados worrisome! What say you?

Step away slowly.... She's with them.

Seems pretty cool really, and it seems like there is enough practical incentive for its use to warrant further development and hopefully deployment in the future.

This material is more than a few years old and will be useful in aircraft and ground vehicles to protect the occupants. Alon, as it is called, is a ceramic material much like sapphire [aluminum oxide] which is used in high heat and high pessure windows in scientific and engineering equipment. For example, a saphire head can be bolted to a single piston engine so that high speed recordings can be made of fuel combustion.

reply to post by StargateSG7


You have been abusing the Caps Lock function, heavily.

Please stop abusing CAPS LOCK I'D really APPRECIATE it and SO WOULD the other MEMBERS.

thank YOU.

Originally posted by pluckynoonez
reply to post by Saf85

 

I am disappointed because i thought it was about seeing through aluminum and not about see-through aluminum. There is a difference.

Quit trying to cheat at Schrodinger's Cat!!! You either open the box, or you don't!