BY UBER GEEK - FEBRUARY, 28TH 2014
Science and engineering have taken
great leaps and bounds in the past few
years. We’ve made so many great
achievements, discoveries and
inventions. Here are 10 examples of
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10 FuturisticConstructionMaterialsThat WillChangeEverything
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materials created by man that could
change construction techniques
forever.
10. Carbon Nanotubes
Carbon nanotubes are long chains of
carbon held together by the sp2 bond
which is the strongest bond in
chemistry. These nanotubes have
many amazing physical properties. The
nanotubes are capable of ballistic
electron transport which makes them
great for use in electronics. Carbon
nanotubes also have a specifice
strength 300 times greater than that of
steel. This makes the them perfect for
constructing towers which are
hundreds of kilometers high (such as in
a space elevator).
9. Superalloys
This is a generic term for a metal which
can operate at temperatures of up
to 2000 °F. Superalloys are very useful
in the superhot turbine areas of jet
engines. Jet engines can be made for
more advanced oxygen-breathing
designs (such as ramjet and scramjet)
using superalloys. Superalloys are what
will make it possible for hypersonic
crafts to travel at incredible speeds one
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day.
8. Transparent Alumina
This form of alumina is three times
stronger than steel and as an added
bonus, it’s transparent. This material
has a large number of applications in a
wide range of fields. The skylines of the
future could look a lot clearer with
transparent skyscrapers allowing the
sunlight to pass to the streets below
and an entire space station could come
into low orbit without driving people
mad. The possibilities are endless.
7. Metamaterials
Metamaterials are materials that gain
their properties from structure rather
than composition. These materials
have amazing optical properties and
have made it possible to create
invisibility cloaks and superlenses
which can resolve features smaller than
the wavelength of light (due to their
negative refractive index). These
materials could even be used in phased
array optics, allowing perfect holograms
to be created on a two-dimensional
screen.
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6. Bulk Diamond
Laying down thick layers of diamond in
a CVD machine (Chemical Vapor
Decomposition) will make a future of
bulk diamond machinery a reality.
Diamond is ideal as a construction
material because of its strength,
lightweight, almost complete thermal
conductivity and melting and boiling
points which are the highest of any
almost any material in the world. Fine-
tuned diamond machinery gives us the
possibility of making jets of the future
more powerful than any modern day
fighter jet.
5. Bulk Fullerenes
Diamond nanorods (or amorphous
fullerenes) are stronger than diamonds.
The nanoscale structure of the fullerene
gives it an iridescent appearance.
Fullerenes can be made stronger than
diamond, but at a greater cost. After the
‘Diamond Age’, with the advancement
of technology, we may enter a
‘Fullerene Age’.
4. Amorphous Material
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Amorphous materials are also called
metallic glass and are basically metals
with a disordered atomic structure.
They can be twice as strong as steel
and because of their disordered
structure, they are more effective in
dispersing impact energy than regular
metal which has points of weakness
due to its crystal structure. These
metals are made by instantly cooling
the molten form before the atoms
arrange themselves into a crystal
structure. Amorphous materials have
many uses including in military armor
and power transmission.
3. Metal Foam
Metal foam is formed when a foaming
agent (such as powdered titanium
hydride) is added to molten aluminium
before it is allowed to cool. The result is
a strong but light metal with 75-95%
empty space. Because of these
properties, metal foams can be used in
the future to construct space colonies.
Some metal foams can even float on
water, which will allow for even more
possible applications.
2. E-Textiles
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The possibilities of electronic textiles
are limitless. The future of clothing and
tech gadgets can merge into one and
allow users to wear their gadgets
instead of carry them around. People
could play their favorite videos on their
shirts, a robe that displays a live feed of
the night sky could also be possible.
Talking to loved ones could become
even simpler with thought-to-speech
interfaces which turn the user’s
thoughts into sound.
1. Aerogel
Sometimes called frozen smoke,
aerogel holds fifteen records in the
Guinness Book of World Records
(which is more than any other material).
Aerogel is made by supercritical cooling
of liquid gels of alumina, chromia, tin
oxide, or carbon. The material is 99.8%
empty space which makes it look semi-
transparent. The material is a fantastic
insulator and stops heat from flowing
(even protection from a flamethrower is
possible). A small amount of aerogel
could even support a brick, meaning
that the material has considerable
strength.
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