What Is This, The Future?!: Scientists Develop Glass That's Allegedly Stronger Than Steel
I know, I thought it was an x-ray of a dog fart too.
Scientists: they're untrustworthy and you have to take everything they say with a grain of salt. Or, in this case, a shard of glass. But allegedly a group of the lab-coated coots have developed a glass that's stronger than steel -- and bends instead of breaking. I'LL BELIEVE IT WHEN I HAVE A BEER BOTTLE WRAPPED AROUND MY HEAD.
"These results mark the first use of a new strategy for metallic glass fabrication and we believe we can use it to make glass that will be even stronger and more tough," says Robert Ritchie, a materials scientist who led the Berkeley contribution to the research.
The new metallic glass is a microalloy featuring palladium, a metal with a high "bulk-to-shear" stiffness ratio that counteracts the intrinsic brittleness of glassy materials."Because of the high bulk-to-shear modulus ratio of palladium-containing material, the energy needed to form shear bands is much lower than the energy required to turn these shear bands into cracks," Ritchie says. "The result is that glass undergoes extensive plasticity in response to stress, allowing it to bend rather than crack."
Neato. But can I get a house built out of it? I want see-through everything: walls, floors, ceilings, you name it. Except for the bathroom, that's my private sanctuary. You think I don't have one of those little rock gardens on the back of the toilet tank? YOU DON'T KNOW ME! I used to have a bonsai tree too but my roommate's gas f***ing killed it.
New Glass Tops Steel in Strength and Toughness [berkleylab]
Thanks to ultrapony, who invented glasses that can correct a person's vision. WHOA WHOA WHOA -- SLOW DOWN WIT'CHA CRAZY TALK!
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