Turning Cement into Metal
WaterEngineer
Posts: 24,415 AG
Cool !! Any materials scientists or mechanical/electrical engineers here. Ain't science great!?
Much lengthier explanation at the link.
Text:
In a move that would make the Alchemists of King Arthur’s time green with envy, scientists have unraveled the formula for turning liquid cement into liquid metal. This makes cement a semi-conductor and opens up its use in the profitable consumer electronics marketplace for thin films, protective coatings, and computer chips.
“This new material has lots of applications including as thin-film resistors used in liquid-crystal displays, basically the flat panel computer monitor that you are probably reading this from at the moment,” said Chris Benmore, a physicist from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory who worked with a team of scientists from Japan, Finland, and Germany to take the “magic” out of the cement-to-metal transformation. Benmore and Shinji Kohara from Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute/SPring-8 led the research effort.
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1112857864/the-formula-for-turning-cement-into-metal/?goback=.gde_4256251_member_245443818
Much lengthier explanation at the link.
Text:
In a move that would make the Alchemists of King Arthur’s time green with envy, scientists have unraveled the formula for turning liquid cement into liquid metal. This makes cement a semi-conductor and opens up its use in the profitable consumer electronics marketplace for thin films, protective coatings, and computer chips.
“This new material has lots of applications including as thin-film resistors used in liquid-crystal displays, basically the flat panel computer monitor that you are probably reading this from at the moment,” said Chris Benmore, a physicist from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory who worked with a team of scientists from Japan, Finland, and Germany to take the “magic” out of the cement-to-metal transformation. Benmore and Shinji Kohara from Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute/SPring-8 led the research effort.
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1112857864/the-formula-for-turning-cement-into-metal/?goback=.gde_4256251_member_245443818
Replies
Your title makes it look more interesting. I was thinking "cement to metal, what the heck". Then I read the article and saw they meant LIQUID cement. They just made it conductive.
And that is great. Better, faster, cheaper, more creative high tech toys.
Let's get cracking. Now we can for sure print our guns.
when we say the same thing about welfare recipients, you cry like a wounded buffalo Sopchoppy
It's their money, they spend it how they like. Truth and honesty have nothing to do with it. - Mr Jr
"“A radical is one who advocates sweeping changes in the existing laws and methods of government.” "
Yep. "Heat of Hydration" it is called. The high-tech concrete mixes have all sorts of admixtures and very carefully controlled water ratios.
Crack control is very strict with the high-tech concretes due to the heat of hydration issue.
Also, in the lab at Univ of TX, Univ of Ill and Colorado State, there are mixes reaching close to 7K psi. I will probably see see high-strength concrete at close to 9K possibly 10K psi before I quit engineering. Will revolutionize what can be done with concrete and how fast construction will take place.
Ron, most of these concretes are fine graded so they will be super useful for things you are interested in like clarifier tanks.
I agree the article is hard to read. It is poorly written. I read it three times myself. Basically, they are saying the technology is available to organize the metal ions in the cement matrix into a regular and uniform pattern, so their usefulness is regular and predicable. Since the metal ions are in a "plastic" (the cement matrix) the it is moldable or conformable thus making for cheaper electronics and possibly smaller (unit) applications.
when we say the same thing about welfare recipients, you cry like a wounded buffalo Sopchoppy
It's their money, they spend it how they like. Truth and honesty have nothing to do with it. - Mr Jr
"“A radical is one who advocates sweeping changes in the existing laws and methods of government.” "
Text: "alumina cement made of calcium and aluminum oxides."
not portland cement.......but similar......
when we say the same thing about welfare recipients, you cry like a wounded buffalo Sopchoppy
It's their money, they spend it how they like. Truth and honesty have nothing to do with it. - Mr Jr
"“A radical is one who advocates sweeping changes in the existing laws and methods of government.” "
Read my post in #11.
Taken the discovery found by the Japanese.
They buzz it with a laser, and get a substance like glass but metallic.
The "glass" atoms contain a free electron.
Therefore it can conduct/transfer electricity.
This might be the next generation of semiconductor material.