A New Artificial Material Effectively Cannot Be Cut (newscientist.com) 149
Researchers from the University of Stirling, UK, have embedded ceramic spheres in aluminum foam to create a material that couldn't be cut with angle grinders, power drills or water jet cutters. "They dubbed it Proteus after the shape-shifting Greek god, for the way the material metamorphosed in different ways to defend against attacks," reports New Scientists. From the report: "It's pretty amazing," says Miranda Anderson at the University of Stirling, UK, who worked on the project. Rather than just being a hard surface that resists external pressure, the material turns the force of the drill or cutting mechanism back on itself, as the ceramic spheres create vibrations that disrupt the external force. "It actually destroys the cutting blade through the sideways jerky vibrations that it creates, or it widens the water jet's spray," says Anderson.
The material has a second defense mechanism. Attempting to cut it breaks the ceramic spheres into smaller fragments which are even harder and act like very tough sandpaper. "So the attack mechanism causes the material to become more resistant to the attack," says Anderson. While an angle grinder took 45 seconds to cut through steel armor used to protect against explosive mines, it was rendered inoperative by Proteus. The only comparable structure in the natural world is diamond, says Anderson, but Proteus is cheaper and lighter, making it practical for a range of applications, from security doors and barriers to shoe soles or elbow pad and forearm guards for workers. She believes it can be mass-produced, as there is no shortage of the metals and ceramics it is made from. The new material has been reported in the journal Scientific Reports.
The material has a second defense mechanism. Attempting to cut it breaks the ceramic spheres into smaller fragments which are even harder and act like very tough sandpaper. "So the attack mechanism causes the material to become more resistant to the attack," says Anderson. While an angle grinder took 45 seconds to cut through steel armor used to protect against explosive mines, it was rendered inoperative by Proteus. The only comparable structure in the natural world is diamond, says Anderson, but Proteus is cheaper and lighter, making it practical for a range of applications, from security doors and barriers to shoe soles or elbow pad and forearm guards for workers. She believes it can be mass-produced, as there is no shortage of the metals and ceramics it is made from. The new material has been reported in the journal Scientific Reports.
It should have been named redtape (Score:2, Funny)
Both exhibit similar destruction against anything that tries to cut through them.
New jar for the universal solvent? (Score:2)
Well played, sir.
I wanted to make a joke along different lines:
"We made the Proteus part 2 mm too large but now we can't cut it down to fit."
I guess to make it into a recursive joke, the oversize part should be part of a Proteus cutting machine?
"We were going to make a machine out of Proteus to cut the Proteus parts to fit, but the parts can't be cut to fit."
New Ford-150 Body Material, How Does it handle RPG (Score:2)
This could be the new F-150 Body Material if this material can be stamped and welded.
Anyone know how well is stands up to gunfire or RPGs?
Re:New Ford-150 Body Material, How Does it handle (Score:4, Interesting)
Why? A vehicle requires something lightweight and can deform and of course, cheap to manufacture and stamp. Ceramics fit none of those requirements.
A bullet uses high velocity to tear its way through materials. Something this, theoretically, makes impossible but that energy has to go somewhere, so this may not provide a lot of re-use: Several layers of replaceable plates may be the best configuration.
In addition to tearing, the explosive provides a concussive impact to the material, something ceramics tend to dislike and heat, which will deform the aluminum base.
Well, not by the usual contact-based methods, cue the sharks with lasers.
I'm reminded of My Favourte Martion where he makes something harder than diamonds, then realizes that nothing can cut it to size.
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Re: New Ford-150 Body Material, How Does it handle (Score:2)
Rpg is more than an explosive. It is molten copper. So that begs the question about plasma cutters as well.
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The specific effect depends on the RPG warhead (there are several different to choose from) but usually HEAT is used against armored targets. HEAT warheads are shaped charges which plasticize a copper liner and form it into a spike which punches a hole through the armor.
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This could be the new F-150 Body Material if this material can be stamped and welded.
Anyone know how well is stands up to gunfire or RPGs?
You don't want indestructible cars - that's one of the reason cars are so much safer these days. Active use of deformation zones [wikipedia.org] increases the time over which the change in the velocity (deceleration) happens. This decreases the force on the people in the vehicle.
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It also vastly increases the cost of repair for even the slightest of low speed impacts. While the risk from a high speed impact remains un-reduced, the likelihood of a fender bender costing $3000 to repais is much reduced by stronger components.
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It also vastly increases the cost of repair for even the slightest of low speed impacts. While the risk from a high speed impact remains un-reduced, the likelihood of a fender bender costing $3000 to repais is much reduced by stronger components.
It also vastly increases the cost of repair for even the slightest of low speed impacts. While the risk from a high speed impact remains un-reduced, the likelihood of a fender bender costing $3000 to repais is much reduced by stronger components.
Who cares?
Seriously, who the fuck cares? Here is what "built strong as a tank vs. gets dented if you look at it the wrong way" [youtube.com] looks like in practice.
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The bumper shock absorbers are common in world-model vehicles now, though, even or perhaps especially in European vehicles.
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Repairing a vehicle is orders of magnitude cheaper than fixing the human body.
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Bollocks. What makes repairs expensive is unit bodies and the use of hardened steel. It's not about "stronger" components. Using unibody construction with high strength steel means a lighter vehicle that can either just be lighter, or can have more content — like for example, a jillion air bags. Full-frame vehicles can more easily be replaced in pieces, and they were made out of steel that was easier to repair — not only because it was thicker, but also because it was easier to reshape with hamm
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So how do you make something useful out of it? (Score:3, Interesting)
If you can't cut it, how do you make something useful out of it?
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"Cut proof" does not necessarily mean "indestructible". The very brief article compared this substance to diamond - a very hard substance, but one which can be shattered. Plus we have figured out ways to cut diamonds.
Another possibility is it can be cut with slower tools, like a hand saw.
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Also, they burn nicely in oxygen rich environment..
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Think is this as shield material from Dune. Fast wonâ(TM)t get through, slow does.
Re:So how do you make something useful out of it? (Score:4, Informative)
Only the Kwisatz Haderach can cut this new material...
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And Chuck Norris.
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No, Chuck Norris looks at the material and it cuts itself.
Re: So how do you make something useful out of it? (Score:2)
Never in the book. The sci-fi remake was closer to the book than that abomination of a movie. Not even Patrick Stewart could save it. Nothing about baron harkonen was even remotely accurate. Sting makes for a completely shitty actor and his scrawny ass as Feyd? Seriously?
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To quote the book Dune when Gurney Halleck is talking to Paul Atreides and training him on knife fighting:
"In shield fighting, one moves fast on defense, slow on attack. Attack has the sole purpose of tricking the opponent into a misstep, setting him up for the attack sinister. The shield turns the fast blow, admits the slow kindjal!"
In Dune this is later described as an adaptation of the Holtzman effect.
Re:So how do you make something useful out of it? (Score:5, Informative)
These things are cuttable (through not by water jet of 850m/s it seems). Cutting tools they used did get through the material, just much more slowly than armor steel they used as a comparison and while destroying tool cutting through the material rapidly. The point was to demonstrate that dynamic nature of the material, in that it was able to attack and defeat three different invading tools in different ways.
Nothing in the paper suggests that you can't just swap disks in angle grinder after material wears one disk out and keep going until you get through. You'll just need a lot more time and disks, as combination of factors (vibration, abrasiveness) they describe attack and destroy the tool as it cuts deeper into the material. This seems to be similar to what we accept in machining aerospace and submarine structural titanium for example. We simply accept the facts that to make a single product, you'll have to lose a lot of contact parts of tools such as drill bits and angle grinder disks, and that machining will take much longer. Which is why those materials are only used where additional costs of tool wear and time are worth it.
The only tool this thing seems to be genuinely immune to (beyond 15mm cut) is water jet of specific speed (821m/s at nozzle, couldn't find volume in specifications). Specifically because ceramics apparently deflect and diffuse jet's stream as they erode, and since ceramics unlike metal are extremely hard, they do not erode in a meaningfully fast way. So jet bores through to the ceramic, and then its cutting wake is slowed by about 50 times to the point where cutting effect on metal goes from "high pressure water jet" to "sea erosion" grade.
I recommend reading the paper instead of nonsense that is OP and most of the comments here. It's quite readable for anyone with engineering training, even if mechanical engineering is not your immediate field as is the case with me.
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This is a real problem - how do you machine a near indestructible material? The Aerospace industry comes up with ever tougher materials for their compressor blades. Materials that won't weaken under extreme heat, extremely tough, tend to shatter (but not too easily), etc. These materials keep academic metal-cutting institutes busy world-wide trying to figure out how to machine impossible to machine materials.
In this case, I expect the aluminum can be readily attacked. High silica aluminum is used in the
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CBN abrasives might work, they do a good job on some steels where diamond won’t because the carbon and steel interact chemically under heat from friction.
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If you can't cut it, how do you make something useful out of it?
The same way that sintered metal parts are already made. That or simple casting with a ceramic preform.
The regular spacing on the video makes me tend towards thinking the latter in this case, but with added blowing agents.
Re:So how do you make something useful out of it? (Score:4, Interesting)
You blow it into a steel mold. Aluminum melts at 1250 F, steel over 2000.
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If you can't cut it, how do you make something useful out of it?
He never says you cannot cut it, just mentions 3 things that will not. (3 impressive cutting technologies mind you, but still only 3
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Incidentally 3 that are used in actual industrial machining. The reality is you won't be making anything out of it using a CNC or a power tool.
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The reality is you won't be making anything out of it using a CNC or a power tool.
Incorrect. It just takes more tool.
I've worked in tool and die. Carbide is a common material to make cutting tools from because of how hard it is, yet machining the Carbide with simple stone wheels and such still works. The grinding wheels wear out faster. Thats it.
In other words, the world has already faced this "problem", and while you pretend this "problem" is an obstacle, you are ignorant so of course your fantasy imagination of reality is wrong.
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Paper linked in OP provides limited manufacturing instructions for the material. You shape it in the mold.
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If you can't cut it, how do you make something useful out of it?
Is this an "If all you have is a saw" philosophical question? There are many manufactured items which never see a sharp tool.
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If you can't cut it, how do you make something useful out of it?
Is this an "If all you have is a saw" philosophical question? There are many manufactured items which never see a sharp tool.
More like an "if all you have is a hammer" world-view, i.e. a fundamental mental limitation. There are enough other cutting technologies that one is likely to work well on this. Fist thing that comes to mind is non-abrasive technologies, like lasers or plasma-cutters. Etching may work. Thin sheets may be sheared. Chiseling or pounding this material into shapes may work. And so on.
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You can still cut that stuff, just not with the techniques described.
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You know there's lots of stuff that is manufactured without cutting processes, right? Heard of injection molding? Or just pouring concrete into a form?
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EDM won't. The ceramic spheres aren't conductive so no arcing to them.
I bet bolt cutters would work, the pressure on the spheres will deform the aluminum foam and they'll move out of the way.
Re: So how do you make something useful out of it? (Score:4, Interesting)
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The ceramic spheres had 13mm mean diameter
That's slightly more than half of one inch, and even I can see that without my specs.
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Or you could just cut the steel skin and then push the structure over. Aluminum foam isn't particularly strong as a structural material.
How cheap is it? (Score:2)
Can we make tires out of it? Fuuuuuuuuck tires these days.
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Re:How cheap is it? (Score:5, Insightful)
So you go in to the workshop to replace your discs every three months instead of replacing the pads every couple of years?
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This is essentially how German cars work. They have high abrasive brake pads that eat the rotors quickly. So you replace the rotors with every (or perhaps every other) pad change. Rotors are cheap, especially now that we have pads that don't offgas so much that we need cross-drilled ones. But if you DO have cross-drilled rotors, then replacing them often is also a benefit, because they tend to crack around the holes.
There's no good reason to have a design which preserves the rotor longer than the pad.
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There's no good reason to have a design which preserves the rotor longer than the pad.
Well, the rotor is much bigger than the pads (by a factor of 10 in weight), so it'd make no sense to wear off at the same time...
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I live in New England. We never do a "pad slap" up here because road salt quickly turns rotors into what looks like tree bark (usually on the inner side of the rotor, where it's not easy to see).
I asked an auto shop owner if they sold stainless steel brake rotors, and he just looked at me like I had five heads.
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I asked an auto shop owner if they sold stainless steel brake rotors, and he just looked at me like I had five heads.
They have them on boat trailers. I've installed some. Maybe some of those guys would make you some "For off-road use only"
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Make both the pad and disc out of this new material? 8^)
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Nawh. Brake pads work by depositing a layer of the pad on the disc, and then picking it back up when it comes back around.
The place this could be used in a car is for engine bearing surfaces. That would be crank bearings, cylinder walls, rings and valve train components. Wear is really death by several million cuts.
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I'd attack it with lye. Oven cleaner does a number on aluminum. Lye is cheap in big industrial bags, too. I put mine into a bucket to keep it dry.
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It would be great if you filled a 55 gallon drum a quarter way with lye and sat naked, on top of it for a few days.
It would be great if you weren't a coward. For you, I mean. For the rest of us, it would mean more of your crying.
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Gallium is notoriously destructive to aluminum, is not toxic to handle, and is solid at room temperature but will melt in the palm of your hand. If your concern is destroying the part without poisoning whatever may be nearby, it seems like a wiser choice.
Re: Go at it chemically. (Score:3)
* CodysLab has entered the chat
Motorcycle lock (Score:2)
This could be the ultimate motocycle lock material... unless the padlock itself is not made from it. Promising nevertheless.
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Still not clear how it holds up to other attacks like hydraulic cutters or mini jacks used to pry the lock apart. The way it seems to work is by gumming up the cutting blade, but I don't think that would have any effect on hydraulic cutters since they just work by putting extreme pressure on a small point, which forces the material away from that point. Since it's just aluminum and ceramic, it seems like it might be quite easy to break in this way.
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Brittle Fracture [sciencedirect.com]
For sale (Score:2)
... at the local hardware store. Sold by the foot.
Bike Thieves Will Figure It Out (Score:3)
Just lock up a bike with it on the streets of Vancouver, or Seattle. The thieves will figure out how to cut it.
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The ceramic part is microscopic so a hammer might not work, but a mini jack could probably pry it apart. You could probably cut it with a mini hydraulic cutter since the ceramic wouldn't cause the blade to get gummed up like what happens with the angle grinder and other saw attacks. It's mostly aluminum so it might be quite easy to cut with this method.
Angle grinder is impressive, water jet is awesome! (Score:2)
That this material can defeat an angle grinder is quite impressive. Angle grinders make mince meat of just about any lock on the market in very short order. The fact that this material can beat a water jet is truly impressive though. They use water jets to cut steel sheets in factories for custom fabrication work. Common commercial water jets can cut through upwards of 6" / 15 cm.
https://www.schenketool.net/wa... [schenketool.net].
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Good news(?), it looks like it actually can't stop an angle grinder. If you loook at the video in TFA, the disc clearly either cut through the sheet or at least made a deep cut into it.
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Disposal? (Score:3)
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Melt down the aluminum and skim off the ceramic slag.
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Lava tube
Cross Sections? (Score:2)
How did they make those cross sections that show the internal structure?
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Diamond coated microtomes?
Blow torch? (Score:2)
In action (Score:3)
Huzzah! (Score:2)
No more worn disc brake pads!
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why not?
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Not being able to breakdown is also a disadvantage (Score:3)
So if the plan is to use the material broadly for things like shoe soles, how do you recycle it? If it cannot be broken down at all by any means - surely that is also a disadvantage when it comes to recycling.
When in doubt apply lasers (Score:2)
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Re: When in doubt apply lasers (Score:2)
Yeah, Aluminum etches fairly easily with a variety of acids.
I wonder (Score:2)
A diamond has 58 facets _cut_ into it with diamonds, so I guess Proteus will also be cut with Proteus tools.
Marvelous... (Score:3)
... Just what we needed: something that is, by design, essentially un-recyclable. One hopes it can, at least, be melted down and recast as something new.
un-cuttable deck (Score:2)
I'm installing a new deck at my home. The boards are made of polypropylene with entrained air and some kind of chalky dust.
When I try to cut it with a jig saw, even slowly, the heat from the blade welds the cut shut behind it. I can make a small cut-out for a handrail post but then not be able to remove the waste material.
Title is misleading (Score:2)
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Effectively anything that's "cannot be" is just a challenge to be taken on. In the end there's always thermite and C4.
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Imagine a safe holding documents or cash. Thermite or C4 would open it, but that would defeat the purpose, wouldn't it?
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Re:Shut up, retarded BeauHD (Score:4, Insightful)
Lord. Uncuttable != Indestructible. Look up 'cut' in the dictionary.
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couldn't be cut with angle grinders, power drills or water jet cutters
As if "LAZERZ" or EDM or saws don't exist. Just throwing a few out there, retard.
Do scissors work?
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Lasers deposit heat and melt or, with enough power, evaporate their cutting target. Unless hte material is very thermally conductive, which seems unlikely with the ceramic component, it can be cut. Mishandled, the eat will also damage the contents of a safe or vault.
Physically durable safes or lockboxes are usually attacked with intelligence. According to Richard Feynmann when he worked at the Manhattan project, many of the high security containers were left at the manufacturer provided default combination,
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Electronic Dance Music will cut through anything.
Good point, bad Subject (Score:2)
Why did you propagate the troll's Subject? You cudda darned a funny mod.
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Re: My new battle-bot (Score:2)
That contest is a joke. I tried to apply with a hovering bot with active guided rockets, plasma cutters, EMP and explosives in it, and they said it wasn't allowed.
What's the fuckin point them? Baby's First Sandbox Bots?