Darn, I was hoping this was about transparent aluminum.
well they are working on it...
Richard van Hooijdonk
posted an article some excerpts...
First suggested in the film Star Trek IV, and referred to in popular media as 奏ransparent aluminum? aluminium oxynitride is now really, actually being developed.
The revolutionary ceramic alloy is created by fusing nitrogen, oxygen and aluminium in precise measures. The transparent aluminum was first achieved when researchers at Oxford University used a FLASH laser to remove electrons from aluminum without changing its crystalline structure.
Transparent aluminum is three times stronger than steel,
four times harder than fused silica glass,
85 percent harder than sapphire and,
as the name suggests, optically transparent.
The material is corrosion, radiation and oxidation-resistant and could be used to produce windows and domes for undersea and deep-space vehicles, lenses for high-impact cameras and other types of safety glass.
Prices are still to high though.
It is currently being used in static-free transparent aluminum wrapping for electronics such as computer parts but at more than $10 per 2.5 cm2, however, and it still isn稚 cost effective enough for everyday, mainstream use.
Graphene will really be something if they can perfect manufacturing it.
It has emerged as one of the most promising nanomaterials because of its unique combination of superb properties:
it is not only one of the thinnest but also strongest materials;
it conducts heat better than all other materials;
it is a great conductor of electricity;
it is optically transparent, yet so dense that it is impermeable to gases not even helium, the smallest gas atom, can pass through it.
These amazing properties, and its multifunctionality, make graphene suitable for a wide spectrum of applications ranging from electronics to optics, sensors, and biodevices.
