Transparent Aluminum A Reality?

[Guest]

Have we now made science fiction from Star Trek into science reality?  (again?)

Sort of.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium_oxynitride

This is actually an aluminum based ceramic rather than a metal.  i.e. it is not a sea of electrons.  It is not malleable or ductile.  Of course, Aluminum itself is not the most ductile of metals.  But it is more ductile than ceramics.  

Still, it has some pretty impressive characteristics.

[Still_Small_Voice]

I liked the film Star Trek IV.  The movie was comparing 1986 technology to possible technology in a science fiction 24th century.  I wonder if during the millenium we will have any space travel at all?

Do not bother seeing Star Trek V.  Oh that was an awful terrible movie.  I watch movie clips and laugh at it for how bad the film is.

[unixknight]

Saw a video on this recently.  It also works great as a component in body armor.  Apparently it's effective at 1/6 of the normal thickness.

Which is oddly coincidental with Star Trek IV.  Scotty asks the manager guy how thick his polymer would have to be to build the whale tank.

Manager: That's easy.  6".  We actually have sheets that thick in stock.

Scotty: I uh, noticed.  Suppose I could show you a way to do the same job, but be only one inch thick.  Would that be worth something to ya, laddie?

[Guest]

1 hour ago, unixknight said:

Saw a video on this recently.  It also works great as a component in body armor.  Apparently it's effective at 1/6 of the normal thickness.

Which is oddly coincidental with Star Trek IV.  Scotty asks the manager guy how thick his polymer would have to be to build the whale tank.

Manager: That's easy.  6".  We actually have sheets that thick in stock.

Scotty: I uh, noticed.  Suppose I could show you a way to do the same job, but be only one inch thick.  Would that be worth something to ya, laddie?

That's not actually a fair comparison.  When talking about body armor, the thickness is very nearly directly proportional to the bullet resistance (but I must qualify that with: there are dozens of variables here).  For holding back a wall of water, it is directly proportional to the square of the thickness for strength and the cube of the thickness for stiffness.

But still... it was a fun comparison.

Edited May 9, 2018 by Guest

[unixknight]

22 minutes ago, Carborendum said:

That's not actually a fair comparison.  When talking about body armor, the thickness is very nearly directly proportional to the bullet resistance (but I must qualify that with: there are dozens of variables here).  For holding back a wall of water, it is directly proportional to the square of the thickness for strength and the cube of the thickness for stiffness.

But still... it was a fun comparison.

Yah... bro, I was just noting the coincidence of the 1:6 ratio... 

[person0]

I'm mostly interested in transparent OLED's.  I bet the two could probably be combined to make a transparent military grade bulletproof display.  Like the one seen in this image:

I will probably have these all over my house at some point.  The technology already exists.

[Guest]

On 5/9/2018 at 12:57 PM, person0 said:

I'm mostly interested in transparent OLED's.  I bet the two could probably be combined to make a transparent military grade bulletproof display.  Like the one seen in this image:

I will probably have these all over my house at some point.  The technology already exists.

Nah.  They really look cool in sci-fi.  But I believe they are not as utilitarian as that.  Actually seeing screen data on a clear panel is not as desirable as it looks.  Visibility from the other side would be too distracting.

[person0]

38 minutes ago, Carborendum said:

Nah.  They really look cool in sci-fi.  But I believe they are not as utilitarian as that.  Actually seeing screen data on a clear panel is not as desirable as it looks.  Visibility from the other side would be too distracting.

For general use no, but they are currently being marketed to product marketers for augmented reality where the panel is placed in front of a physical product and the screen is used to augment the experience and information relay related to the product.  I think other augmented reality uses are where the value is in this type of display.

[Guest]

24 minutes ago, person0 said:

For general use no, but they are currently being marketed to product marketers for augmented reality where the panel is placed in front of a physical product and the screen is used to augment the experience and information relay related to the product.  I think other augmented reality uses are where the value is in this type of display.

Google glass?  Is that what that's made of?

[NeuroTypical]

You know how our phones use 4G?

I work for a company that is currently helping invent the technology that will be used in 5G.  Commercial products probably available in a couple of years.  Buzzwords: Massive data at faster speeds.  Low latency.  Scalable.

And, just last week, I read my first (decent) article on 6G.  Buzzwords: Reality augmentation.  Web-enabled clothing.

Edited May 10, 2018 by NeuroTypical

[zil]

7 minutes ago, NeuroTypical said:

And, just last week, I read my first (decent) article on 6G.  Buzzwords: Reality augmentation.  Web-enabled clothing.

I hope to be dead before this one becomes a reality.

[person0]

36 minutes ago, Carborendum said:

Google glass?  Is that what that's made of?

That was the plan.  I don't know if it is what they ended up doing, but I assume it is.  Some 'smart' glasses use projection.

[pwrfrk]

Aluminum Oxy-Nitride is a very impressive alloy.  Where it takes 7-1/2" or more to stop a .50 AP BMG round at point blank range, it takes only 1-2/3" of AlON.

The downfall is the cost.  Otherwise I'd have my truck tricked out with this stuff.

[NightSG]

On 5/10/2018 at 4:27 PM, person0 said:

For general use no, but they are currently being marketed to product marketers for augmented reality where the panel is placed in front of a physical product and the screen is used to augment the experience and information relay related to the product.  I think other augmented reality uses are where the value is in this type of display.

Meh; save the research money and skip straight to holographic VR in empty air, like Iron Man.

[NightSG]

On 5/10/2018 at 5:11 PM, NeuroTypical said:

Web-enabled clothing.

I would so have to hack that and be the Anonymous of the fashion police.

Suddenly every hipster in Starbucks is going to be wearing a MAGA t-shirt.

[person0]

3 hours ago, NightSG said:

Meh; save the research money and skip straight to holographic VR in empty air, like Iron Man.

Given the way that light works, this seems theoretically impossible unless there are particles being circulated through the air, which would also need to have a controlled 3 axis maximum area.  The particles would require each person to wear a mask of some sort, or else use particles that have no effect on the human body when breathing.  If such particles already exist, we would already have this technology.  Additionally light would have to be shined from many directions in order to focus light in the correct areas, and even with all of that, at best you could produce an inconsistent image that possibly would be decent looking to someone standing outside of the holographic display.

Unless you are talking about VR headsets that people wear on their faces, which obviously already exist.

[Vort]

30 minutes ago, person0 said:

The particles would require each person to wear a mask of some sort, or else use particles that have no effect on the human body when breathing.

Or confine the particles in a volume with transparent borders, e.g. in a magnetic bottle.

[person0]

4 hours ago, Vort said:

Or confine the particles in a volume with transparent borders, e.g. in a magnetic bottle.

Agreed, however, I was assuming NightSG intended for people to be able to walk around within the area where the hologram was displayed.  If I am reading you correctly, I think your assumption is that people would be outside the hologram display area, although in the same room.

On a side note, I just came up with the idea that perhaps a more effective way of achieving a pseudo-hologram (esp. where humans could walk around it) would be the use of flying micro-bots that have a display of only a few pixels.  Hundreds of thousands of bots could simulate a holographic display and change based on programming.  Perhaps you could save on battery power by using magnetism to help the bots achieve at least vertical flight, and also make a consistent power source via wireless charging using the same magnets.  x and z axis flight could be achieved by magnetism as well, but would be much more restrictive than some type of motor.  Anyway, not a true hologram, but probably the closest thing that might be theoretically possible, and would have a nearly identical effect on the  consumer.

[NightSG]

18 hours ago, person0 said:

Agreed, however, I was assuming NightSG intended for people to be able to walk around within the area where the hologram was displayed.

There are plenty of ways to make a light fog that's harmless to humans.  The real trick would be having enough converging light sources to give a clear, bright image without any one being bright enough to blind the user when they're positioned so as to be looking right into it.

Edited June 3, 2018 by NightSG

[Blackmarch]

On 5/7/2018 at 4:20 PM, Still_Small_Voice said:

I liked the film Star Trek IV.  The movie was comparing 1986 technology to possible technology in a science fiction 24th century.  I wonder if during the millenium we will have any space travel at all?

Do not bother seeing Star Trek V.  Oh that was an awful terrible movie.  I watch movie clips and laugh at it for how bad the film is.

go throught the scriptures and see how many of the miracles could be performed if one could manipulate gravity. Scriptures give me hope for such.

[Traveler]

On 6/2/2018 at 7:43 PM, person0 said:

Agreed, however, I was assuming NightSG intended for people to be able to walk around within the area where the hologram was displayed.  If I am reading you correctly, I think your assumption is that people would be outside the hologram display area, although in the same room.

On a side note, I just came up with the idea that perhaps a more effective way of achieving a pseudo-hologram (esp. where humans could walk around it) would be the use of flying micro-bots that have a display of only a few pixels.  Hundreds of thousands of bots could simulate a holographic display and change based on programming.  Perhaps you could save on battery power by using magnetism to help the bots achieve at least vertical flight, and also make a consistent power source via wireless charging using the same magnets.  x and z axis flight could be achieved by magnetism as well, but would be much more restrictive than some type of motor.  Anyway, not a true hologram, but probably the closest thing that might be theoretically possible, and would have a nearly identical effect on the  consumer.

Currently someone can be wearing virtual reality glasses that will display a 3D image in live conditions.  In the medical profession this is already used for training.  A special prop can be used to simulate a human body and then as a doctor makes cuts and open the prop body - they will see virtually projected the insides where they can continue to perform heart surgery.  Sensors can detect the depth of cuts and create seemingly real life dynamic conditions as well as analyze the correctness of the methods and process.

Some year ago I help develop radar jamming techniques that would fool the radar into thinking a different object was in a different place.  I believe it is possible to provide the human eye with light data that would create an optical illusion of something similar to a hologram in front of them - however there would need to be a separate  source for each individual observing.  But I believe it could be done.

 

The Traveler