Transparent aluminum

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In Star Trek, transparent aluminum (or aluminium) is described as a transparent form of aluminum used for windows.

No such material as depicted exists in real life. Attempts to make a similar material include the chemical bonding of aluminum with appropriate elements in transparent alumina and in ruby, corundum, sapphire, and related aluminum compounds.[1] Traditional photonic bandgaps, based on introducing spatial holes in aluminum, are likewise possible, but these would require the introduction of numerous physical holes with roughly the diameter of the wavelengths of light for which transparency were desired; but such would presumably weaken aluminum structures.

Contents

[edit] ALON

Main article: Aluminum oxynitride

ALON is the brand name of a transparent ceramic compound with a high compressive strength and durability, used primarily in military applications.

[edit] Transparent alumina

Main article: Transparent alumina

Aluminum oxide, a chemical compound of aluminum and oxygen (Al2O3) is made transparent through a process of fusing fine particles.[1][2]

[edit] Nanophase aluminum

Real transparent aluminum can and has been made by using nanophase aluminum.[3] This is aluminum composed of nanometre scale particles as a solid transparent material, whose color can be varied by sizing the particles differently. The particles themselves are smaller than the wavelengths of visible light. Nanophase materials are usually transparent and very hard, with color depending on the size of the particles.[4]

[edit] In fiction

[edit] Star Trek

In the popular film Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, panels of acrylic glass were acquired for construction of water tanks with a thickness suitable for containing two humpback whales and tonnes of water. However, the Enterprise crew, without money appropriate to the period, found it necessary to barter with Plexicorp (a fictional manufacturer) for the materials required for the task. In exchange for the acrylic glass, Chief Engineer Scott shares the chemical formula for transparent aluminum.

There is some question whether this transfer of technology actually results in a predestination paradox where transparent aluminum is actually never invented by anyone. Scotty, who gives the formula to Dr. Nichols in the twentieth century, implies that it was Dr. Nichols who may have introduced transparent aluminum to the world (thus allowing Scotty to learn the formula in the twenty-third century), raising the question of where the formula originated.

Star Trek technical manuals indicate transparent aluminum is used in various fittings in starships, including exterior ship portals and windows. In the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “In Theory,” a subspace anomaly alters the transparent aluminum windows creating a hull breach in the observation lounge.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Alumina (Aluminium Oxide): The Different Types of Commercially Available Grades. AZoM.com. Retrieved on 2008-01-29.
  2. ^ Belle Dumé. "Glass breakthrough", PhysicWorld, 11 August 2004. Retrieved on 2008-01-29. 
  3. ^ Transparent Abrasion Resistant Products: NanoDur X1102HDA. Nanophase Technologies Corporation. Retrieved on 2008-01-29.
  4. ^ Perepezko, John H.; Hebert, Rainer J. (March 2002). "Amorphous Aluminum Alloys—Synthesis and Stability". JOM 54 (3): p. 34. 

[edit] See also

Sapphire crystal

[edit] External links