9 Sep
2016
9 Sep
'16
1:36 p.m.
On Sep 9, 2016, at 1:23 PM, Doug Ingraham <dpi at
dustyoldcomputers.com> wrote:
On Fri, Sep 9, 2016 at 12:39 PM, Peter Cetinski <pete at pski.net> wrote:
The answer is probably yes, but not for anything like a reasonable amount
of money or in a reasonable amount of time. It would probably take a
couple of years to grow a crystal that size. There was a company making
the ovens used to make billets of sapphire about 18 inches in diameter and
a foot tall from which they would cut out the pieces they would need with
presumably a diamond saw. These billets would take something like a month
to grow so you would need a lot of them to make your screens in the multi
million quantities. And these billets had imperfections you had to work
around. In 1986 it would probably have taken Mr Scotts technical know how.
Actually it actually *does* exist and is reasonable to manufacture. Here?s the
article:
http://www.nrl.navy.mil/media/news-releases/2015/transparent-armor-from-nrl…
It?s basically a sintered process where the ceramic is formed (this particular one is
called spinel)
and the process is to put the powder in a press, raise the temperature and evacuate the
air.
The result is a clear crystal that has better properties than glass. The size of the
piece is only
limited by the size of the press.
TTFN - Guy
On Sep 9, 2016, at 10:55 AM, Doug Ingraham
<dpi at dustyoldcomputers.com>
wrote:
Transparent aluminum exists. It is called sapphire. Sapphire is the
crystalline form of aluminum oxide. If you recall, Apple was thinking of
using it for the touch screen face of the iphone.
Ah yes, but can you make in sheets 60 feet by 10 feet by 1 inch thick and
withstand the pressure of 18,000 cu ft of water? :)