Slicker'n teflon, harder'n shiite

[DesertFox]

A superhard substance that is more slippery than Teflon could protect mechanical parts from wear and tear, and boost energy efficiency by reducing friction.

The "ceramic alloy" is created by combining a metal alloy of boron, aluminium and magnesium (AlMgB14) with titanium boride (TiB2). It is the hardest material after diamond and cubic boron nitride.

BAM, as the material is called, was discovered at the US Department of Energy Ames Laboratory in Iowa in 1999, during attempts to develop a substance to generate electricity when heated.

BAM didn't do that, but was found to have other desirable characteristics. "Its hardness was discovered by accident. We had a terrible time cutting it, grinding it, or polishing it," says Alan Russell, a materials scientist at Iowa State University in Ames.

Those chance findings have now developed into a $3-million programme at the Ames Lab to develop the BAM into a kind of eternal lubricant, a coating for moving parts to boost energy efficiency and longevity by reducing friction.

More (http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16102-material-slicker-than-teflon-discovered-by-accident.html)

[DesertFox]

If they coat bullets in this stuff, the bullets will penetrate anything but will be so slick that they'll slip right thru whatever they hit without even leaving a hole.

[garlicguy]

If they coat bullets in this stuff, the bullets will penetrate anything but will be so slick that they'll slip right thru whatever they hit without even leaving a hole.

That sounds like some pretty neat shit!

[DesertFox]

Actually, it's some pretty slick shit!

[Franko]

Actually, it's some pretty slick shit!

and without the odor . . . why it'll soon be in products that you can buy for $19.99!

[DeclinetoState]

When I saw the title, I thought this thread was going to be about . . .

http://www.truthwinsout.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/obama.jpg

[DesertFox]

Now (http://www.freeconservatives.com/vb/showthread.php?t=65840) it is. :lol:

[Penguin]

Cool find, although I thought we already had nutronium. Or at least that is what aliens who built the Planet Killer made it out of.

http://www.daviddarling.info/images/Doomsday_Machine.jpg

[DesertFox]

Yeah, but that was made a hundred gajillion years in the future and time tunneled back into the past, which is cheating.

[Penguin]

Actually, the Planet Killer was in the same timeline as the Enterprise. (Kirk goes off on one his great soliquies about it being maybe from another galaxy and the aliens who built it possibly being extinct for thousands of years).

Though giving it the ability to time-travel would be very cool and I always wondered why the Trek franchise never made another episode about it. I suppose it is better than wrecking one of the best shows in the entire series by having Rick Berman getting a hold of it.