Interesting new composite material appears durable, resistant to cutting/grinding.

Chip Chester · Jul 21, 2020

Sounds like a challenge to me... good for bike locks until someone figures out how to defeat it with mercury or something.

303 See Other

Not sure what the '303 See other' thing is, but link does work.

allloutmx · Jul 21, 2020

pfffff.... diamond tooling and an ultrasonic head would chew right through that with micron accuracy

ChipSplitter · Jul 21, 2020

If it's not machinable I guess it's an out for us......

Bet you could still get through it with this bad boy: M18™ FORCE LOGIC™ 3” Underground Cable Cutter w/ Wireless remote

Lewie · Jul 21, 2020

That reads like it belongs on April 1st
...lewie...

michiganbuck · Jul 21, 2020

Shoulda had that to go with the flux Encabulator...

Scottl · Jul 21, 2020

Sounds like something with a few specialized uses.

The manufacturing process sounds like a PITA. The first part sounds like normal powder metallurgy but adding the outer ceramic sounds very labor intensive.

Also, while it may resist drilling and grinding I have to wonder how it would survive a Borden attack (something like a swung axe).

I only scanned the article but it sounds like an aluminum foam with a ceramic outer layer. The resonance (vibration) is supposed to defeat grinders but as anyone who has ever had a "theft proof" device defeated knows, there is almost nothing that can't be defeated by a determined attacker. Since aluminum is hot short I suspect a torch and hammer might destroy anything made of this.

One use where I could see promise is an abrasion shield where the item might occasionally contact abrasive masonry or the like.

DDoug · Jul 21, 2020

Sounds like something Morgan Materials in Coudersport would be making.
Maybe in conjunction with nearby:
GTP | Global Tungsten & Powders Corp.

Hardplates · Jul 21, 2020

If it's built by man, it is always easier to be unbuilt by man :dunce:

DDoug · Jul 21, 2020

allloutmx said:
pfffff.... diamond tooling and an ultrasonic head would chew right through that with micron accuracy

Maybe, but what if the material moves, so the ultrasonic vibrations cannot move the diamond in relationship to the part ?

Ever try cutting a boxspring matteress using a Sawzall ?

BoxcarPete · Jul 21, 2020

digger doug said:
Maybe, but what if the material moves, so the ultrasonic vibrations cannot move the diamond in relationship to the part ?

Ever try cutting a boxspring matteress using a Sawzall ?

I was thinking more along the lines of how a stryker saw can cut bones but not flesh, but yeah, I'm thinking this stuff will resist that as well.

I didn't read the whole article in detail, but I didn't see any claims of resistance to brute force a la bolt cutters. Still might find some niche applications but I think bolt cutters are even more low-tech and available than the resisted methods (have you ever seen someone going after parked bikes with a drill?)

michiganbuck · Jul 21, 2020

Very possible a good hammer smack might do it in.

dian · Jul 21, 2020

so they didnt try a "balistic attac"?

Hodge · Jul 21, 2020

I suspect some form of acid would give it a good working over. Muriatic perhaps

gbent · Jul 21, 2020

I wonder what dry ice or liquid nitrogen does? there were a lot of unbreakable locks that were easily Frozen and shattered with a can of r12 back when r12 was a buck a can.

dalmatiangirl61 · Jul 21, 2020

Hodge said:
I suspect some form of acid would give it a good working over. Muriatic perhaps

In reading the description of the material it reminded me of a nut I've been trying to crack, copper infused fire brick. Stripped the teeth off the bandsaw blade in under 5 minutes, barely cut it, angle grinder did not work just loaded wheel, carbide drill went less than a 1/4" before it dulled, need to try a diamond saw. Acid will dissolve it, I forget if we used sulfuric or nitric .

Scottl · Jul 21, 2020

I read deeper into the article and one possible use is attack resistant doors. Apparently the aluminum foam has some elasticity which likely means an axe attack would take a very long time to penetrate and the ceramic would quickly ruin the edge. The secret seems to be the hard ceramic spheres in the softer more resilient matrix. An angle grinder can begin to cut but as it goes deeper it not only loads up but excites a vibration that prevents further cutting. This means that to penetrate the panel you would likely have to abrade a large surface area with a sweeping motion and use up a lot of disks. Carbide drills apparently blunted after very little drilling. They tested samples under a water jet and it began to cut until the spheres splashed the water back toward the nozzle.

Sounds like very tough stuff for critical protective panels and doors. My guess is that due to its characteristics (hardness of the imbedded ceramic spheres plus resiliency of the matrix) it would probably even resist some breaching charges. It probably would partially absorb and disintegrate high velocity projectiles such as armor piercing bullets.

MattiJ · Jul 21, 2020

Aluminium is pretty effective in loading up abrasive tools.
article in Nature doesn't mention stupid bike locks. But I'm not sure if I buy their complex "vibration theory"

Obviously material with 13 mm = 1/2" ceramic spheres is not suited to anything compact like bike locks.
Make the ceramic balls smaller and thickness typical to bike lock and bolt cutters will cut it like butter.
It may have some uses in reinforcing safes or doors (and they have used similar structures for last 100 years.)
Loose washers between steel plates, copper layers, ceramic balls etc etc. So the only novelty with this is the light weight.

CalG · Jul 21, 2020

Lewie said:
That reads like it belongs on April 1st
...lewie...

techno babble: ;-)

Our architecture derives its extreme hardness from the local resonance between the embedded ceramics in a flexible cellular matrix and the attacking tool, which produces high-frequency vibrations at the interface. The incomplete consolidation of the ceramic grains during the manufacturing also promoted fragmentation of the ceramic spheres into micron-size particulate matter, which provided an abrasive interface with increasing resistance at higher loading rates.

I wonder how it holds up to the old west classic lock busting 45?

john.k · Jul 21, 2020

Probably more useful in safe deposit vaults,and large vault doors ,that can be made lighter......The point of most of this stuff ,is it takes a lot of time to defeat ,and even the cops can arrive while the crooks are still trying to get in.

Scruffy887 · Jul 22, 2020

Are they saying the ceramic balls start to spin when the abrasive hits them?
Maybe a more powerful diamond tipped saw could force through it.

Interesting new composite material appears durable, resistant to cutting/grinding.

Diamond

Titanium

Titanium

Cast Iron

Diamond

Diamond

Diamond

Stainless

Diamond

Stainless

Diamond

Titanium

Stainless

Diamond

Diamond

Diamond

Titanium

Diamond

Diamond

Titanium

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