Transparent Aluminum = Transparent Hosts?

[danefex]

I just found this online & thought of how cool a transparent laser host might look....

Transparent Aluminum: Real, Glass-Like, See-Through Metal « Dornob

 

[EnergyCoherence]

I just found this online & thought of how cool a transparent laser host might look....

Transparent Aluminum: Real, Glass-Like, See-Through Metal « Dornob

This has been out for years, but I haven't really seen any products that use it, or any places to buy it. Is it as good as regular aluminum, as far as heatsinking goes? Be cool to see a car with transparent body panels..

 

[AJ_Dual]

This has been out for years, but I haven't really seen any products that use it, or any places to buy it. Is it as good as regular aluminum, as far as heatsinking goes? Be cool to see a car with transparent body panels..

It's transparent Aluminum Oxide. A bit of a difference from pure metallic Aluminum. It's a very hard glass-like ceramic.

There is one more "transparent Aluminum" but it's only temporary, when you bombard a thin Aluminum foil with X-rays of the right frequency and strength, you can knock certain electrons out of their orbits without disrupting the crystalline electron sharing that defines most metals in their solid state, and it then becomes "transparent". However it also gets very hot, and once the X-rays are turned off, it becomes opaque again.

HowStuffWorks "How Transparent Aluminum Armor Works"

Essentially it's Aluminum, Oxygen, and some Nitrogen in a ceramic form, that is cooled into a semi-crystalline/semi-liquid amorphous state, like glass is. It's made in high temperature kilns and molded into as close to the final shape as possible as it's hideously hard stuff and difficult to work afterward.

It's also verrrrrry expensive.

How difficult and expensive is it? The U.S. military and defense contractors are testing it, but it's so expensive and difficult to fabricate, even they're not using it... yet.

Not something you're going to turn on a lathe and make a flashlight or laser host out of.

Also, "transparent Aluminum" isn't THAT exotic either. It's existed a long time in the forms of many common Aluminum Oxide based gemstones.

 

[danefex]

This has been out for years, but I haven't really seen any products that use it, or any places to buy it. Is it as good as regular aluminum, as far as heatsinking goes? Be cool to see a car with transparent body panels..

I have no idea how it reacts or performs compared to regular aluminum, or that this was a few years old. I just came across it today & immediately thought of how cool or futuristic a transparent host could look for a laser if crafted correctly.

Personally, anything with a sleek stainless host like this for example scores a win in my book :yh: ...so I don't even know how cool a transparent one would look.

Transparent body panels for a car? Hrmm.....

 

[Ash]

I have no idea how it reacts or performs compared to regular aluminum, or that this was a few years old. I just came across it today & immediately thought of how cool or futuristic a transparent host could look for a laser if crafted correctly.

Personally, anything with a sleek stainless host like this for example scores a win in my book :yh: ...so I don't even know how cool a transparent one would look.

Transparent body panels for a car? Hrmm.....

I don't think a transparent laser would look cool at all. It would look like this flashlight:

Personally. I prefer large hosts with lots of heat-sinking:

 

[danefex]

Well there you go... That looks plastic & cheap though, not what I had in mind at all. Thanks for sharing that. If there were a host that was mostly stainless steel with I don't know, maybe a window or two on it made with transparent aluminum to see inside or right through the thing...? That could look alright, maybe only in a futuristic kitchen or something though.

Personally. I prefer large hosts with lots of heat-sinking:

Jesus... That looks like a planet lander right there.

 

[danefex]

AJ I'm sorry I missed your post before, thanks for sharing the link on how stuff works & explaining all that. I had an idea but now I'm clear on all of it

 

[millirad]

And you can see a closely related material, if you look closely at the crystals on course aluminum oxide sandpaper.

 

[phoenix77]

I found the info. regarding the subject, BOTH very interesting & very informative. Thanks for sharing !!! COOL STUFF.................. rob

THANKS DANEFEX

 

[danefex]

yr welcome Phoenix

 

[EnergyCoherence]

Personally. I prefer large hosts with lots of heat-sinking:

Clearly this guy is compensating for something..

 

[danefex]

HA! You know what they say about big shoes....... (big feet man, and probably a slow runner)

 

[HIMNL9]

Well, sure a host for a red made with a ruby, or for a 445nm made with a sapphire, can have a very cool look ..... and for the durability and heat transfer, you can also use magnesiun aluminate spinel, that is a transparent ceramic compound, with the thermal transfer characteristics of alumina based ceramics, transparent like glass, and harder than bulletproof tempered crystal ..... there's only the secondary question of the price, that prevent most of the hobbysts from have a laser host made with one of them ..... :crackup:

 

[millirad]

^ Probably about $50K for a transparent host out of that material. Then you have to machine it. Here's a piece of ceramic doing the reverse, that is machining hardened steel..........

 

[Cyparagon]

It is NOT transparent aluminum, as said above, it is aluminum oxide. It therefore has vastly different properties from aluminum. The most common application I can think of is in HID lighting as an arc tube material that operates at higher temperature and can withstand sodium erosion. HPS and CDM bulbs like these two use alumina.

Antistatic bags are NOT made from alumina, but rather PETE (the same plastic most beverage bottles are made from) with a very thin coating of aluminum. Put one over a flame and you'll see what I mean. And that "can" they have a picture of? Just looks like plastic. Notice the metal lip.