Today’s PaulTech in Space does not really have anything to do with NASA, although if reports I’m reading are true, the tech I’m writing about right now may just as well be strapped to the next space vessels. I’m showcasing two separate pieces of tech; one involving super alloys, and the other involving…aha! You guessed it, an improvement to stainless steel. Each are exciting of their own accord, as they both are uniquely crucial and pivotal to future construction projects, research, and last, but not least, SPACE TRAVEL!
Firstly, Super alloys…
An alloy is, basically, a mixture of two materials of which at least one is a metal. This mixture is usually prepared to create a stronger or more useful, in one way or another, metal. For example, bronze, as an alloy of copper and tin (although other elements can be mixed with copper), was very useful to ancient civilizations and still has a wide variety of uses today. Lending it’s name to the Bronze Age, it is one of the most famous (next to steel) alloys created. Now this is all well and good; but what happens when we are building structures over a hundred stories tall, space vehicles and aircraft that need lightweight but strong frames, and these materials need to be able to stand extremes that would obliterate their predecessors? We need to find and create better materials. In this case, it’s a super alloy. Super alloys will allow us to surpass barriers to our progress because a metal is too weak or gets too brittle at a certain temperature. The only thing about super alloys is that they are difficult to make; however, with researchers developing a new way to create these new metals, it wont take more than a few years to create sizable portions of these alloys.
Now, creating new materials to satiate the need for improvement is a good, albeit expensive, method; but what about improving current metals? Let’s say, for instance, stainless steel. A popular and useful alloy, it has a few downsides, such as a tendency to oxidize and to “creep” - change the metal’s shape at high temperatures. Scientists have announced they have fabricated an improved stainless steel: one that is more resistant to oxidation and doesn’t creep at high temperatures. Such features were only to be found in other nickel-base alloys, and at around five times the cost! These new stainless steel alloys are much cheaper and already are main characters in plans to use them in high-temperature chemical and industrial applications. However, you can only improve an alloy (or anything else, for that matter) so much, leaving room for the development of super alloys, when it is ready.
So these two methods; each perfectly valid, are a different part of research and development, but each go hand in hand with the future of technology. So where does space come in? Why in using BOTH of these materials! Strapping layers of super alloys onto space stations and spacecraft will improve their protection from space junk and all kinds of harm, and the improved stainless steel can help fortify areas around high heat levels, making the craft of tomorrow strong and safe. Here’s to our future “alloyed” space vessels!!!
Next up on the final episode of PaulTech in Space: The future of the space shuttle and why I think Will Robinson will need to hold onto his bootstraps in the coming years.
Pictures courtesy of: Wikipedia Commons;
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