According to the publication IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, a group of Russian specialists from National research nuclear University MEPhI, together with colleagues from Moscow state University of geodesy and cartography, Institute of structural Macrokinetics and problems of materials science, and Institute of metallurgy and material science named after A. A. Baykov has developed a technology to produce aluminium which is almost completely transparent.
For transparent aluminum, scientists have applied the method of spark-plasma sintering. It’s a new technology, which is based on the modified method of hot pressing. During the procedure electric current is passed through the mold and extruding the billet. Then, a pulse current is achieved by fast heating. As explained by one of the study’s authors Nikita Rubinovskii,
“Among those represented at the present time ceramic medium density oxynitride aluminum has a high strength, comparable to that of YAG (garnet alyumoittrievy) and cubic Zirconia (stabilised zirconium dioxide). And the most important armor for the toughness characterization of ALON (aluminum oxynitride, which is almost transparent) is superior to all transparent materials, including quartz glass, fused quartz, spinel and synthetic sapphire”.
Such materials are, in fact, has long been used. For example, the already mentioned ALON for strength and scratch-resistance four times higher than aluminosilicate glass, and can withstand temperatures up to 2100 degree Celsius. Is increasing penetrating power of small arms and artillery, forcing developers to look for new opportunities to improve materials for protection. The creators of the technology argue that ALON can be used in several military and commercial applications, for example for the manufacture of Windows and domes for spacecraft, as well as the outer transparent armor.
Based on materials of RIA “news”
Russian scientists have developed a technology for the production of transparent aluminum
Vladimir Kuznetsov