TRANSPARENT ALUMINUM IS HERE!

This has to be the coolest looking metal ever, Transparent Aluminum. Apparently it’s a transparent aluminum-based ceramic called aluminum oxynitride or “AION”.  The AION process consists of intense heat and high pressure, converting the aluminum-oxynitride powder to a glass looking transparent metal. I want a gun, or a building made entirely from this, this futuristic as hell!

alon-plates

isostatic-pressing

alon-process

The applications to this material are wide and versatile but currently exclusive to military uses due to the current high cost. According to Sean Ragan on blog.makezine.com a 1.6 AION plate is more resistant and efficient than modern bullet proof glass. The AION plate could resist a powerful .50 AP bullet which would destroy twice that size on conventional armor glass. Honestly, I think it would be awesome to see this used this aluminum as smart phone screens and television screens, the end of infamous Nintendo Wii remote accidents and cell phone “Newton” tests.

transparent-aluminum-armor1

Overall I think this is a very interesting material, but what I find more intriguing is its’ future applications and how common and cheap this material could become in the next few years. Architecture could be impacted by the emergence of this material which would be aesthetically pleasing, I think.

If you guys would like to know more detailed information about this material and its’ armor uses, check out howstuffworks.com. Thanks to Makezine.com and Gettyimages.com for their images. I would like to mention we do not own these images, provided by mentioned websites for demonstration reasons.

Quick vlog about this transparent aluminum post, check out our youtube page!

-Frank
Frank@Techreviewblog.com

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