[TheForge] plastic forge? OT:

Mon Jun 13 13:43:14 EDT 2011

In the interesting model you propose, the functional limit is the temperature at which the "glass" breaks down...even if the carbon core were to remain stable up to then.
The magical plastic alleges to exceed the limits of it's constituent elements incredibly ( literally).
In metal alloys, a combination of elements tends to lower the melting temperature.
Are there high temperature compounds where the opposite is dramatically true?

On Jun 13, 2011, at 4:40 AM, Bruce Freeman wrote:

> Rather than wonder about this magical substance that notably has never
> been commercialized, why not brainstorm to find something or some
> things that fill some of those functions.
> 
> There are, for example, a number of ways to resist heat.  Most
> refractories (graphite being a notable exception) that resist heat by
> virtue of high melting point and being oxides (impossible to further
> oxidize).  Others are ablative -- sacrificial.  Graphite almost falls
> into the last category, or maybe does.
> 
> Suppose you try to use bituminous coal as a refractory.  Get it hot
> enough and it expands into breeze (coke).  It fails at that point
> because it starts to burn, but what if it were somehow protected from
> burning by a refractory "glass" layer.  Hence, composite something
> like bituminous coal with some sort of high-temperature
> oxidation-resistant substance.  What's neat about this is that the
> breeze would then act as an insulator, protecting what's beneath.
> 
> What you want to do is to form your "clinker" right on the surface of
> the breeze.   So, this all gives rise to the question of why
> bituminous coal does not already act as a refractory.  I suspect that
> probably relates to properties of the breeze vs. the "glass".  Maybe
> the glass won't "wet" the carbon?  Maybe the continual degassing of
> the coal breaks the glass layer, making it ineffective as a "flux"?
> Maybe the glass sits on the outside of the breeze only, leaving the
> open "gas bubbles" exposed to the air blast?  Solve this problem and
> you might develop.  Even light microscopy could help determine the
> facts, and scanning electron microscopy would probably solve it in no
> time.
> 
> Of course, graphite is mainly of interest because of it's high melting
> point.  Perhaps the equivalent behavior could be obtained using more
> standard ceramics.  But the "plastic" nature of our hypothetical
> material is now conceivably a problem.  How does one form a ceramic in
> a plastic manner?  Well, cement comes to mind -- castable or rammable
> refractories.
> 
> All just brainstorming.
> 
> On Mon, Jun 13, 2011 at 3:11 AM, peter fels <artgawk at thegrid.net> wrote:
>> It's hard to refrain from thinking of different applications for it....
>> sorta like relations with  a harbor Fright catalogue when i was poorer.
>> 
>> 
>> On Jun 12, 2011, at 3:27 PM, Mike Spencer wrote:
>> 
>>> 
>>> I posted a note to uk.rec.sheds (chiefly because someone had used the
>>> word "gubbins" and the Starlite guy recounted calling his product
>>> "gubbins" when first encountered) and had this reply:
>>> 
>>>    From: bobharvey <robertharvey at my-deja.com>
>>>    Subject: Re: Sheddi Taxidermy
>>>    Newsgroups: uk.rec.sheds
>>> 
>>>    Ah yes.  Starlite.  I recall reading almost exactly that article
>>>    some 20 years ago in some engineering journal.  It included a
>>>    photo sequence of someone stirring molten steel with a stick, then
>>>    putting the stick in a bucket of water without the normal
>>>    dangerous consequences.
>>> 
>>>    I always assumed it was all true, unlike the "combustion engine
>>>    that runs on water" man, who used to pop up occasionally.  'cos It
>>>    was clear that that was bollocks.
>>> 
>>> If it's bogus, at least it has staying power.  If it's not, why can't
>>> I have some?
>>> 
>>> --
>>> Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada       .~.
>>>                                                           /V\
>>> mspencer at tallships.ca                                     /( )\
>>> http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/                        ^^-^^
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> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Bruce
> NJ
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