4 ms·

One such "alien alloy" we still haven't been fully able to analyze or even reproduce: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damascus_steel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

• DanBC 9y ago
  Or for a more modern thing: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starlite https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starlite
  • GioM 9y ago
    Also see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy_Hurtubise#Firepaste https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy_Hurtubise#Firepaste There seems to be an easily-composable fire retardant substance that can be made from household materials and that's been discovered several times by tinkerers over the years.
• naiyt 9y ago
  After reading that it sounds like they just haven't been able to reproduce the process of making it, not that it's an alloy that they don't understand the composition of.
  • rbanffy 9y ago
    Understanding the composition is just the first step of duplicating the process that made something. It can be as simple as melting two bars of different metals to etching elaborate patterns through complicated physical and chemical processes.