4 ms·
> Sc1.5Al0.5W3O12 That's a lot of Scandium, one of the most expensive elements. Typically ~$120/gram. Not making airplanes out of this stuff any time soon. Ho
by kortex 5y ago
> Sc1.5Al0.5W3O12
That's a lot of Scandium, one of the most expensive elements. Typically ~$120/gram. Not making airplanes out of this stuff any time soon.
Hopefully the research unlocks similar crystal structures using cheaper materials, maybe subbing something like titanium or yttrium. Metallurgical substitution is tricky, since often you need to match both electronic (group analogs) and size (row analogs) characteristics.
- elcritch 5y agoEven given the cost, I'd wager many applications for sensitive instruments could make use of it.
- kortex 5y agoOh totally. There's tons of applications where some small widget needs stupendously low thermal expansion. Atomic force microscopy immediately comes to mind; lots of metrology use cases in general.