Mimetic Metals

Structurally amorphous metals or mimetic metals are a new class of materials being developed by researchers in the United States.   Materials technology is considered to be one of the key areas of advanced research taking place in the US.  

If you’ve seen the Terminator series you can quickly see why the Military Industrial complex has such a deep interest in materials science.    In conjunction with smart materials, mimetic metals have huge potentials for creating new machinery for both industrial and military purposes.   While the actual cost of deploying technologies that exist solely to deplete wealth can be questioned, the value of the research for constructive applications is also clear.

Metal Alloys

The development of this new bulk class of metal alloys has been underway for quite some time.  Uses can be envisioned for everything to specialized armors, component fabricating to more exotic uses as morphing  airframes and deep drilling applications.   

By combining attributes of crystalline, liquid and metallic states within a single alloy, metals can be created which are more durable, flexible, rigid, with higher tensile strength  as well as being less susceptible to corrosion and much more durable than alloys we conventionally use.

While the bulk of research is in avionics applications, such as creating better turbines and skins for space craft the potentials are considerable.    When combining advances in this field with related materials technologies such as smart matter, mesoscale adaptive components and powerful communications and information technologies the possibilities seem limitless.

Structurally amorphous literally means shape changing.   It is easy to envision humans, robots and machinery draped with a second skin of liquid crystalline metal that becomes rigid on impact.    Taking advantage of these properties, machines which have systems which have temporary hydraulic compression abilities built into them would be amazingly resilient.  

Mimetic Devices

A ships hull could heal itself in the case of a puncture.  An airplane could change shape in order to change its signature or flight characteristics simply be sending an electrical charge through the system.   In time manufacturing machinery could literally modify its purpose on the fly, while still retaining a substructure of conductive components to pass new instructions to the machine.  

Even more complex combinations of attributes are imaginable.  For instance a well bore could dig deep into the earths mantle, adjusting the drilling properties of the bit on the fly.   When a porous area was reached, the bore could liquify and scout naturally flowing passages in the earths mantle, or gain purchase on a very narrow vent in the earths surface in order to create a geothermal pipeline.    After the drilling was complete, instructions could be sent to reshape the metals in place, converting the drill bit to a pipe which could adjust itself to handle seismic shifts.  

The applications are numerous and worth contemplating.    Mimetic skins on vehicles could handle crash impacts in a way that simply aren’t possible with today’s static materials.   

To get a glimpse at the level of influence that mimetic metals can have on the way we live, you may be interested in this video of advanced architecture in Dubai which relies on shape shifting to transform itself throughout the day.   That is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to real world applications in amorphous structures.  The video exhibits a real world example of a pre-mimetic structure which has only some ability to change shape on the fly.   Now visualize what that building would look like if it were skinned in mimetic metals.

While there are risks in creating new technologies, the benefits of amorphous alloys and advanced materials sciences are just one of the many fascinating frontiers of technology that are being researched.   Disregard rumors of alien technological intervention, these works are being spawned as a direct result of the rapid information transfer, cumulative knowledge and advanced education for the masses which are available in the modern world.