12-16-2018, 07:09 PM | #1 |
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Oz
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[Spaceships] Nanocomposite and structural materials
I'm doing a bit of modelling of the engineering requirements of space habitats with spin gravity (for FLAT BLACK, where there is no synthetic gravity). In particular, I'm investigating how thick (and therefore massive) you have to make the hull of a cylinder spinning on its axis to support its own mass and that of a load (of armour, habitat, radiation shielding &c.) against the centrifugal effect of their inertia. It turns out (unsurprisingly) that the necessary thickness (and therefore mass and cost) of the structural hull depends strongly on the density and tensile strength of the structural material. I figure that:
t = r(P₁ + a₁λ)/(σ - ra₁ρ) whereI can find figures for the strength and density of some of the materials mentioned in GURPS Spaceships, such as mild steel and high-tensile steel, high-strength aluminium alloy, and titanium. Also, for polyester reinforced with glass fibre (a surprisingly good material for the purpose at TL7), epoxy reinforced with aramid fibre, epoxy reinforced with graphite fibre, diamond, cubic boron nitride, and carbon nanotubes (buckytubes). But there are some posited futuristic materials mentioned in Spaceships of which the identities are artfully vague, and for which figures are supplied implying their relative effectiveness as armour but not their actual density and tensile strength: metallic laminate (TL8), advanced metallic laminate (TL9), nanocomposite (TL10), space-adapted wood, living tissue, living bioplastic (TL10), exotic laminate.t = minimum thickness of the structural hull Armour materials might not be the same as structural materials, of course. Can anyone suggest what structural materials might correspond to the armour materials listed in Spaceships and what their densities and tensile strengths might be? Since FLAT BLACK is TL10 I'm most interested in what might correspond to nanocomposite.
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12-16-2018, 08:11 PM | #2 |
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Oz
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Re: [Spaceships] Nanocomposite and structural materials
I built a little calculator based on this work. It's an Excel workbook with no macros.
Just at the moment the list of possible building materials is a bit incomplete and some of the values for strength are questionable. But I put it on Dropbox for review and personal use anyway. https://www.dropbox.com/s/7iilf35hdx...ator.xlsx?dl=0
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Decay is inherent in all composite things. Nod head. Get treat. |
12-16-2018, 08:53 PM | #3 |
Join Date: May 2009
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Re: [Spaceships] Nanocomposite and structural materials
For some reason the words glass fibre reinforced polymer cover the number 1550.
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12-16-2018, 09:06 PM | #4 | |
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Oz
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Re: [Spaceships] Nanocomposite and structural materials
Quote:
Click on "open with" in the menu bar on the page and select "MicroSoft Excel online" or "MicroSoft Excel " (if you have it installed). Or click on the more menu "…" in the top right and select "download".
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Decay is inherent in all composite things. Nod head. Get treat. Last edited by Agemegos; 12-16-2018 at 09:41 PM. |
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12-16-2018, 10:11 PM | #5 |
Join Date: Mar 2013
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Re: [Spaceships] Nanocomposite and structural materials
This is already covered in Spaceships on page 30
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12-16-2018, 10:25 PM | #6 |
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: A crappy state called Illinois
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Re: [Spaceships] Nanocomposite and structural materials
"Manocomposite" is kind of a catch all term in GURPS for different types of material that's the next step up from modern and next gen metal-matrix composites.
The main types covered are titanium nanocomposite, polymer nanocomposite, advanced polymer nanocomposite , ceramic nanocomposite (not sure if this would make a great building material since it's pretty brittle), and advanced nano-laminate. Density is pretty easy to figure for these material. Titanium Nanocomposite: 4g/cc. Polymar Nanocomposite: 1.5g/cc. Advanced Polymer Nanocompsite: 1.6g/cc. Ceramic Nanocomposite: 3.19g/cc. Advanced Nano Laminate: 1.27g/cc. Tensile strength on the other hand... isn't as so clear cut since GURPS doesn't really go into this aspect of armor materials in detail and it doesn't help that outside of some very early experimental examples, a lot of these materials are currently hypothetical. However there is at lest some correlation between it and how good a material is at stopping bullets I can guessitmate titanium nanocomposite as having a tensile strength of at lest around 1,400 mega parcels, give or take (though given that there would probably be a ton of different types for different jobs this number is bound to differ a bit for structural material vs armor ones). The other examples are bit trickier to figure out thought IMHO titanium nanocompsite is probably the best example. One ton (metric) of titanium nanocompsite costs (at TL10) $132,277.20. One square meter of it one centimeter thick weighs 10.2kg and has a DR of 69. Hope this was at lest some help.
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GURB: Ultra-Tech Reloaded Normies: Man! The government is filled with liars and thieves! Me: Well yeah, here's what they're lying about, what they're stealing from you, and who's doing it. Normies: Rolls eyes Shut up conspiracy theorist Me: >.> |
12-16-2018, 10:47 PM | #7 | |
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Oz
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Re: [Spaceships] Nanocomposite and structural materials
Quote:
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Decay is inherent in all composite things. Nod head. Get treat. Last edited by Agemegos; 12-16-2018 at 10:56 PM. |
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12-16-2018, 10:53 PM | #8 |
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Oz
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Re: [Spaceships] Nanocomposite and structural materials
Thank you. Density figures get me halfway there; names of specific materials may help me find at least speculative values for tensile strength.
__________________
Decay is inherent in all composite things. Nod head. Get treat. |
12-16-2018, 11:29 PM | #9 | |
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: A crappy state called Illinois
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Re: [Spaceships] Nanocomposite and structural materials
Quote:
Pyramids 3-86 Cutting Edge and 3-96 Tech and Toys IV both have an articles written by David Pulver that have a lot of info on advanced armor material so you might want to check them out if you can.
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GURB: Ultra-Tech Reloaded Normies: Man! The government is filled with liars and thieves! Me: Well yeah, here's what they're lying about, what they're stealing from you, and who's doing it. Normies: Rolls eyes Shut up conspiracy theorist Me: >.> |
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12-16-2018, 11:55 PM | #10 |
Join Date: Mar 2013
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Re: [Spaceships] Nanocomposite and structural materials
For starters that's the best your going to get, but beyond that the answer doesn't really exist. Structural weight is included in the Control Room system, not the individual systems. Further more given that the largest ships is only 700 yards long and I'm pretty sure that we already build bigger ships is very plausible.
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Tags |
flat black, material strength, o'neill cylinder, orbital habitat, spaceships |
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