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Old 11-05-2017, 09:07 PM   #1761
Anaraxes
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Default Re: Real-Life Weirdness

Not weird, but at least in the gaming-related category of "new materials with perhaps dubious popular reporting of properties" category: an alloy of titanium and gold that's said to be 3-4x harder than most steels, four times harder than pure titanium.

This one seems appealing to me not just as near-future tech for cyborg implants and street samurai, but also as technobabble for a fantasy game, justification for those awesome legendary weapons from ages past made with lost techniques, or armament for your cold-iron-shy fae warriors, for whom money is no object. Titanium is of course already a magic- or alchemy-invoking stretch for faux-medieval tech, but what could be better for DF than actually making your weapons out of gold? Maybe you can even make your After The End gold bugs happy if there's an actual in-setting reason the zombie-fighting warlords do want their non-edible shiny yellow luxury metal.
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Old 11-05-2017, 09:56 PM   #1762
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Default Re: Real-Life Weirdness

Quote:
Originally Posted by Anaraxes View Post
Not weird, but at least in the gaming-related category of "new materials with perhaps dubious popular reporting of properties" category: an alloy of titanium and gold that's said to be 3-4x harder than most steels, four times harder than pure titanium.

This one seems appealing to me not just as near-future tech for cyborg implants and street samurai, but also as technobabble for a fantasy game, justification for those awesome legendary weapons from ages past made with lost techniques, or armament for your cold-iron-shy fae warriors, for whom money is no object. Titanium is of course already a magic- or alchemy-invoking stretch for faux-medieval tech, but what could be better for DF than actually making your weapons out of gold? Maybe you can even make your After The End gold bugs happy if there's an actual in-setting reason the zombie-fighting warlords do want their non-edible shiny yellow luxury metal.
It doesn't say how much it masses, as compared to steel, though. A broadsword that weighs 10 lbs is not that useful, no matter how hard it is.

Great notion to use it for medical purposes, though. Maybe I can get some really good replacement knees, someday. :)
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Last edited by tshiggins; 11-05-2017 at 10:01 PM.
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Old 11-05-2017, 10:00 PM   #1763
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Default Re: Real-Life Weirdness

You just need to layer it over regular iron as you don't need super hardness throughout a weapon. I think it's even bad to do so as it would make it all too brittle.
I do wish they would remember that there are people allergic to gold. My mom develops rashes. Fortunately she's too cheap to ever want any anyway. Ha.
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Old 11-06-2017, 12:36 PM   #1764
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Originally Posted by tshiggins View Post
It doesn't say how much it masses, as compared to steel, though.
There's a chart in the paper which shows the peak hardness at about 7.5 g /cm^3, so pretty close to steel. It's a 3:1 ratio of Ti to Au, so that no doubt lightens it a good bit.

Quote:
Great notion to use it for medical purposes, though. Maybe I can get some really good replacement knees, someday. :)
Also an improved coefficient of friction, apparently, so smoother operation and less wear.

Last edited by Anaraxes; 11-06-2017 at 12:39 PM.
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Old 11-06-2017, 08:28 PM   #1765
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Default Re: Real-Life Weirdness

Quote:
Originally Posted by Anaraxes View Post
Not weird, but at least in the gaming-related category of "new materials with perhaps dubious popular reporting of properties" category: an alloy of titanium and gold that's said to be 3-4x harder than most steels, four times harder than pure titanium.

This one seems appealing to me not just as near-future tech for cyborg implants and street samurai, but also as technobabble for a fantasy game, justification for those awesome legendary weapons from ages past made with lost techniques, or armament for your cold-iron-shy fae warriors, for whom money is no object. Titanium is of course already a magic- or alchemy-invoking stretch for faux-medieval tech, but what could be better for DF than actually making your weapons out of gold? Maybe you can even make your After The End gold bugs happy if there's an actual in-setting reason the zombie-fighting warlords do want their non-edible shiny yellow luxury metal.
Am I the only one who suddenly hears the voice of Tony Stark telling JARVIS to use the 'gold titanium alloy from the seraphim tactical satellite"?
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Old 11-15-2017, 01:11 PM   #1766
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Default Re: Real-Life Weirdness

Heard about this dude recently. Another real-life PC, this one in the "infidel foreign mercenary carves out own kingdom" genre:

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Originally Posted by Wikipedia
George Thomas, nicknamed Jaharai Jung and Jahazi Sahib, (c. 1756 in Roscrea, Tipperary, Ireland – 22 August 1802 in Berhampur, West Bengal, India) was an Irish mercenary and later a Raja who was active in 18th-century India. From 1798 to 1801, he ruled a small kingdom in India, which he carved out of Hisar and Rohtak districts of Haryana.
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Old 11-15-2017, 04:42 PM   #1767
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Default Re: Real-Life Weirdness

Quote:
Originally Posted by Flyndaran View Post
You just need to layer it over regular iron as you don't need super hardness throughout a weapon. I think it's even bad to do so as it would make it all too brittle.
I do wish they would remember that there are people allergic to gold. My mom develops rashes. Fortunately, she's too cheap to ever want any anyway. Ha.
Maybe this means you can use gold to case-harden ordinary titanium--just plate the surface with gold, then heat-treat to produce the new alloy.

As for allergies to gold--hopefully, the alloy should reduce the activities of both gold and titanium, since both are diluted by mixing.

I recall hearing someone researching artificial joint materials saying that roughly 25% of the population has problems with titanium implants becoming pitted over time, which causes problems with roughening of surfaces in artificial joints. (At the time, the major issue was that a pitted titanium ball in a ball-and-socket joint would shave out bits of the plastic socket, so people were researching diamondlike carbon coatings for the titanium.)

Last edited by Phase_Shifter; 11-15-2017 at 04:48 PM.
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Old 11-15-2017, 04:44 PM   #1768
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Default Re: Real-Life Weirdness

Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnny1A.2 View Post
Am I the only one who suddenly hears the voice of Tony Stark telling JARVIS to use the 'gold titanium alloy from the seraphim tactical satellite"?
The same thing ran through my head as I read about this.
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Old 11-19-2017, 06:56 PM   #1769
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Default Re: Real-Life Weirdness

Between 1966 and 1993, the British Telecom building, one of the tallest buildings in London, was officially a state secret. It was transmitting television signals all over the country but also incidentally military traffic. Government maps omitted it, and in theory someone could be prosecuted for taking photographs of it, even though it frequently appeared on popular television shows including an episode of Doctor Who. Finally its cover was blown in 1993 when a member of Parliament said these momentous words:

I hope that I am covered by parliamentary privilege when I reveal that the British Telecom tower does exist and that its address is 60 Cleveland Street, London.

The British public was shocked and amazed that it had ever been a secret. I am reminded of the Watchtowers from Creatures of the Night.
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Old 11-22-2017, 10:00 PM   #1770
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Default Re: Real-Life Weirdness

The Jerusalem neighborhood of Kufr Aqab or Kafr 'Aqab is a Kowloon-like neighborhood that could be useful as a game setting, especially if you let the politics ferment a bit. It lies within the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem and residents pay city taxes, but for convoluted geographic reasons it lies outside the Israeli barrier wall and receives very few city services -- including building inspections and fire and police protection, due to fears of attacks on city personnel.

Rents are quite low, especially since much of the land is of dubious title: to quote the New York Times, "Hundreds of apartment buildings went up, sometimes on purchased plots, sometimes on vacant lots that strong-arm characters claimed and dared anyone to evict them from. Concrete towers sprouted like weeds, often separated by only a few feet." That should put anyone in mind of Kowloon Walled City.

So should this phrase: '"What you see is a total governance vacuum," said Danny Seidemann, a lawyer and founder of Terrestrial Jerusalem, an advocacy group that tracks contentious developments in the city. "We can't even count the number of people there."'

For another dose of cosmopolitanism, mixed Israeli-Palestinian couples often choose to live there since the Israeli partner can retain Jerusalem residency while the Palestinian partner can live with them without needing a permit to cross the border wall. So odd types can maybe come and go without as much notice or comment.
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