Attention, Trekkies.
Oct. 31st, 2005 02:35 amTransparent Aluminum is a reality! Actually, it's an ceramic made from aluminum, but it's still cool. Soon, they may be armoring vehicles with it. One of the benefits of this, even more important than the lighter weight, is that the Alon panels only have three layers, and not multiple laminated plates. Regular ballistic glass has an unfortunate tendency to delaminate in extreme heat (hmmm, that phrase "extreme heat" sounds vaguely familiar...). This doesn't effect the protective value of the glass, but it destroys visability, which sucks. With the new material, this problem should disappear. Gee, too bad I'll be long gone from the Army by the time this ever gets fielded. :-P