Planned obsolescence.
Karl

"Gary Owens" wrote in message
...
If this stuff is so good, why can't I get my glasses made out of it.
gary


"Gunner Asch" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 21 Dec 2005 04:28:30 GMT, Shmaryahu b. Chanoch
wrote:

Shades of Star Trek IV, "The Voyage Home", and the transparent aluminum
used to
create an aquarium for the whales on board the spaceship. Now it really
exists
and is coming into use for bulletproof vehicle windows. (Great for
embassies or
even aircraft).


Geostrategy-Direct
Week of December 20, 2005
MILITARY TECHNOLOGY

U.S. tests new ceramic armor made of aluminum oxynitride

The U.S. Air Force has tested a transparent armor that is stronger and
lighter than traditional materials and is capable of stopping
armor-piercing
weapons from penetrating vehicle windows. The armor is meant to replace
traditional multi-layered glass transparencies - thick layers of bonded
glass - installed in ground and air armored vehicles.

The Air Force Research Laboratory's materials and manufacturing
directorate
evaluated aluminum oxynitride, or ALON - a ceramic compound having high
compressive strength and durability.

First Lt. Joseph La Monica, an Air Force officer involved in the
project,
said that ALON represents the premier transparent armor for use in
combat
vehicles. La Monica said ALON is "light years ahead of glass" and offers
higher performance and lighter weight.

ALON is virtually scratch resistant, ensures substantial impact
resistance
and offers better durability and protection against armor-piercing
threats.
The substance, which can also protect helicopters, is about half the
weight
and thickness of traditional glass transparent armor.

The new armor employs a transparent piece of ALON as a strike plate with
a
middle section of glass and polymer backing. Each layer is visibly
thinner
than traditional layers.

In a June 2004 demonstration, ALON withstood both a .30-caliber Russian
M-44
sniper rifle and a .50-caliber Browning sniper rifle with armor piercing
bullets. While the bullets pierced the glass samples, the armor
withstood
the impact without penetration.


ALON was also tested against multiple hits from .50-caliber rounds. The
tests also sought to determine whether the substance could withstand
improvised explosive devices.

"The higher the threat, the more savings you're going to get," La Monica
said. "With glass, to get the protection against higher threats, you
have
to
keep building layers upon layers. But with ALON, the material only needs
to
be increased a few millimeters."

La Monica said the Army is examining using the new armor for windows in
such
ground vehicles as the Humvee. At the same time, the Air Force is
studying
the feasibility of ALON for windows in slow-flying aircraft such as the
C-130 Hercules, C-17 Globemaster III, A-10 Thunderbolt II and
helicopters.

A key issue is the price of ALON, which costs between three and five
times
that of traditional transparent armor. La Monica said the military was
seeking cost-effective alternatives.

"It might cost more in the beginning, but it is going to cost less in
the
long run because you are going to have to replace it less," La Monica
said.


---
"If ye love wealth better than liberty ... servitude better than ...
freedom,
go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsel or your arms ... May
your
chains set lightly upon you. May posterity forget that ye were our
countrymen."
- Samuel Adams

"Pax Americana is a philosophy. Hardly an empire.
Making sure other people play nice and dont kill each other (and us)
off in job lots is hardly empire building, particularly when you give
them self determination under "play nice" rules.

Think of it as having your older brother knock the **** out of you
for torturing the cat." Gunner