And we are still worried about our future carbon emissions. Atmospheric carbon is going to be something people are screaming to stop stealing in another few decades. Countries will be suing each other for taking out more than their fair share of Carbon Dioxide. Venus will see its population skyrocket if only to feed the ever growing demand for Carbon here on Earth.
Hard to believe that this is the first occurrence of carbon glass. They've been lasering carbon for decades now. But as usual, elemental glasses almost always have interesting properties. Unfortunately lack of any kind of volume production may be the downfall for their usage. Metallic glasses have been studied since the 70's and I haven't seen much of their special properties being used yet either.
Don't you love pop science journalism's inability to communicate even the most basic facts accurately and without exaggerating or sensationalizing them?
@Dug, I think this is still a room-temperature process. The laser beam heats a small part of the material to 3727 C, which is drastically different than heating a furnace to that temperature and making the q-carbon that way. A short distance away from where the laser is hitting the sample, there probably isn't much of a change in temperature at all.
So, while the material might not be experiencing room temperature, the only energy that needs to be put in is the laser light, and all of the surrounding apparatus are at room temp. I don't think anything has been sensationalized or exaggerated by journalists here.
Harder than diamonds and ferromagnetic too. The possibilities for making some cool technology with this stuffs is endless. Good for you NCSU-Skippys, I hope you can make some money from it.
Honestly I'm considering 3D printing applications and large scale applications such as building supplies. The creation of larger buildings and more efficient space craft and electronics is only a glimpse at the possibilities that are available with such technology.
Regarding room temperature: While the Q-carbon itself is formed at a high temperature, the equipment is all at room temperature and pressure. The carbon transformation is also so fast that the substrate it is formed on can remain at room temperature - for example, they formed q-carbon on polyethylene film (a plastic that melts at roughly around 100 Celsius).
If they can put the stuff on bits for lathes, etc... it will be very useful to that industry. They are always looking for longer lasting cutting materials.
krundoloss
Nov 30, 2015