65 replies to this topic

[Steelo]

Can withstand rockets and Gauss rifles and the like?

Some cockpits have ALOT of glass area, one would think that they would minimize that as much as possible providing sight only through small slits, not domes of some translucent material ?

or is the glass translucent metal?

[Manthony Higgs]

A Comstar mystic did it.

[Bansheedragon75]

Who says its glass?
I could be some other form or transparent material that is far more solid that glass.

I would imagine that in 1000 years they would be able to come up with something better than glass for those areas of a mech.

[VooDooPC]

Diamonds!

[Damascas]

It is like transparent steel,

VooDooPC, on 11 July 2012 - 12:34 PM, said:

Diamonds!

Similar molecular structure actually.

[Alexandrix]

I believe it's called Ferroglass.I wish i could give you the details about it,but i don't remember it offhand right now.Suffice to say it's ridiculously strong and not really comparable to glass canopies we have today.

[Steelo]

Dragonlord, on 11 July 2012 - 12:33 PM, said:

Who says its glass?
I could be some other form or transparent material that is far more solid that glass.

I would imagine that in 1000 years they would be able to come up with something better than glass for those areas of a mech.

Thats the point of my question what is the canon science behind this?
Is there something?

Because it seems like barely anything works and that normal metal would be alot easier and cheaper to find and reproduce than crazy translucent materials considering the state of the economy

Edit:

Ferroglass interesting

Edited by Steelo, 11 July 2012 - 12:38 PM.

[BenEEeees VAT GROWN BACON]

The scientific name is: Nano-Poly-Sapphire-Quantum-Bacon-Fat Glass

[Alexandrix]

from wiki

"Cockpit view screens use a large selection of transparent armors in combination, anything from ferroglass to alternating diamond and polymer sheets."

Edited by Alexandrix, 11 July 2012 - 12:37 PM.

[matux]

if we can do this im sure in 1000 years we will have something that doesn't even shatter.

[BTone]

or another thought, why not make the whole damn mech made of that material?

Edited by BTone, 11 July 2012 - 12:39 PM.

[Sean von Steinike]

It's Scotty's transparent aluminum, formerly used to house humpback whales.

[Steelo]

BTone, on 11 July 2012 - 12:38 PM, said:

or another thought, why not make the whole damn mech made of that material?

LOL see a guy just floating along , now thats how to use camo right haha

[Moro Ibex]

I'd say they are some sort of sapphire or alloy of it. We already have the tech, on a mech it would just have to be a better version

[Paralax]

Sean von Steinike, on 11 July 2012 - 12:39 PM, said:

It's Scotty's transparent aluminum, formerly used to house humpback whales.

I was just thinking this....\

Have you all seen the new Trasphasic liquid glass?

[CaveMan]

Canon calls it "ferroglass". Which just means glass with iron in it. Canon writers love "ferro-". I even saw "ferro-steel" once. Because that's totally a thing. As opposed to some other steel that doesn't contain iron.

Anyway, I proposed a method of armor construction a while back that uses fibre optics embedded in traditional armor plating that would give you a fully see-through material that was 99% BattleMech armor. See image below.

[Stormwolf]

Alexandrix, on 11 July 2012 - 12:35 PM, said:

I believe it's called Ferroglass.I wish i could give you the details about it,but i don't remember it offhand right now.Suffice to say it's ridiculously strong and not really comparable to glass canopies we have today.

Correct, though there are more types of glass.

Here is a bit from Techmanual:

Quote

Other Materials
Cockpit canopies use a wide range of transparent
armor combinations, with anything from ferroglass to alternating
diamond and polymer sheets.

[Paralax]

thontor, on 11 July 2012 - 12:40 PM, said:

Another interesting question.. no matter how armored and impenetrable the "cockpit view screen" is... it has to let light through to the cockpit so the pilot can see outside right?... and lasers are made of light... so, why don't they just pass through the transparent armor and roast the mechwarrior alive?, or at least blind them.

It does blind them....

2 things one is polaization

the second is the pilots eyeware... most of them have a protective set of glasses on that allow the HUD info to be shown to them

[Alexandrix]

thontor, on 11 July 2012 - 12:40 PM, said:

Another interesting question.. no matter how armored and impenetrable the "cockpit view screen" is... it has to let light through to the cockpit so the pilot can see outside right?... and lasers are made of light... so, why don't they just pass through the transparent armor and roast the mechwarrior alive?, or at least blind them.

A direct laser hit to the cockpit has blinded mechwarriors in the novels.even if only temporarily.I don't know much about how lasers work,but If i had to make a guess,I'd say they are a much different frequency than normal light waves to be able to do the damage they do.So I'd say it has something to do with that.

[BTone]

maybe it's a force field powered directly from the fusion engine. It works for relatively small surface area, like a cockpit, but it would take too much energy for say an entire mech.

Forcefields rock...

Edited by BTone, 11 July 2012 - 12:45 PM.