Topic: Simulate Modern Carbon Fiber

[markc]

 What RM material would you use to represent modern carbon fiber? Dragon bone? Or lean laced something or other?
Thanks
MDC

[markc]

I am now thinking of wood soaked in liquid giant spider silk as a good alternative to Carbon Fiber.
MDC

[GrumpyOldFart]

One of the fun potentials to the Enplane spell is that a GM could use it to allow "high tech" materials that can only be made in free fall to be made right here in an earthbound lab.

What would an ordinary steel sword blade be like if it had been grown as a single crystal in an enplaned vat, like rock candy?

[smug]

What would an ordinary steel sword blade be like if it had been grown as a single crystal in an enplaned vat, like rock candy?

Stiff, but brittle, I think (I don't think it would have, at least not before chemical or thermal action, the dislocations which make metal ductile; steel's carbon already impedes the movement of dislocations, but in this case I think it'd be much more severe). Although it'd be more than just simple vat-grown, you need to embed carbon in it as it grows.

[GrumpyOldFart]

I don't know, I'm no metallurgist. I just remember hearing many years ago about the interesting properties of "iron crystal fingers", and how in many ways a single perfect crystal had far superior properties to the same material in which crystal growth is essentially random.

And I also remember hearing about how there are alloys that can be made in free fall, but in gravity the component materials would "layer up" rather than mixing.

[arakish]

This is a very interesting question/topic.  Here is my



It would also depend on how masterful the Alchemists/Forgers (Forgers hereafter) are.  Of what I am going to talk about is definitely NOT for all GMs.  However, some may still find it interesting.

On my old world of Udava, there were the Vinyarin Forgers.  The greatest and mightiest of all forgers on Udava.  Unfortunately, all Vinyarin were completely wiped out during the Vorgkrëasa (Great Cataclysm).  And some of their artifacts could still be found.

One in particular, Franajatal, was the oldest.  In comparison to Earth, Franajatal was born at a time when us humans were still nothing more than Neanderthal hunter/gatherers.  He was over 88,000 Udavan years old (almost 100,000 Earth years) when the Vorgkrëasa occurred.  But before the Vorgkrëasa, he went into seclusion, but would still be sought by others wishing to become a Forger.  When asked how to forge items, or to be trained as a Forger, he would simply reply,

"Always remember, that which is the smallest and below all else is the same as that which is the largest and above all else."

Cryptic, huh?  That would be all he would teach to any.

Basically, he was speaking of superstring theory, m-theory, etc.  And what he was saying that the smallest strings that make up all things is the same as the biggest thing possible: the entire universe.

By being able to manipulate (forge) things on the string level, a Forger could create an item made from fullerene.  Basically, this would leave any human Forger incapable of doing such a thing since they do not live long enough to learn such a technique.  And since the Vinyarin were immortal, barring death by violence or "growing weary" of the world, they could live long enough to learn that technique.

However, that is literally deity-level forging.  The closest any other Forgers could get is learning metallurgy to create alloys which are incredible strong, but still not carbon-fiber technology.  Otherwise, smithers will never be able to imitate carbon-fiber technology.  Think about it.  Look at the technology we require just to create carbon-fiber items today.

If a Forger cannot manipulate material on the subatomic/superstring level, I am afraid that such technology could not be imitated.  Sorry, but that is my honest opinion.

rmfr