Post by Pttg on Dec 6, 2016 18:11:49 GMT
The current minimum thickness for armors is a positively chunky 100 microns. Gold foil produced today is on the order of .1 microns.
admittedly, a .1 micron layer of anything not backed up by some thicker armor layer will disintegrate under any non-trivial acceleration, but perhaps we need to model that. Considering the spins some ships get thrown into when the fuel tanks decompress, it's amazing that the armor doesn't rapidly disassemble on its own.
Painting our ships with a few microns of silver, or using a stuffed-whipple approach using depleted uranium paint over graphite gel, or experimenting with ultra-thin diamond coats for heat dissapation, would all make for interesting new approaches to armor design.
One last note, the 10-50 micron range has some interesting potential for shaping projectiles. For instance, a van-chrome jacket on an osmium core.
admittedly, a .1 micron layer of anything not backed up by some thicker armor layer will disintegrate under any non-trivial acceleration, but perhaps we need to model that. Considering the spins some ships get thrown into when the fuel tanks decompress, it's amazing that the armor doesn't rapidly disassemble on its own.
Painting our ships with a few microns of silver, or using a stuffed-whipple approach using depleted uranium paint over graphite gel, or experimenting with ultra-thin diamond coats for heat dissapation, would all make for interesting new approaches to armor design.
One last note, the 10-50 micron range has some interesting potential for shaping projectiles. For instance, a van-chrome jacket on an osmium core.