I'm looking forwards to having a transparent engine in my car!
How cool would that be?
That would be pretty sick.
I know right!
I think you had too much LDS in the 60's.
This is an aluminium oxide though, so it's properties are probably quite different from metallic aluminium. Think about how iron oxide (rust) is a completely different thing from a block of iron. I doubt you could swap it in 1:1 with a cast engine block.
Since you mentioned it though... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xflY5uS-nnw
Rubies, sapphires and emeralds are all aluminum oxides which is why the whole transparent aluminum wasn't a real stretch of the imagination. I know they are very hard but I don't know how much so in comparison with metal aluminum.
The space shuttle had a sapphire windshield so it's not even new tech and already used on spacecraft. Also, many high-end watches have a sapphire crystal (not the oscillator, the face glass).
Mostly it'd be the bittleness I'd be concerned about.
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