Let’s start today’s diversion into technology with the answer to the question “Why steel?”
Steel has long been the backbone of human civilization, the very crucible in which industrial progress has been forged. From the skylines of our cities to the vehicles that crisscross the globe, steel is universal. Steel leverages the natural abundance and low cost of iron to produce a wide variety of properties and performance and has dominated the materials spectrum in transportation, oil & gas and infrastructure since the middle of the 19th century.
So what’s wrong with steel? Well, in a world full of water, when it gets exposed to the liquid, it eventually corrodes and rusts. Unless you go to a lot of time, effort and cost to coat or protect the surfaces of a steel object to prevent rust from forming or to alloy it with costly rust-inhibiting elements, steel breaks down and eventually leaves behind powdery deposits of rust.
But what if you could use a laser to etch the surface of your economically produced steel parts to make them repel water and thus, supernaturally rust repellent.
Lasers. Is there anything they can’t do?
HT: Core77
