Samples from the Material World
Materials Monthly is a $180/year subscription from Princeton Architectural Press that delivers new material samples with lots of accompanying literature. You can order a free sample of Reversacol to play with (light-sensitive plastic that changes color). Windows that go from white to red may be cool (or not), but
Giga-crete is definitely bad ass: synthetic cement yields quicker, stronger, lighter, non-combustible, non-cracking concrete, made from waste fly-ash and recycled materials.
It so happens
IDFuel recently compiled a list of material resources. Much more fun than looking at brick samples all day.
These days, you don't have to be a giant ID firm to benefit from access to a materials library; the resources available on the net are a great place to start, and in most cases, you can request samples really easily. So now you can use all your shelf space for Gundams, or Furilla, or maybe your collection of vintage beercans (But come on, if you've got 1600 dollars to spend on a can, you really should be sending money to us instead. Heck, we'll buy you a beer with beer in it!)
Getting back to business, there are all kinds of sites to keep your hunger for materials satisfied. So dig in.
If you're looking to learn more about materials in general, there are a few sites for straight material education. These ones aren't much for browsing; they're kind of heavy on the information. But if you need to find out if a certain plastic is resistant to solvents, or if a metal is springy, these are the places to come.
Matweb is a gigantic resource which could take weeks to fully look at. But luckily, it's indexed by all kinds of properties for easy searching.
AZoM stands for A to Z of materials, and they do a great job covering the whole alphabet. You can search by properties and material types, but we especially like the news releases that you can get in handy RSS format
If you're more into specific types of materials, there are an infinite number of sites out there hyping one particular concept -- like ceramic metal composites or nanomaterials. Here are a couple interesting ones.
AZoNano is AZoM's nanotech site. For all your nano needs, they're a great place to start. And, if you need a little nano-primer, we wrote a previous Tech Thursday to help you out.
Smart Textiles is a new site dedicated to the emerging field of woven electronic/sensory fabrics. These amazing new beauties have the potential to provide displays, light, heat, and even power generation in a flexible, easy to make package.
The Virtual Ceramics Library has a pretty enormous collection on sites and FAQs about the newest ceramics that are poised to change the way things are made.
About.com has its own whole section for materials information. There are separate sections for plastics and composites, and metals, and a bunch of discussion forums, although lots of the questions are based around manufacturing or hobby type problems.
There are plenty of E-Mail based newsletters that will update you on the newest materials news monthly. We've used these ones with some success; but again, this stuff is pretty dry:
AZoM again. Yes, these guys are huge.
Composite News covers the latest in fiber reinforced plastics, and other composites.
Finally, if you've got the cash, there are some subscription services which either send you samples of new materials or give you access to a materials library onsite. Being totally cashless ourselves, we've got to stick to the web, but if you've got the cash, go for it (although, if you've got the cash, the offer still stands: throw some our way and we promise beers)
Inventables sends its subscribers samples of a few new materials every quarter, along with literature on many more. They also display 5 new materials per month on Core77's Materials section.
Members of Materials Connexion get access to an extensive online database of new materials, plus access to their browsing warehouse in New York. They have a large selection of architectural-type materials, in addition to new engineering-type materials.
Wow. After all that, if you're not satisfied, we don't know what to tell you. Except that for just a little more, tune in to the Core77 Materials Clogger to read Dominic's weekly updates. And try out something new. Materials are a kick.
* Ray, 11/12/2004 01:41:23 PM
