We’ve been able to make that for a few years now (I’m still here, so I must have missed the Klingon Bird of Prey train off themis damn planet) but it was expensive
But just last month they figured out how to do it more cheaply so it might be coming… someday
Current methods of making TAlOx are expensive and complicated, requiring high-powered lasers, vacuum chambers, or large vats of dangerous acids. That may change thanks to research co-authored by Filipino scientists from the Ateneo de Manila University.
Instead of immersing entire sheets of metal into acidic solutions, the researchers applied microdroplets of acidic solution onto small aluminum surfaces and applied an electric current. Just two volts of electricity—barely more than what’s found in a single AA household flashlight battery—was all that was needed to transform the metal into glass-like TAlOx.
Wake me up when they finally do transparent aluminum.
We’ve been able to make that for a few years now (I’m still here, so I must have missed the Klingon Bird of Prey train off themis damn planet) but it was expensive
But just last month they figured out how to do it more cheaply so it might be coming… someday
https://phys.org/news/2025-02-transparent-aluminum-tiny-acid-droplets.html