European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 21, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Laser Era materials revolution National geographic p Lastic body parts Cement canoes and Ceramic automobile engines Are just a Small part of the wizardry worked by the modern Day alchemists who create new materials. Reinforced by hidden fibres composites Pound for Pound the strongest of All materials have moved beyond pricey Tennis rackets and Golf clubs into the sinews of aircraft and missiles. Clothing manufacturers Are talking about new kinds of synthetic fibres that will bring us sweaters that change color with the turn of a dial and suits that change their Cut at fashion s whim. The people concocting these materials say they Are working a revolution. A for the first time in history Quot observes Merton Flemings of the Massachusetts Institute of technology a we can design materials precisely to fit our needs molecule by molecule atom by  materials makers mainly metallurgists in the past today Are also chemists ceramist engineers and physicists. At their disposal Are incredibly sophisticated tools. A new microscopes reveal atoms nestled in their lattices almost As clearly As eggs Are seen in a Carton Quot writes Thomas y. Canby in a recent National geographic. Quot lasers position atoms on surfaces so artfully As to endow them with entirely new properties insulators become conductors metals become glasses. Magnetic cannons firing Ion beams Harden metals and ceramics against corrosives. A fulfilling an age old dream computer graphics enable materials scientist to study a Complex molecule on a screen rotate its shining Galaxy of atoms and select where to place an additional atom for desired  like it or not materials scientist Are involved in a global struggle. The United states Japan the soviet Union major european countries and China Are All battling to develop new materials and processes. At present the United states leads in research but often lags in commercialization. And the stakes Are High. As one expert Points out Quot materials Are the building blocks of the future. Today a advanced material is tomorrows  oddly it was ceramics today a headline material that gave birth to materials science some 13,000 years ago. Villagers in Japan discovered that a cooked Clay vessel hardened into an entirely new substance a Ceramic pottery a and retained its hardness Ever after. The greatest advances in ceramics Are still being made in Japan where government and Industry have vigorously backed ceramics development. The intense grass roots interest known As Quot Ceramic fever Quot has resulted in a wide variety of products including scissors body implants computer microchips and automobile engine parts. Left a student at Philadelphia a Drexel University works to create the Shell of a miniature race car from composite materials. Below advanced materials Are reshaping the lives of some amputees. National geographic society microchips and automobile engine parts. Lighter and More heat tolerant than metals ceramics permit an automobile engine to run hotter a and therefore More efficiently a and do away with the Radiator. Tests in Japan indicate a Ceramic engine will last five times As Long As Metal. How Long before Ceramic engines hit . Highways ? Quot we have millions of test Miles to go before we prove Quot Arvid pasto of get the electronics giant told Canby. A we be reduced parts failures to one in a million. The goal is one in a billion. I see commercialization in the late 1990s.&Quot a growing number of automobile Flat parts a hoods roofs and doors a Are pressed from another group of advanced materials know As composites. The lightness and endurance of composites also endear them to aircraft missile and spacecraft manufacturers. Often made of Glass the fibres that give composites their strength come in Many types and can be arranged in various patterns. Thin layers of parallel fibres in a matrix often Are laminated to form structural components of aircraft. A corporate passenger Jet has been made entirely of composites and the material is gaining acceptance in military and commercial aircraft especially helicopters and fighters. A an ambitious government program Aims to double Jet aircraft engine performance by the year 2000,&Quot writes Canby. It May be a bad time some say to be in the metals business plastics invading composites on the March ceramics poised to strike. But in the tradition of Challenge Breeding response steel and aluminium Are fighting Back. Steel has reversed its Retreat from the Auto Assembly line with alloys whose stiffness allows them to be stamped out with remarkable thinness slashing weight. Aluminium alloys have found a Welcome new ally in National Googer Patiic Sci Oil the Metal Lithium. Several aluminium companies have revamped furnaces to make these alloys. Quot lightness and stiffness make them Ideal for satellites Quot says Jeffrey Wadsworth of Lockheed missiles and space co., the biggest user. Even Humble Cement has been transformed into an advanced material. During one interview Canby was astonished by a scientist who strummed a Cement guitar bounced Cement Coil Springs on his desk and shined a Light through a Sheet of Cement As thin As paper. Saturday april 21, 1990 the stars and stripes a a a Page 13