You lot are smart what do you think?

[G+_George Kozi]

You lot are smart... what do you think?

 

Originally shared by George Kozi

 

Passing thought: sound (vibration) creates certain patterns in the mediums it comes in contact with. These are distinct, and if the sound is pure enough, the patterns are stable. 

 

I wonder... can these stable patterns be used when pouring liquid metal? What would be the properties of a piece of metal that has solidified while having a stable wave pattern sounded through it?

What if the metal was an alloy?

[G+_Dave Trautman]

I can't speak to metallurgy but I can speak to glass. When pouring glass there is a huge concern for vibrations which will cause imperfections and variations in thickness. Very long wave frequencies can interfere with the cooling/hardening part.

 

I don't know the specific density of 'liquid metal' so this is pure speculation. You would have to take into account the viscosity and density of the materials you are putting vibrations through. In things like water the transmission coefficients are pretty quick and the energy is not absorbed as much. But with metal or 'thick' streams of fluid it is harder to propagate a wave through the solution without it being dampened by the material and having the vibrations absorbed. It would not be such a uniform wave shape in molasses when compared to water. Even sea water will respond differently than distilled.

 

Some experiments were done in SkyLab (remember SkyLab?) where some metals were heated to see if they would respond differently in zero gravity. As much as it told NASA about the possibility of making better spheres it did not seem to alter the basic properties of materials when they were "welded" in space.

 

Speculating in the opposite direction you would have to be able to deliver some pretty serious vibration energy into a forging process to get standing waves or repeating patterns to form. It might actually damage the forge machinery to add that kind of energy or deliver that much power to the shaking.

 

I've seen lots of video on the patterning in powders and other particle materials using plate vibrations in the audible range of frequencies. There have also been some reports of interesting wave patterns in the cooling of lava at volcano sites because of the quakes associated with those events. Other than that I think it would be way beyond what we can do to make something like "liquid metal" take on a patterned shape while it solidifies.

 

Worth thinking about, for sure.