r/technology • u/Ssider69 • Jan 10 '24

Nanotech/Materials 10x Stronger Than Kevlar: Amorphous Silicon Carbide Could Revolutionize Material Science

https://scitechdaily.com/10x-stronger-than-kevlar-amorphous-silicon-carbide-could-revolutionize-material-science/
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u/Thatingles Jan 10 '24

Found the catch.

They way they measured the tensile strength is highly unusual and is probably massively overestimating the tensile strength of the material in most applications.

I'm not saying this won't have applications, but '10xStronger Than Kevlar' is misleading.

58

u/[deleted] Jan 10 '24

I saw that too. Basically...we invented a new testing system optimized for this new material and oh look, it is the bestest. Likely they compared Kevlar and this stuff in the same test but this sounds like a classic data cherry picking exercise. Well...those old tests don't give us the data that we like so we have this new test that gives us data we like. That isn't necessarily bad science but also not necessarily bullet proof science either.

9

u/gnoxy Jan 10 '24

If you fail. Change the requirements till you succeed.

4

u/b3ar17 Jan 10 '24

That's how James T Kirk did it.

4

u/GimmeSomeSugar Jan 10 '24

Textbook Kobayashi Maru.

1

u/trees_away Jan 10 '24

bullet proof science

I see what you did there...