space manufactuof acrylic vs. glass?

Forum: SSI-List
Thread: space manufactuof acrylic vs. glass?

# 21211 byXenophile on July 1, 2006, 11:14 p.m.
Member since 2022-08-22

Maybe there are some VVD fans here who can ponder this weird idea I've
gotten.

If I deposit vapors of both aluminum and oxygen together, will I be
depositing sapphire? If not, is there anything I can do to my vacuum
vapor depositing maching, or to the vapor it deposits, so that it IS
depositing sapphire? I occurs to me that sapphire might be a
wonderful material for certain uses, such as windows.

What about this: deposit multiple layers of sapphire, until it is
about ten microns thick, then wrap the structure (I'll assume a
Stanford Torus spoke) in a ten micron diametre strand of anhydrous
glass. Wind it tight, and go over it again with the VVD machine until
you've built up another ten microns of sapphire, then wind it tight
with...

Do this until you have a ten centimetre thick shell. Then put a
millimetre thick coating of regular aluminum on the inside and outside
surfaces. Or maybe not. Hey, would this composite glass/sapphire
material be transparant?