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Synthetic tooth enamel may lead to more resilient structures (umich.edu)
41 points by ph0rque on March 2, 2017 | hide | past | favorite | 7 comments



Impressive, but I wish this was applicable to actual teeth.


That's what I hoped this discovery was about too!



I feel like they should mass product tiles with this rather than add 40 coats to more complex objects.


Mass production would probably have to be more like finding a method to synthesize artificial minerals similar to nephrite, chalcedony, or carbonado.

Perhaps slag wool, basalt fiber wool, ceramic fiber wool, or fiberglass wool, compressed into a felt, then impregnated with a noncrystalline material or polymer? It might not have the same feature size as dental enamel, but anything you make would also need to be economically viable.

Seems like you could replicate the effect cheaply at scale by layering fiberglass cloth, running vertical thread bundles through the layers, and binding the stack into a solid composite with polypropylene.


For vibration gluing a tile to something would be different than bonding it to the surface. And weigh more.


or sheets that can be laser cut and then picked and placed.




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