经济学人92:一种流行新材料的新用途

 　　Science and Technology Materials science Cracking a problem

　　科技 材料科学 通过裂纹解决问题

　　Another use for a fashionable, new material

　　一种流行新材料的新用途

　　LIKE all other human activities, science is subject to fads¹.

　　像其它人类活动一样，科学是一个时尚主题。

　　One of the latest is for graphene.

　　最新的话题是关于石墨烯的。

　　This wonder material—a form of carbon that comes in films a single atomic layer thick—won Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov the Nobel prize for physics last year.

　　作为碳的一种形式，这种源自胶带操作的奇妙材料只有单原子层厚度，发明者安德烈·杰姆和克斯特亚·诺沃塞洛夫为此获得了去年的诺贝尔物理学奖。

　　Because of its unusual electrical properties it has been touted² as a way of making everything from touch screens to solar cells.

　　由于石墨烯非同寻常的电特性，它被吹嘘为制造一切产品的新途径－－从触摸屏到太阳能电池。

　　Now a humbler use is being proposed.

　　如今石墨烯的一种低层次应用被提出来。

　　Another of graphene's qualities is that it is strong. That, suggests Erica Corral of the University of Arizona, makes it ideal for reinforcing ceramics⁴.

　　它的另一特性是机械强度高，因而被亚利桑那大学的埃里卡·科拉尔视为加强陶瓷材料硬度的一种理想材料。

　　Engineers like ceramics because they can be heated without melting. Unlike metals and plastics, though, they are brittle⁵.

　　工程师喜欢陶瓷材料，因为它们加热时不会融化，这点不像金属和塑料，尽管它们是脆的。

　　Because they crack easily, using them in places that are exposed to a lot of physical punishment is difficult.

　　因为陶瓷材料易碎，因此将其用于高物理强度的场合非常困难。

　　But a paper just published in the American Chemical Society's journal, Nano, by Dr Corral and her colleagues, suggests a sprinkling of graphene may deal with that.

　　但在美国化学协会杂志刚发表的一篇论文《纳米》中，科拉尔博士和她的同事们认为，加入少许石墨烯也许就能解决这个问题。

　　The ceramic³ they experimented with was silicon⁶ nitride, a material much admired in the aerospace⁷ industry.

　　她们测试的陶瓷材料是氮化硅－－一种在太空工业中饱受赞誉的材料。

　　Components⁸ are made by sintering it in powder form in a mould, at 1,000oC, for several hours.

　　这些部件是将氮化硅粉末置于模具中，处于1000摄氏度高温下烧制数小时而成。

　　Unfortunately, graphene disintegrates⁹ above 600oC, so the team had to think of a clever way of mixing the two materials.

　　不幸的是，温度高于600摄氏度，石墨烯就碎裂，因此研究团队必须想出一种巧妙办法将两种材料融合在一起。

　　Their solution was to take advantage of graphene's electrical conductivity, by running a current through the mixture. This generated a temperature of 1,650oC—more than enough to sinter the silicon nitride.

　　解决办法就是利用石墨烯的导电特性，将电流通过混合物，产生的1650摄氏度的高温足以烧结氮化硅，而石墨烯也没有碎裂。

　　The graphene, however, did not break down.

　　其原理尚未完全弄清楚。

　　Why, is not entirely¹⁰ clear. But rapid electrical heating did not seem to affect it in the way that slower oven heating would.

　　但与通过熔炉缓慢加热不同，快速电加热对石墨烯看起来没有什么影响。

　　The result was a composite that was able to withstand twice as much pressure as unalloyed silicon nitride.

　　和纯氮化硅相比，其合成物能经受的压力强度翻倍。

　　When the team examined what they had done under a microscope, they found that the graphene had wrapped itself around the silicon-nitride grains, forming continuous walls.

　　当研究团队在显微镜下观察合成物时，他们发现石墨烯包裹在氮化硅颗粒周围，形成了连续的"壁"。

　　When they looked at samples that they had whacked¹¹ hard enough to come close to cracking, they found that these walls were encouraging the cracks to spread in three dimensions—in contrast with the two-dimensional pattern usually seen in silicon nitride.

　　当检查这些不断敲击而近乎开裂的样品时，他们发现这些"壁"有助于裂纹向三个维度上延伸，和通常在氮化硅上观察到的"二维裂解模式"形成了对比。

　　Dr Corral suspects that extending cracking into the third dimension dissipates the energy faster and stops the fault spreading.

　　科拉尔博士推测，那种裂纹扩展为三个维度使能量扩散的更快，同时制止了缺陷的扩展。

　　A cracking idea, as it were.

　　通过三维裂纹来增强陶瓷材料强度，真是一个绝妙的点子！

1 fads   

n.一时的流行，一时的风尚( fad的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• It was one of the many fads that sweep through mathematics regularly. 它是常见的贯穿在数学中的许多流行一时的风尚之一。 来自辞典例句
• Lady Busshe is nothing without her flights, fads, and fancies. 除浮躁、时髦和幻想外，巴歇夫人一无所有。 来自辞典例句

2 touted   

v.兜售( tout的过去式和过去分词 )；招揽；侦查；探听赛马情报

参考例句：

• She's being touted as the next leader of the party. 她被吹捧为该党的下一任领导人。
• People said that he touted for his mother and sister. 据说，他给母亲和姐姐拉生意。 来自辞典例句

3 ceramic   

n.制陶业，陶器，陶瓷工艺

参考例句：

• The order for ceramic tiles has been booked in.瓷砖的订单已登记下来了。
• Some ceramic works of art are shown in this exhibition.这次展览会上展出了一些陶瓷艺术品。

4 ceramics   

n.制陶业；陶器

参考例句：

• an exhibition of ceramics by Picasso 毕加索陶瓷作品展
• The ceramics bore the imprint of Luca della Robbia. 陶器上印有卢卡·德拉·罗比亚的字样。

5 brittle   

adj.易碎的；脆弱的；冷淡的；(声音)尖利的

参考例句：

• The pond was covered in a brittle layer of ice.池塘覆盖了一层易碎的冰。
• She gave a brittle laugh.她冷淡地笑了笑。

6 silicon   

n.硅(旧名矽)

参考例句：

• This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
• A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。

7 aerospace   

adj.航空的，宇宙航行的

参考例句：

• The world's entire aerospace industry is feeling the chill winds of recession.全世界的航空航天工业都感受到了经济衰退的寒意。
• Edward Murphy was an aerospace engineer for the US Army.爱德华·墨菲是一名美军的航宇工程师。

8 components   

（机器、设备等的）构成要素，零件，成分； 成分( component的名词复数 )； [物理化学]组分； [数学]分量； （混合物的）组成部分

参考例句：

• the components of a machine 机器部件
• Our chemistry teacher often reduces a compound to its components in lab. 在实验室中化学老师常把化合物分解为各种成分。

9 disintegrates   

n.（使）破裂[分裂，粉碎]，（使）崩溃( disintegrate的名词复数 )v.（使）破裂[分裂，粉碎]，（使）崩溃( disintegrate的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Particles rain down from the slug and it finally disintegrates. 颗粒从上面纷纷下落，最后腾涌消失。 来自辞典例句
• When the uranium disintegrates, it changes into lead. 当铀蜕变时，它变成了铅。 来自辞典例句

10 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

11 whacked   

a.精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• She whacked him with her handbag. 她用手提包狠狠地打他。
• He whacked me on the back and I held both his arms. 他用力拍拍我的背，我抱住他的双臂。