The whole of metallurgy is determined by the fact that molten metals have a very low viscosity. Casting them is easy and simple. Some metals can be forged as solids, by raising them to a temperature at which they can readily be deformed. But molten metals are not easily blown or drawn like glass, or spread like tarmac, or vacuum-formed like plastics. Such processes would need a metallic melt that was viscous and tacky. So Daedalus is inventing one.
What is needed, he says, is some sort of long-chain polymer that will dissolve in the molten metal without decomposing. Even in very low concentrations, it would thicken the melt dramatically, as linear polymers do in solution, or fine fibres in suspension. At first sight the chemistry looks discouraging. Organic polymers decompose at the temperature of most molten metals, and silicones would be immiscible with them. Some sort of long-chain silicone molecule with metallic side-chains might be feasible. But the obvious answer is that modern solution in search of a problem, the carbon nanotube.
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