Equipment: Microfoil |
(Original idea and text by "Semo" )
TL: 9+
LL: unrestricted
Cost: a standard "block" (30cm x 30cm x 100 sheets)
will cost 2500 cr.
(See below for additional notes on cost.)
To use: Average (Engineering, Mechanics or
Demolition)+Dex Task. The appropriate skill must be chosen
according to the situation.
Starship crews, surface teams, military and mercenary units,
and those in the civilian sector all have a need to join metals
at one time or another. Tanks of fuel and oxygen require a good
deal of volume and can be quite heavy.
Microfoil is the solution to this problem. Microfoil is made
up of a number of extremely thin layers consisting of boron,
carbon, silica or aluminum combined with a transition metal.
The different components are selected carefully to ensure a
self-propagating, high temperature exothermic reaction when
exposed to a small amount of heat (such as the spark from a
battery, or a match or lighter, for example). The temperature
is high enough to melt a filler to make a weld. The thinner the
layer, the less time the reaction takes, and the less time
oxygen has to mix with the metals, so the joints are stronger
then those welded with more traditional welding equipment. The
layers of foil are generally between 20 atoms and 2,000
nanometers across.
The technology is introduced at TL9, but it is prohibitively
expensive due to the exacting specifications the foils must be
made to. At TL10, the production process is refined, but still
rather expensive. By TL12, microfoil can be made cheaply and
easily.
Microfoil welding kits will vary in mass and price, due mostly
to the availability of the filler metals and the strength of
the joints required. Most members of a starship engineering
crew, as well as combat engineers and many mechanics will have
thick pen-sized electrical "sparkers" to perform on the spot
welds when required. The foils themselves mass very little (the
average packet weighs about as much as a small notepad, and
contains several hundred applications).