[spauka]

Worth noting that the material is not conductive or otherwise metallic in any way. In a lot of ways this material is similar to Alumina (Sapphire) which you could also describe as "Transparent Aluminum".

Conductive transparent materials do exist (see ITO https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indium_tin_oxide), but this is not it.

[A_D_E_P_T]

It's also highly brittle, with a fracture toughness of 2 MPa.m1/2 -- which makes it only marginally tougher than borosilicate glass, and broadly equivalent to many brittle ceramics such as silicon carbide.

6061 aluminum has a fracture toughness of roughly 29 MPa.m1/2.

So "transparent aluminum" exhibits fracture behavior that is much more glass-like than aluminum-like.

[andrewflnr]

Yeah, I was kind of wondering what they need that nitrogen there for. Maybe ALON is easier to manufacture in bulk or something...

[0_____0]

Not sure I would qualify ITO as transparent. The thicker the coating the less transmission (but lower resistance) you get.