Dragging the Star Wars universe kicking and screaming back to the Periodic Table. I’m perfectly happy to declare that canonical elements in their universe are actually exotic compounds, composites, alloys, or pseudonyms for more familiar elements. I’m assuming that they have already cracked such problems as manufacture of carbon nanotubes, quantum dots, and so on.
See the Substances and compounds category on Wookieepedia. nanoceramics
Some of the more exotic composites have extremely fine structure that is
created through self-assembly, whether through synthetic
biology or virufactured (keyword virus-assembled
— neologism
courtesy of Chris Moriarty’s excellent novels Spin
State and Spin Control). These are good at
creating novel, synthetic materials; there are still numerous natural ones
that elude replication in the laboratory, due to the sheer number of subtle
interactions involved in their formation. Viral
nanoelectronics (2 3) is common.
Diamond-coating is practical and used on many personal goods to provide durability.
Aelen Silk, Chersilk, Clingsilk, Denebrillan Star Silk, Dramassian Silk, Durasilk, Firrerrean Silk, Kidron Silk, Killik-silk, Koolach Silk, Lashaa Silk, Nanosilk, Ottegan Silk, Ramordian Silk, Rodian Flame Silk, Saava Silk, Septsilk, Shadowsilk, Shimmersilk, Synsilk, Vine-silk, Web-silk.
Buckypaper. Carbon nanotube composites.
Commonly used in device casings, countertops, cheap furniture.
A heat-resistant material.
Good old cellulose-derived paper is still in use in lower-class areas where people can’t afford datapads and shops can’t afford e-ink poster displays, and so on.
Real-world materials that may be applicable here: nanocrystalline iron.
A common material for shipping containers. It’s much cheaper than steel, almost as strong, more corrosion-resistant, and definitely more brittle. Not useful for battle-hardened materials, but commonly used where wooden barrels and metal drums would be used in our world.
Made from neutronium, meleenium, lommite, carvanium, and zersium, all of which I need to explain as minerals, composites, or trademarks that are referred to as elements by the ignorant. Durasteel is extremely tough and is used in constructions that are meant to last for thousands of years, including as rebar within duracrete.
A durable alloy, useful for droid armor, whose copper content gives it a sheen similar to copper or bronze.
A variant of durasteel used to make the support pylons of spacescraper buildings, and a key to building the critical supports of ecumenopoleis. It is a complex weave of tungsten durasteel, ceramics, and carbon nanotubes: extremely corrosion-resistant, an excellent conductor of heat, and slightly flexible.
Actually a high-quality steel alloy, made from formations that provide a convenient set of trace elements already mixed in. Though in this era, thousands of years before Mandalore, this will be known under a different name...
A self-healing
alloy.
Highly corrosion-resistant.
Used as hull material for starships; lighter than metals.
A tungsten steel.
Developed as armor against electromagnetic weapons like lasers and blasters, it is also resistant to lightsabers.
Another metallic compound capable of diffusing enough lightsaber energy to stand up to one in combat. The ingredients for the alloy are extracted from phrikite and tydirium ores.
A rare alloy of silver, gold, nickel, iron, and titanium that is both strong and conductive; it will repel plasma bolts. (This is not the same thing as terrestrial electrum.)
An inexpensive building material that uses an organic epoxy-like cement to bind locally available aggregates. Dwellings can be printed out of the stuff. It’s lighter and stronger than normal concrete, and less susceptible to erosion, but it still wears down under extreme weather, particularly when freezing temperatures are involved.
A cheaper cousin of plascrete, used to quickly form cheap buildings with thick walls; very popular in extreme climates where the insulation is needed. Syngranite creates the appearance of real granite without all the effort of quarrying, and is commonly used in building façades.
Another plasticrete knockoff popular on worlds with a high availability of sand. Just sift the sand, mix in the binder, pour into force field shells, let it harden, turn off the force fields, and move on.
A more expensive cousin of plascrete that uses a ceramic form of cement that requires a fusion torch to make it set. This is used for heavy-duty roads on worlds that have sufficiently extreme weather that goods are transported on wheeled vehicles rather than repulsorlifts.
A knockoff version of ceramacrete that is set in place using force field projectors rather than fusion torches; the pressure forces the cement to set.
A cermet compound used for reinforced bunkers and other heavy-duty installations.
Heavy-duty construction material used for spacecraft landing pads and the bases of the support pylons of spacescrapers. This is commonly used in buildings that are designed to last for thousands of years.
Nanocomposite materials can be both transparent and as strong as steel.
A hard plastic shell sandwiching a transparent aerogel core. Cheap and popular as a window, with excellent insulative properties, strong enough to resist the normal challenges of weather.
A durable transparent plastic.
The toughest and second most expensive transparent substance available, used in starship windows. This will stand up to impacts with space debris better than permaplas or permaglass. The name is actually a brand; it’s actually formed with self-assembling organometallic polymers that tangle up in ways that impede crack propagation, resulting in a material that bends instead of shattering. It still burns like an organic, and needs special goo for repairs.
An expensive glass that uses layers of angled nanorods to cut down on reflection. Popular with luxury abodes, but fragile.
A popular form of plastic explosive.
A superheavy fissionable element with a very low critical mass. Very rarely found in nature; usually manufactured in particle accelerators, making it very expensive.
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