硅酸钠镁锂

We’re currently experiencing a renaissance of laptops, with both incredible specifications and some really amazing design work adorning the latest models. As part of these next-generation designs, we’re also seeing a lot of new materials going into laptops as well. Aluminum, magnesium, carbon fiber, even the super-tough tempered Gorilla Glass—it seems that if you want to make a new high-end laptop or tablet, old-fashioned plastic just isn’t an option anymore.

我们目前正在经历笔记本电脑的复兴，其令人难以置信的规格和一些真正令人赞叹的设计作品都装饰在最新型号上。 作为这些下一代设计的一部分，我们还看到了许多新材料也用于笔记本电脑。 铝，镁，碳纤维，甚至是超韧的回火大猩猩玻璃-看来，如果您要制造新的高端笔记本电脑或平板电脑，则不再可以使用老式塑料。

But what are the pros and cons of these new materials, and which one should get the edge if you’re choosing between models? Let’s take a look.

但是，这些新材料的优缺点是什么，如果您在两种型号之间进行选择，哪种材料应该占优势？ 让我们来看看。

铝合金 (Aluminum Alloy)

If there’s an “older” option with the new generation of laptop designs, it’s aluminum. Famously employed by Apple on its high-end PowerBooks way back in 2003, aluminum alloy replaced the titanium alloy of older generations. The reasoning was twofold: using the anodizing process to finish and color the metal solved the paint chipping issue of previous generations, and aluminum is cheaper to buy and work with than titanium. While its lower density means that aluminum shells need to be thicker, that extra stiffness generally results in a design that’s less prone to bending, warping, and denting.

如果新一代笔记本电脑设计有“较旧”的选择，那就是铝。 铝合金早在2003年就被Apple以其高端PowerBooks的形式聘用，铝合金取代了上一代的钛合金。 原因是双重的：使用阳极氧化Craft.io对金属进行抛光和上色解决了前几代产品的油漆崩裂问题，并且铝的购买和加工成本比钛便宜。 虽然其较低的密度意味着铝壳需要更厚，但是额外的刚度通常会使设计不易弯曲，翘曲和凹陷。

It wasn’t until the introduction of the Macbook Air that Apple debuted its “unibody” design language, with the main body (and later the screen assembly) formed out of a single piece of machine-milled aluminum alloy. This is has now become more or less the standard for high-end laptops. While manufacturing these specific parts is expensive, it allows laptops to be designed with fewer body parts overall, simplifying manufacturing as a whole and making them less prone to body warping and deformation. Some laptops as cheap as $300 feature aluminum body designs, though without the milled single-piece body design. Anodizing, an alloy treatment that can help with heat dissipation and corrosion resistance, can also be used to “dye” aluminum different colors.

直到Macbook Air问世，苹果才首次推出其“一体式”设计语言，其主体(以及后来的屏幕组件)由单块机加工铝合金制成。 现在，这已成为或多或少成为高端笔记本电脑的标准。 尽管制造这些特定部件很昂贵，但它允许笔记本电脑整体上使用更少的机身部件进行设计，从而简化了整体制造过程，并使它们不易变形和变形。 一些价格低至300美元的笔记本电脑采用铝制机身设计，但没有铣削的一体式机身设计。 阳极氧化是一种可以帮助散热和抗腐蚀的合金处理方法，也可以用来“染色”铝的不同颜色。

Aluminum alloys are typically stronger than plastics, especially when used in unibody designs. But they come with some fairly obvious downsides: even the relatively thick bodies of premium aluminum laptops will dent if impacted hard enough, and they’ll do so more frequently than plastics due to lack of flex in a multi-part chassis. Aluminum also conducts heat much better than plastic, making some laptops prone to uncomfortable overheating. Significant engineering needs to be employed at the design stage to keep hot zones like the processor and heatsinks away from areas where the user is likely to touch the machine for extended periods of time.

铝合金通常比塑料强，尤其是在一体式设计中。 但是它们有一些相当明显的缺点：即使是比较厚的优质铝质笔记本电脑，如果受到足够大的冲击也会凹进去，而且由于多部分机箱中缺乏挠性，所以它们的使用频率要比塑料要高。 铝的导热性也比塑料好得多，从而使某些笔记本电脑容易出现不适的过热现象。 在设计阶段需要采用大量的工程技术，以使处理器和散热器等高温区域远离用户可能会长时间触摸机器的区域。

镁合金 (Magnesium Alloy)

Magnesium, an alternative to aluminum, is used as a primary alloy for an increasing number of laptop designs. It’s lighter by volume than aluminum by approximately 30% (it’s actually the lightest structurally-used metal in the world), while having a greater strength-to-weight ratio. This allows magnesium alloy electronics bodies to be thinner than similar aluminum designs with the same general durability. Magnesium is also less thermally conductive, meaning designers have more freedom in placing internal components that won’t create an uncomfortably hot case.

镁是铝的替代品，被用作越来越多的笔记本电脑设计的主要合金。 它的体积比铝轻约30％(实际上是世界上最轻的结构使用金属)，同时具有更大的强度/重量比。 这使得镁合金电子产品的主体比具有相同总体耐用性的类似铝设计更薄。 镁的导热性也较差，这意味着设计人员在放置不会产生不舒服的外壳的内部组件时拥有更大的自由度。

Magnesium is generally easier to use than aluminum in terms of manufacturing, opening up new design capabilities for laptop and tablet makers. Unfortunately, it’s also considerably more expensive as a metal. To offset this, manufacturers will sometimes combine magnesium shells with cheaper plastic parts on the frame or internal areas like the palm rest. Full magnesium-bodied designs, like the Surface Pro and some premium entries in the HP ENVY and Lenovo ThinkPad lines, tend to be more expensive than comparable models.

就制造而言，镁通常比铝更易于使用，从而为笔记本电脑和平板电脑制造商打开了新的设计功能。 不幸的是，它作为金属也要昂贵得多。 为了弥补这一点，制造商有时会在框架或内部区域(如掌托)上将镁壳与较便宜的塑料部件结合在一起。 诸如Surface Pro等全镁合金机身设计以及HP ENVY和Lenovo ThinkPad系列中的一些高级配件，往往比同类机型贵。

Between aluminum alloy and magnesium alloy, there really isn’t enough of a difference to sway a new laptop purchase one way or the other. With increased rigidity a magnesium case might be less likely to bend or dent than an aluminum one, but it’s also more prone to crack with increased pressure. The thermal properties probably won’t be all that noticeable (since manufacturers have become quite good at managing internal heat anyway). Unless you plan to constantly use a laptop in high-temperature environments, the internal specifications should probably be a more pressing concern.

在铝合金和镁合金之间，没有什么区别可以左右购买新笔记本电脑。 刚度增加后，镁质外壳可能比铝质外壳弯曲或凹陷的可能性较小，但随着压力的增加，它也更容易破裂。 热性能可能不会那么引人注目(因为制造商无论如何都已经非常擅长管理内部热量)。 除非您打算在高温环境中经常使用笔记本电脑，否则内部规格可能是一个更紧迫的问题。

碳纤维 (Carbon Fiber)

Carbon fiber is a bit of a misnomer: the material that’s so popularly depicted on airplanes and sports cars is in fact a composite of both woven carbon strands and more rudimentary polymer bases. Basically, it’s a high-tech plastic reinforced with synthetic carbon. The result is a material with an extremely high weight-to-strength ratio, allowing for protection similar to a metal or alloy at a fraction of the weight.

碳纤维有点用词不当：在飞机和跑车上如此流行的材料实际上是碳纤维编织线和更基本的聚合物基料的复合材料。 从根本上讲，它是一种高科技的合成碳增强塑料。 结果是具有极高的重量-强度比的材料，从而在重量的一小部分就可以提供类似于金属或合金的保护。

Also, it looks really cool. Most manufacturers like to show off the carbon fiber material in their designs, resulting in a distinctive grey-and-black weave that’s instantly recognizable.

另外，它看起来真的很酷。 大多数制造商喜欢在设计中炫耀碳纤维材料，从而形成一种独特的灰色和黑色编织，可以立即识别出来。

The material is, at least in some ways, easier to mold and shape than metal, requiring only a simple cast mold for larger pieces rather than a machine-controlled milling process. Carbon fiber conducts heat at a fraction of the rate of either aluminum or magnesium, making it an ideal choice for areas of the laptop case where users are likely to place skin, like the palm rest.

至少在某些方面，该材料比金属更容易成型和成形，只需要简单的铸模就可以加工较大的零件，而不需要机器控制的铣削过程。 碳纤维的导热率仅为铝或镁的几分之一，因此成为笔记本电脑外壳中用户可能会放置皮肤的区域(如掌垫)的理想选择。

However, carbon fiber does have some distinct disadvantages over more conventional laptop materials. Because it is a composite of the carbon weave and more fragile polymer, its finish isn’t anywhere near as durable as the woven interior—it’s much more susceptible to visible scratches and dents. The components beneath might be nearly as safe as they are underneath metal, but a corner drop or piercing impact will still look pretty bad. Carbon fiber is also much more expensive to produce than even magnesium alloy.

但是，与更传统的笔记本电脑材料相比，碳纤维确实具有一些明显的缺点。 因为它是碳纤维编织和更易碎的聚合物的复合材料，所以它的表面光洁度不及编织内部的持久性-它更容易受到可见划痕和凹痕的影响。 下面的组件可能和在金属下面的组件一样安全，但是掉角或刺穿的冲击看起来仍然很糟糕。 碳纤维的生产也比镁合金贵得多。

Because of this, it’s being deployed primarily as a combination material, with cases using lightweight and attractive carbon fiber on interior components like the palmrest and touchpad while using alloy metal on the exterior. To my knowledge, there hasn’t been a laptop body made entirely out of carbon fiber (though there have been a few smartphones made from structurally similar Kevlar).

因此，它主要是作为一种组合材料进行部署的，外壳在内部部件(如掌垫和触摸板)上使用轻巧且引人注目的碳纤维，而外部使用合金金属。 据我所知，还没有一种完全由碳纤维制成的笔记本电脑机身(尽管有一些智能手机是由结构相似的凯夫拉尔制成)。

钢化玻璃 (Tempered Glass)

The rise of smartphones in the late 2000s made tempered glass—Corning’s patented Gorilla Glass in particular—a newly-considered structural material for all sorts of electronics. In addition to the fairly obvious use for touch screen laptops, some newer designs have used tempered glass for laptop lids and even premium, smooth-tracking touchpads.

智能手机在2000年代后期的兴起使钢化玻璃(尤其是康宁获得专利的大猩猩玻璃)成为了一种新型的用于各种电子产品的结构材料。 除了用于触摸屏笔记本电脑的明显用途外，一些较新的设计还使用钢化玻璃作为笔记本电脑的盖子，甚至还使用了优质，顺滑的触摸板。

Modern tempered glass is some amazing stuff, incorporating scratch resistance that’s almost as good as materials like synthetic sapphire. It also feels pretty nice, and it’s now relatively inexpensive to integrate into a laptop’s design. Since manufacturers like ASUS already have huge orders for smartphone glass, why not stick a little on a laptop?

现代钢化玻璃是令人惊奇的东西，其抗刮擦性几乎与合成蓝宝石一样好。 感觉还不错，现在集成到笔记本电脑的设计中相对便宜。 由于像华硕这样的制造商已经有大量的智能手机玻璃订单，为什么不在笔记本电脑上花些钱呢？

But be aware, tempered glass is still…well, glass. It might be scratch-resistant and less likely to break than a typical window pane, but a drop onto any reasonably hard surface will still shatter screens, lids, and touchpads. As a material for laptop and tablet bodies, tempered glass is a cosmetic addition, and not a particularly durable one.

但是要知道，钢化玻璃仍然是……玻璃。 与典型的窗格相比，它可能具有防刮擦性，并且断裂的可能性较小，但是掉落在任何相当坚硬的表面上仍会破碎屏幕，盖子和触摸板。 作为笔记本电脑和平板电脑机身的材料，钢化玻璃是一种化妆品，并不是特别耐用。

Image sources: Dell, ASUS, Lenovo, HP

图像来源： 戴尔 ， 华硕 ， 联想 ， 惠普

翻译自: https://www.howtogeek.com/307165/next-gen-laptop-materials-aluminum-alloy-vs-magnesium-alloy-vs-carbon-fiber/

硅酸钠镁锂