Ceramic Pick Anyone?

[DDancer]

Over the last few years the thought rolls around in my head that with all the developments in material sciences, ceramics in particular, why has there not been a ceramic pick developed?

We can make ceramic motors for cars and ceramic knifes that are pretty robust.  In science fiction there are references to a mythic material called plas-steel however there really is not much on this in real science~ but its a totally cool idea and heck Star Trek practically gave us the hand held communicator ;)

Any entertaining thoughts on this?  Would you buy one?  What do you think something like that would be worth?

For me I think it would be a gold mine in itself as all current detectors on the top shelf do react to the amount of metal we carry on our persons.  I don't feel things like weight are an issue but dulling down of a detector because I carry my honking big pick is rather annoying.  And putting the honker down to detect is a great way to loose it, or have 30 waypoints to no where in my GPS unit... oh did I just stray 2km from where I dropped it..... and looking down I hope that target does not move before I get back to dig it.  Where as with the ceramic I'm working a peak level and am Johnny on the spot when that nugget sings.

This is something I feel can be done.  And probably fairly cheaply~ so no carping about breaking the bloody thing ;) Thanks.  And no I dont recommend something like this for solid rock but that'd be cool to as so many scrapes are full of Iron from chipping of blades and teeth.

[beatup]

It sounds good,ceramic is strong but brittle if they can work out that problem it might be a worth while option

[Roughwater]

A pick without metal would be a good thing.  It's hard for me to imagine anything that would have metal's durability.  Maybe make pick head with reduced metal.  Maybe a metal spike on one side and on the other side of the head a carbon/plastic or ceramic scraper?   Use the spike side of the head for the heavy work and the other side for clearing the debree/scraping?    You could make both the spike and the the ceramic side detachable and replaceable in case of breakage?  The spike alone would create a much smaller metal profile than today's pick heads.  

Terry

[DDancer]

With proper shaping a ceramic spike is possible in my thoughts.  Seems there might be material that can withstand the abuse that only steel can handle at this time. Flexibility in steel is one of its key strengths for picks and striking objects. As to a hybrid, metal spikes and ceramic, also an interesting thought but that increases complexity though it does help with another thought I've been toying with~ weight of the head for throw power.  Smaller profile indeed.  Food for thought...  Thanks.