Compression Alloys

Compression alloys are a broad category of metallurgical products originating from the Corusco Cluster. They take advantage of ancient forms of graviton technology now lost to the Mechanicum of Mars to alter the properties of metals in ways beyond the scope of conventional metallurgy. Compression alloys are used for a variety of purposes within the Cluster, but the energy cost of their production is prohibitively high, making them only economical to produce in large quantities on worlds with access to tremendous amounts of cheap energy. Because they can be made with relatively common elements however, they also become practical when rare elements are scarce but power is plentiful.

## History

As with most of the more esoteric technologies present within the Corusco Cluster, compression alloys are a product of the lost era known as the Golden Age of Technology. Fragmentary database records attribute the discovery and patent to a research laboratory from the world of Ziguraet and tentatively mark it down to the latter of of the 20th millenium, though shards of records about heavy patent and licensing legal battles make it impossible to know for certainty which of the half-dozen pretenders to the patent is justified. Indeed, it may well be that some or even all of them had developed functioning processes independently of one another.

Whichever the case, compression alloys quickly found a variety of use due to their unnatural density lending itself well to extreme properties within a comparatively minuscule volume of space. This came at the cost of tremendous weight, which limited its applications, but the sheer density of the lattice structure itself meant that it was still lighter than the monstrously thick blocks of conventional materials required to achieve the same properties. The largest uses of these alloys were in structural applications, armor and electronics. On a smaller-scale, hyper-dense armor-piercing ammunition was also tested, but the sheer cost and difficulties involved in the process ensured they never saw any form of wide-scale adoption and remained a rare specialty loadout.

Because of the enormous energy demands associated by the forging process, the availability of compression alloys depended almost more on the availability of cheap energy than on its proprietary tech itself. As a result, the use of compression alloys was at its highest when the network of Dyson Nets within the Cluster reached peak output, then proceeded to drop sharply with the subsequent destruction of 3 of the 4 Dyson nets during the Cybernetic Revolt. While the technology to create compression alloys was not originally limited to the Corusco Cluster and had spread far and wide, nearly all records of it were destroyed during the Age of Strife, while the rest fell into obscurity through technological decline, or resided on worlds which could not afford the ravenous energy costs. One way or another, the technology became practically extinct until its rediscovery by the Imperium of Man during the late 30th millenium, at which point its existence was jealously guarded by the scientists of the few worlds that conserved it, and never found its way to Mars' data-vaults.

## Manufacturing Process

The process by which compression alloys are made is commonly referred to as Grav-Forging. It is a very simple process in concept, though the actual calculations involved are dizzying enough to require extensive cogitators to even attempt. Relatively large quantities of an alloy of conventional material are prepared and melted near its vaporization point before being subjected to intense amounts of pressure via graviton technology. By subjecting the material to these levels of pressure, which emulates that found within the deeper layers of gas giants' atmosphere, the liquefied metals are made to compress into a state of matter more dense than any element found naturally on terrestrial planets.

The compressed metals in their liquid state are then wrought into their desired shape, which is exclusively done by casting for solid products or zero-gravity spinneret for wire-like ones, as it is effectively impossible to work or shape compression alloys after they have cooled down. Any form of presses or extrusion mechanics would see the machining tool break before the ingots. Because these process are far easier to handle in zero gravity environments, it is common for Grav-Forging facilities to be built as orbital foundries rather than planetside installations.

## Common Alloy Types

* **Corium-21** - Based on a somewhat advanced form of Scandium hydride, Corium-21 is compressed not for increased durability or conductance, but instead to create a material that behaves naturally as if it were placed in a pressure chamber. This only becomes relevant when one considers that Scandium hydride is superconducting at room temperature at pressures of at least 100GPa. Thus, creating a compressed form of it which behaves at all time as if it were under heavy pressure creates a room-temperature superconductor. As such, Corium-21 is primarily used in super-cogitators built on Novae or Corteferr
* **Corium-26** - The most simple and common type of compression alloy, Corium-26 is made up primarily of iron with a small amount of carbon, making it similar in composition to plain old steels, and indeed it is created from steel of various grades. Its atomic lattice structure however is denser than steel by orders of magnitude, offering massively improved resistance to kinetic and thermal energy with a relatively thin layer. It is used as a structural material which can double as armor in the case of vehicles such as the Musketeer assault tank, which features a chassis made from Corium-26. It is also used in the making of the Coruscoan Velites' Shimmerscale armor as well as in the Antioch pattern of power armor used by the Obsidian Wyrms.
* **Corium-47** - Not technically an alloy, Corium-47 is instead created from pure silver. Much cheaper than more readily available than Corium-21, it is used primarily in miniaturization technology, to provide electrical wiring capable of conducting much greater amounts of current than its size would normally allow. This allows extremely small devices to handle power charges more in line with much larger and better insulated equipment.
* **Corium-77** - Similar in makeup and use to the more common Corium-26, Corium-77 differs in the fact that it is created not from steel, but from osmiridium compounds. Its density is unparalleled and its protective value is so great as to be capable of mitigating the force of even Melta weapons, as well as many other dedicated anti-tank weapons. It is primarily used in the construction of the pre-imperial pattern of Immortal Dreadnoughts, themselves a product of the lost ages.