Directorate Officer
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Agrinicrete is the result of Lucerne Labs experimentation of trying derive a version of steelcrete specifically tailored for exploratory and colonization starships. Lucerne Labs realized that few starship hull materials were designed for the rigors of exploring exceptionally radiation dense areas where many valuable minerals could be found. Shields typically were used in such areas, but the radiation subjected to the same shields often wore them down quickly. Various materials were explored, such as ardanium II coated mirrsteel, but it was found that such materials were too costly or heavy to be added to existing starship designs. A chance encounter of seeing an aging civilian defense bunker on Gyndine inspired Lucerne Labs's engineers to look at steelcrete as the possible solution.
But it in its original state, it was found to be too dense for practical use on starships as a radiation shielding material. Various substitutions were tested, with the final result consisting of agrinium particles mixed in with synthstone aggregate along with various trace elements, all of which are bonded together by animated metal sealant. The resulting material excels as a lightweight radiation shielding material, and as an added bonus for scouts, self-heals in the case of small hull breaches. It is also exceptionally good at providing thermal resistance for its host, whether it is an unusually hot sun like Nkllon or a steady stream of blaster fire. It also has a limited ability to provide some ion/EMP resistance, as the agrinium particles interlocked with each other and the animated metal sealant act as a rudimentary if irregular farraday cage. This is mostly useful in protecting it from distant EMP detonations and naturally occuring ionic radiation. It generally provides very limited protection against direct, sustained ion weapon strikes. Agrinicrete is not particularly well-suited for resisting physical impacts, because it it is hard, it does not have the tensile strength to withstand high velocity projectiles. However, the material's agrinium and animated metal sealant within the material can be differentially tempered by the proper application of heat, such as from a fusion torch, to be more brittle or malleable in certain areas. Typically the outer layer is made very stiff and brittle to initially resist and break up incoming projectiles, while the inner layers only have a soft heat treatment, which allows it to remain flexible if irregular metal net to act as a spalling layer to catch any projectile fragments.
These material characteristics make it an exceptional overlay material for scouting vessels, but it is very much lacking as a dedicated warship armor because internal structure is very susceptible to internal harmonic divergence from concussive shock waves produced by many explosives, such as from concussion missiles. When it vibrates under the impact, the layers delaminate, with the outer layers increasingly turning into a fine powder until the armor fully dissolves. Unfortunately, this effect also occurs as the material is exposed to weather and/or chemical agents. Because of this, Agrinicrete is viewed as something of a maintenance-intensive material, with frequent/layered coats having to be applied to ships that frequent water worlds or certain gaseous worlds.
Most Agrinicrete sees use as an applique material to existing ship hulls to make them more worthy of space travel in the harsher regions of the galaxy. Other spacers keep the small stocks of the material in their repair kit to plug small hulls in their vessels, especially when traveling to the more wild regions of space. Agricrete seems some additional niche use on things like certain droid chassis's designed to operate in high radiation areas, but its lack of long-term chemical stability in most atmospheres usually renders it obsolete to other available materials for most uses. For those who want it, Lucerne Labs sells Agrinicrete in a variety of sizes, ranging from small patch repair kits to industrial tanks containing thousands of gallons.
Intent: To create a lightweight variation of steelcrete designed specifically to make starships more radiation resistant
Image Source: N/A
Restricted Missions: N/A
Primary Source: N/A
Name: Agrinicrete
Manufacturer: Lucerne Labs
Homeworld (optional): N/A
Production: Mass-Produced.
Affiliation: Directorate, Light-side aligned characters and groups, Closed-Market
Modularity: No
Material: Agrinium, Animated Metal Sealant, Synthstone Aggregate
Classification: Compound
Weight: Light
Resistances:
Blasters: High
Kinetic: Average
Explosives: Low
Lightsabers: Very Low
EMP/Ion: Average
Radiation: High
Chemical/Environmental Corrosion: Low
Color: Light Gray
Easy application: Agrinicite is supplied in resinous paste form from sizes of small tubes to massive containers holding gallons. The paste is simply applied with a brush, trowel, or other tool, and then fully sets on its own in several hours.
Radiation resistant: Agrinicrete is designed to provide radiation protection for starships traveling throughout the void, either as an emergency repair to seal a hull leak, or as an additional applique material placed on top of existing material for travel in high radiation zones.
Temperable: The agrinium particles within Agrinicrete can be differentially tempered at different thicknesses within a layer of Agrinicrete by proper heat treating. Typically upper layers are treated to be more dense and brittle (to provide hardness against projectiles), while lower layers are more ductile and soft, which allows them to act as a spalling layer.
Radiation Resistance: Agrinicrete provides radiation resistance through its agrinium particles and through the sheer depth that the material can be applied because of its light weight or low density.
Lightweight: The use of lightweight agrinium instead of steel, combined with porous nature of the aggregate, makes Agrinicrete relatively lightweight for its size.
Blaster/Energy Resistance: Agrinium is noted as a relatively good conductor of heat and electricity, which allows it to efficiently absorb and spread out heat throughout the aggregate, which then radiate it outwards. This makes it about as effective as ferroceramic in starship armor.
Self-sealing: The minute amounts of animated metal sealant reacts to particles flowing past it, causing it to automatically expand into that area and seal off the leak for relatively small holes in the material. This patched area is quite weak to damage of any sort, and only serves as a temporary patch until dedicated maintenance can be performed. This generally is used to keep the atmosphere inside a starship.
Weak to Explosives: While capable of withstanding high temperatures, Agrinicrete does not handle concussive shockwaves produced by explosions well. The shockwaves tend to cause widespread vibration that causes the layers to delaminate.
Low Corrosion Resistance: Agrinicrete's aggregate and animated metal sealant react to a large number of basic chemicals (as in they produce hydroxide materials), and is also quite susceptible to erosion from water or other liquids. This typically means that its use is very limited in most atmospheres.
Voluminous: As an armor material, it often requires more volume to obtain similar performance as traditional armor materials such as durasteel, especially in kinetic protection. This makes it poorly suited as the main material for many applications, such as personal armor, as such armor would be likely be excessively bulky and unergonomic.
Agrinicrete is the result of Lucerne Labs experimentation of trying derive a version of steelcrete specifically tailored for exploratory and colonization starships. Lucerne Labs realized that few starship hull materials were designed for the rigors of exploring exceptionally radiation dense areas where many valuable minerals could be found. Shields typically were used in such areas, but the radiation subjected to the same shields often wore them down quickly. Various materials were explored, such as ardanium II coated mirrsteel, but it was found that such materials were too costly or heavy to be added to existing starship designs. A chance encounter of seeing an aging civilian defense bunker on Gyndine inspired Lucerne Labs's engineers to look at steelcrete as the possible solution.
But it in its original state, it was found to be too dense for practical use on starships as a radiation shielding material. Various substitutions were tested, with the final result consisting of agrinium particles mixed in with synthstone aggregate along with various trace elements, all of which are bonded together by animated metal sealant. The resulting material excels as a lightweight radiation shielding material, and as an added bonus for scouts, self-heals in the case of small hull breaches. It is also exceptionally good at providing thermal resistance for its host, whether it is an unusually hot sun like Nkllon or a steady stream of blaster fire. It also has a limited ability to provide some ion/EMP resistance, as the agrinium particles interlocked with each other and the animated metal sealant act as a rudimentary if irregular farraday cage. This is mostly useful in protecting it from distant EMP detonations and naturally occuring ionic radiation. It generally provides very limited protection against direct, sustained ion weapon strikes. Agrinicrete is not particularly well-suited for resisting physical impacts, because it it is hard, it does not have the tensile strength to withstand high velocity projectiles. However, the material's agrinium and animated metal sealant within the material can be differentially tempered by the proper application of heat, such as from a fusion torch, to be more brittle or malleable in certain areas. Typically the outer layer is made very stiff and brittle to initially resist and break up incoming projectiles, while the inner layers only have a soft heat treatment, which allows it to remain flexible if irregular metal net to act as a spalling layer to catch any projectile fragments.
These material characteristics make it an exceptional overlay material for scouting vessels, but it is very much lacking as a dedicated warship armor because internal structure is very susceptible to internal harmonic divergence from concussive shock waves produced by many explosives, such as from concussion missiles. When it vibrates under the impact, the layers delaminate, with the outer layers increasingly turning into a fine powder until the armor fully dissolves. Unfortunately, this effect also occurs as the material is exposed to weather and/or chemical agents. Because of this, Agrinicrete is viewed as something of a maintenance-intensive material, with frequent/layered coats having to be applied to ships that frequent water worlds or certain gaseous worlds.
Most Agrinicrete sees use as an applique material to existing ship hulls to make them more worthy of space travel in the harsher regions of the galaxy. Other spacers keep the small stocks of the material in their repair kit to plug small hulls in their vessels, especially when traveling to the more wild regions of space. Agricrete seems some additional niche use on things like certain droid chassis's designed to operate in high radiation areas, but its lack of long-term chemical stability in most atmospheres usually renders it obsolete to other available materials for most uses. For those who want it, Lucerne Labs sells Agrinicrete in a variety of sizes, ranging from small patch repair kits to industrial tanks containing thousands of gallons.
