Mesocomponent

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This article defines a novel term (that is hopefully sensibly chosen). The term is introduced to make a concept more concrete and understand its interrelationship with other topics related to atomically precise manufacturing. For details go to the page: Neologism.
A cube shaped mesocomponent (or "product fragment" or "subproduct block") assembled from many microcomponents of each about ~2µm size. The microcomponents displayed here all have truncated octahedral shape. Here 24x24x24 microcomponents are depicted. The on this wiki usually used factor of 32 between assembly level sizes would be a bit too big to make out the individual truncated octahedra. The whole block is with its 48µm in size just a bit below the human eye visibility limit which is at about 75µm. Thus "mesoscale".

In this wiki the term "mesocomponent" shall refer to structures that:

  • have a size about 64µm – (on the border of human eye visibility – thus "mesocomponents")
  • are made in assembly cells of about 1000µm = 1mm in size
  • are atomically precise
  • are gemstone based
  • are more or less indirectly preassembled
  • are typically recyclable and recomposable – (thus "mesocomponents")

Origin and fate of mesocomponents

Mesocomponents could get assembled from

Mesocomponents could get assembled to

Why "meso"

The size range from mesocomponents to millimetre sized components (32µm to 1000µm=1mm) reaches
from just below what humans can perceive to just above what humans can perceive.
Thus the name mesoscale or "intermediate scale" for this size range.

Choice of size scale

It's in a nice chain of steps from nanoscale to macroscale.

  • Component sizes: 2nm =x32=> 64nm =x32=> 2µm =x32=> 64µm
  • Chamber sizes: 32nm =x32=> 1000nm=1µm =x32=> 32µm =x32=> 1000µm=1mm

Recomposability and recycling

For mesocomponents it should be even easier than for microcomponents to make them reversibly recomposable. Eventually integrated reversibly shape locking interface structures (connection mechanisms) will use up even lower a fraction of the total volume. If they are kept small.

The design space for mesocomponents is yet again much bigger than the one for microcomponents.
It seems this makes the likelihood for reusability of whole mesocomponents lower than for microcomponents.

Recomposability of mesocomponents may thus be more of interest for quick product reconfigurations
where it would make sense to disassemble a product all the way down to it's microcomponents.
Like e.g. swapping front tires with back tires on a car just smaller.

Intuition about the size scale

Visibility

Many tree pollen have a similar size. These are not visible by human eye. Print layers on FDM printers can go down to a thickness of just 50µm. In harsh light these are visible by human eye. A gap of 32µm in a sliding caliper when held against the sun is easily visible.

Feelability

Scratching over a metal surface with a 32µm scratch in it is feelable.

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