Abyssalite

Abyssalite

(Ab) Abyssalite is a resilient, crystalline element.

Type

Miscellaneous

Chemical Symbol

Ab

Melting Point

3421.85 °C / 6191.33 °F

Melts into

Molten Tungsten (SHC: 0.134)

Specific Heat Capacity

4 $\frac{\text{DTU}}{\text{g}{}^{\circ }\text{C}}$ / 2.22 $\frac{\text{DTU}}{\text{g}{}^{\circ }\text{F}}$

Thermal Conductivity

1e-05 $\frac{\text{DTU}}{\text{m}\text{s}{}^{\circ }\text{C}}$ / 0 $\frac{\text{DTU}}{\text{m}\text{s}{}^{\circ }\text{F}}$

Hardness

150 (Nearly Impenetrable)

Strength

2

Light Absorption Factor

100%

Radiation Absorption Factor

90%

Molar Mass

341.76 $\frac{\text{g}}{\text{mol}}$

Default Mass

500 kg

Max Mass

3200 kg

Overheat Temperature

+200 °C / +360 °F

Properties

Solid

Code

elementId

Katairite

localizationID

STRINGS.ELEMENTS.KATAIRITE.NAME

Abyssalite is a very strong solid element in the Miscellaneous category and is found in large veins separating Biomes. It acts as a natural thermal insulator, preventing heat exchange between biomes as long as the abyssalite boundary remains intact. In order to mine abyssalite, a duplicant must possess the Superhard Digging skill. Abyssalite cannot directly be used as a construction material, but can be combined with Reed Fiber and the Rare Resource Isosap inside a Molecular Forge to create Insulite , which is an extremely similar material that can be used in construction.

Usage

Molecular Forge can produce Insulite from Abyssalite:

15 kg Isosap + 80 kg Abyssalite + 5 units Reed Fiber = 100 kg Insulite .

Abyss Bugs can eat Abyssalite.

Abyssalite melts into Molten Tungsten .

Shatter Flox can eat Abyssalite, which has the added benefit of growing their "fur" that can be sheared for Glass .

Production

The Rocky Asteroid Field provides a renewable source of Abyssalite.

Thickness of Abyssalite Veins

Naturally spawning Abyssalite veins are generally at least two tiles thick. Two tiles are the minimum thickness that is necessary to insulate heat due to the mechanics of Thermal Conductivity. With only one tile, materials on either side can impart and draw heat at just over half of their own thermal conductivity.

When excavating Abyssalite, especially those surrounding Volcanic Biomes, care should be taken not to thin out the seams too much. It is good practice to check the Temperature Overlay when doing so. Because of Flaking, hot Abyssalite tiles can instantly evaporate liquids, completely ignoring its low thermal conductivity.

Heat transfer with abyssalite

While a low thermal conductivity of 0.00001 normally prevents much heat transfer, there are instances where significant heat can be transferred:

• As mentioned, Flaking can vaporize liquids in 5 kg chunks directly to hot gas, rapidly pulling heat out.
• Heat transfer between tiles uses the geometric mean of the two thermal conductivities: the square root of the product of the two thermal conductivities. As the square root of a tiny number is a larger number, unless the other tile also has very low thermal conductivity this can result in fairly high heat transfer.
  • This is excaberated if the other tile is of very tiny mass, like a few grams. Even a small amount of heat transferred from hot abyssalite can dramatically increase the temperature of a few grams of gas, easily achieving scalding temperatures.
• The Tempshift Plate (8 tiles around the center) and Steam Turbine (floor tiles) can thermally overlap abyssalite tiles, the heat exchange between buildings and tiles uses a very strange formula which can result in extreme amounts of heat exchange even with abyssalite.
  • Building a Steam Turbine on top of an abyssalite floor is highly inadvisable, due to the above factors far more heat leaks through an abyssalite floor than Insulated Tile.

Trivia

Abyssalite is named Katairite in game code.

History

• SI-290148: Resource type changes from raw mineral to miscellaneous.

See also

• Flaking - "the abyssalite bug"
• Insulite
• Heat Transfer