Duranium was a naturally occuring, extremely strong metallic, substance. Due to its abundance in numerous planetary cores, duranium was used for hull construction for starships and facilities by numerous races across the Milky Way galaxy. (DS9 reference: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Technical Manual)
In the early 2370s, the Europani began creating sculptures from duranium, and they became quite popular amongst the population. (DS9 novel: Demons of Air and Darkness)
Applications
Spun duranium is used to create .50 caliber bullets. Cervantes Quinn had two clips of spun-duranium rounds for his sniper rifle. (VAN - Declassified novella: The Stars Look Down)
Duranium shadows
In combat situations, duranium shadows can be used to fool enemy sensors into believing that there is a large stockpile of weapons located at the position that they are scanning. In 2369, Chief Miles O'Brien and the crew of Deep Space 9 were able to fool Gul Jasad and his attack force that the station was more heavily fortified than they believed. (DS9 novelization: Emissary)
External link
- Duranium article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.