A team of experts from UC Irvine, HRL Labs and the Florida Company of Technologies have created the least heavy substance -- with a solidity of 0.9 mg/cc -- about one hundred periods light than Styrofoam™
Their results appear in the Nov. 18 issue of Research.
The new substance redefines the restrictions of light and portable elements because of its unique "micro-lattice" cell phone structure. The experts were able to make a substance that involves 99.99 % air by developing the 0.01 % strong at the nanometer, micron and mm machines. "The technique is to make a lattice of connected useless pipes with a wall width 1,000 periods slimmer than a hair," said lead creator Dr. Tobias Schaedler of HRL.
The material's structure allows unmatched technical habits for a steel, such as complete restoration from pressure beyond 50 % stress and extremely high energy intake.
"Materials actually get stronger as the dimensions are reduced to the nanoscale," explained UCI mechanical and aerospace engineer Lorenzo Valdevit, UCI's principal investigator on the project. "Combine this with the possibility of tailoring the architecture of the micro-lattice and you have a unique cellular material."
Developed for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the novel material could be used for battery electrodes and acoustic, vibration or shock energy absorption.
William Carter, manager of the architected materials group at HRL, compared the new material to larger, more familiar edifices: "Modern buildings, exemplified by the Eiffel Tower or the Golden Gate Bridge, are incredibly light and weight-efficient by virtue of their architecture. We are revolutionizing lightweight materials by bringing this concept to the nano and micro scales."
