World's 'lightest material' unveiled by US engineers

[dtotire]

18 November 2011 Last updated at 08:23 ET

World's 'lightest material' unveiled by US engineers
The metallic micro-lattice on a dandelion head Engineers say the material is less dense than aerogels and metallic foams


A team of engineers claims to have created the world's lightest material.

The substance is made out of tiny hollow metallic tubes arranged into a micro-lattice - a criss-crossing diagonal pattern with small open spaces between the tubes.

The researchers say the material is 100 times lighter than Styrofoam and has "extraordinarily high energy absorption" properties.Potential uses include next-generation batteries and shock absorbers.

The research was carried out at the University of California, Irvine and HRL Laboratories and is published in the latest edition of Science.

"The trick is to fabricate a lattice of interconnected hollow tubes with a wall thickness 1,000 times thinner than a human hair," said lead author Dr Tobias Schaedler.
Low-density

The resulting material has a density of 0.9 milligrams per cubic centimetre.By comparison the density of silica aerogels - the world's lightest solid materials - is only as low as 1.0mg per cubic cm.

The metallic micro-lattices have the edge because they consist of 99.99% air and of 0.01% solids.

The engineers say the material's strength derives from the ordered nature of its lattice design.

more:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15788735

[rfranklin]

1. No competition for Michelle Bachmann's brain...

Lighter than air head yet very dense.

[woo me with science]

2. "Potential uses include next-generation batteries and shock absorbers."

[ChairmanAgnostic]

3. OK, this is a US invention. Why the HELL is BBC

reporting this, while US media is reporting on what Michelle Bachmann wore?

[n2doc]

4. Darpa project, and they are

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111117154643.htm

http://www.ocregister.com/news/world-327554-lightest-material.html

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/11/lightest-material-on-earth.html

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-11-world-lightest-material.html

http://www.gizmag.com/ultralight-micro-lattice-material/20537/

Takes time to get out there. Besides, it's not named "Snooki"

[HopeHoops]

6. Maybe if US scientists got more boob implants? Even the guys.

:shrug:

The US media has its priorities. It's critical to know who got thrown off of whatever the fake-reality show of the moment might be!!!

Finding something in foreign media that hasn't been widely reported in the US seems to be increasingly common.

You might find this site worth checking out. It's been around for a long time - "News and Newspapers Online" http://library.uncg.edu/news/.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

7. wow, thanks! much appreciated.

[HopeHoops]

9. It really is amazing to look at the different perspectives.

If you don't know a language, it can be a little difficult to find the "US Edition" version of some sites (not necessarily THAT one), but more often than not now sites will detect the country of origin (you, that is) and display the appropriate language version.

[masmdu]

5. "The trick is to fabricate a lattice of interconnected hollow tubes with a wall thickness 1,000 time

"The trick is to fabricate a lattice of interconnected hollow tubes with a wall thickness 1,000 times thinner than a human hair,"

Well, Duh.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

8. Stop that. I just sprayed coffee on my screen.

LOL

[HopeHoops]

10. Does seem obvious. Good spot. I didn't even catch the humor until reading "Well, Duh.".

I was just discussing with my 11th grader how the Koch Cube is weird because as the number of repetitions of the constructor is applied approaches infinity, so does the surface area - and at the same time the volume approaches zero. They haven't gotten to limits yet (next month, I think she said), but intuitively she understood exactly what I was saying. For the non-math oriented, some concepts like that might as well be expressed in a language from an alien planet (like Klingon), so they sort of HAVE to explain things in obvious ways if the article is directed at the masses (also a "well duh" type of statement, eh?).

[qb]

11. Cool! Thanks for posting

:hi:

[leveymg]

12. Make it out of carbon fiber tubes, add some resin and kevlar skins, and you have a hell of a nice

tough, rigid material for lightweight aircraft or vehicle hulls and 1000 other applications.

[benld74]

13. Last seen floating above Nevada, following easterly winds,,,,

[Name removed]

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