Scientists Create World's Lightest Material

BY ADNAN S. KHAN & NATHAN GIANNINI

ANCHOR LAUREN ZIMA



Scientist from UC Irvine, CalTech and Hughes Research Laboratories have created the world's lightest material.

How light? The material, named 'Ultralight Metallic Microlattice' is 100 times lighter than Styrofoam, which should be expected from a material that is 99.99 percent air.

KGTV has more details.

"The Ultra-light Metallic Microlattice is so light, a block of it can balance on top of a dandelion. It's made from nickel, it's 1000 times thinner than a human hair, and strong! You can't believe how strong."

So, how strong is something that can be supported by a dandelion? The BBC reports:

"To study the strength of the metallic micro-lattices the team compressed them until they were half as thick. After removing the load the substance recovered 98% of its original height and resumed its original shape. ... 'Materials actually get stronger as the dimensions are reduced to the nanoscale,' said team member Lorenzo Valdevit."

MSNBC notes the strength of the material does not come from the nickel used to create it, but instead from its shape. The outlet spoke with a manager at the HRL Laboratories, who says to think of microlattice as the Eiffel Tower.

"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."

But how do you make an Eiffel Tower on a nano scale? CBS explains: Lasers!

"First, lasers beam ultraviolet light into a reservoir of a resin that forms polymer fibers when the light hits it. The fibers follow the path the light takes, and using multiple beams creates multiple interconnected fibers. Next, the rest of the resin is washed away, the polymer fibers are coated with a very thin layer of nickel, and the polymer fibers are then dissolved, leaving only the metal lattice."

Impressive stuff. The LA Times wonders how we can use this complicated material in a practical way.

"That's still to be determined. ... UCI's principal investigator on the project, brought up impact protection, uses in the aerospace industry, acoustic dampening and maybe some battery applications."

Still, microlattice might be used for much more than acoustics -- CBS notes that the research was conducted for the United States' Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• lightest material
• metal lattice
• commodities
• engineers
• density
• micro lattice
• nickel
• science news
• hrl laboratories

[liersie]

LAZORZ

[antiFoolishness]

the reporter is too hot for science news!!

[MrTubanator]

Not even gonna ask if it can blend...

[xonktrof1]

is this the stuff they use for frodos mithril shirt on lord of the rings

[charlessale]

@liersie HAHAHAHhhadjfhskdjfhasd god that was really funny for some reason.

[jesust1993]

good shit, good shit. i like hearing about new technologies and stuff, at least this world is progressing in that.

[GVilbrun]

Wow man can't wait to see what they're gonna with in the future, i read from autoblog that they can use it to built cars and greatly improve safety and fuel efficiency, ins't that awesome!

[Trisscarro]

@antiFoolishness ah sorry man, it just gets to me when people generalize people in a negative way.

[antiFoolishness]

@Trisscarro Chill out buddy I have an M.S, degree in computational physics from UCSD! I guess what I'm trying to say is that usually you don't see females like her in the industry! ;)

[Trisscarro]

@antiFoolishness science is about understanding and utilizing the universe. why is making awesome stuff and advanced technology always associated with being a nerd or not having a life? just because people want to know stuff and are curious doesn't make them any less than you.

but i guess you care about your outfit more and fail to realize that 98% of your surroundings are made possible by those ugly scientists.

[Erde04]

of course everything is developed for a defense agencies we spending more money on that then everything else in the united states combined shit if we cut it in half we would still be spending more on defense then any other country in the world, Its so fucking much the 3 biggest defense spend country int he worlds combined isn't enough to compare to how much the united states is wasting on defense

[darkrdemon499]

heheh.......removing the load! :D