Source: Medium.com
We’ve come a long way in the search for and application of lightweight metals, which are being used now in everything from high-performance golf clubs to airplane wings, but random defects that arise in the manufacturing process mean that these materials are only a fraction as strong as they could theoretically be.
In a new study published in Nature Scientific Reports, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Engineering and Applied Science, the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, and the University of Cambridge have designed and built materials that are stronger than anything heretofore developed, using a sheet of nickel with nanoscale pores that make it as strong as titanium but four to five times lighter.
“The empty space of the pores and the self-assembly process in which they’re made make the porous metal akin to a natural material, such as wood.
And just as the porosity of wood grain serves the biological function of transporting energy, the empty space in the researchers’ “metallic wood” could be infused with other materials. Infusing the scaffolding with anode and cathode materials would enable this metallic wood to serve double duty: a plane wing or prosthetic leg that’s also a battery.”
Read more: “Penn Engineer’s ‘Metallic Wood’ Has the Strength of Titanium and the Density of Water”
Photo credit/caption: Penn Engineering/A microscopic sample of the researchers’ “metallic wood.” Its porous structure is responsible for its high strength-to-weight ratio, and makes it more akin to natural materials, like wood.
