Carbon Fiber Is So Yesterday - Scientists Create New Metal That Is Lighter Than Styrofoam

A new metal structure developed by U.S. scientists, so light it dramatically cuts down drag and improves fuel efficiency one hundredfold, could find its way into vehicles someday.

Claiming it is 100 times lighter than Styrofoam, an innovative new material called a micro-lattice has been developed by the California Institute of Technology, HRL Laboratories, based in Malibu, CA, and the University of California-Irvine.

Based on a crisscross lattice structure on a micro-scale, the material is made up of a series of tiny, hollow nickel-phosphorous tubes angled to connect at nodes, which form repeating, asterisk-like unit cells in three dimensions.

 

knowitall1985 - 12/23/2011 10:05:57 AM

+1 Boost

How much?

Joe_Limon - 12/23/2011 10:28:55 AM

+1 Boost

I wonder what its yield strength is. 1MPa? It's yield strength/pound is probably far greater then any other material, but to get similar strength in the structures the structure dimensions will have to be many times larger as well.

Joe_Limon - 12/23/2011 10:33:45 PM

+1 Boost

It sounds relatively easy to produce (compared to most nano materials), they use 3d printer technology to make the polymer support lattice, then nickle plate the lattice and dissolve away the polymer.