Super Strong Metal Foam Discovered

MikeChino writes to tell us that a North Carolina State University researcher has discovered what appears to be the strongest metal foam yet, capable of compressing up to 80% of its original size under load and still retain the original shape. The hope is that this amazing material could be used in cars, body armor, or even buildings to absorb the shock from earthquakes. "Metal foam is exactly what you might think – a cellular structure made from metal with tiny pockets of space inside. What makes Rabiei’s metal foam better than others is that she’s been able to make the tiny pockets of space more uniform. And that apparently is what gives it the strength as well as elasticity it needs in order to compress as much as it does without deformation. Many tests are being performed in the laboratory to determine its strength, but so far Rabiei says that the spongy material has 'a much higher strength-to-density ratio than any metal foam that has ever been reported.' Calculations also predict that in car accidents, when two pieces of her composite metal foam are inserted 'behind the bumper of a car traveling at 28 mph, the impact would feel the same to passengers as an impact traveling at only 5 mph.'"

Comments

Re:How is it made?

[Chris Burke]

Some hot metal, a tiny straw, and a guy who's really good at measuring his breaths.

Needless to say, scaling is a problem.

Geroge Carlin

[mollog]

"...behind the bumper of a car traveling at 28 mph, the impact would feel the same to passengers as an impact traveling at only 5 mph,,,"

George Carlin used to point out that if you put a large spike on the steering wheel so that the driver would suffer badly in a collision, the numbers of collisions would drop dramatically.

Re:NO NO NO NO NO

[Red Flayer]

A piece of spongy metal will not protect the pedestrian, cyclist or child when 2 tons of monster truck plow into it.

Au contraire! Some of the impact force will compress the foam, instead of compressing the child's head.

My testing has conclusive shown that a child's head, impacted at 25 mph by a block of this foam, will compress only 3 inches, compared to 5 inches when hit by a piece of solid aluminum.

Clearly this means that children will be 40% less dead when hit by a Canyonero driven by a soccer mom texting her neighbor's landscaper about getting her garden tilled*, provided that the Canyonero is equipped with this foam.

*And by getting her garden tilled, I mean having her bushes trimmed**

**And by having her bushes trimmed, I mean having bulbs planted***

****And by having bulbs planted, I mean having roots... oh screw it. I mean having a tryst.