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MIT Unveils New Material That's Strongest and Lightest On Earth (futurism.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the new-and-improved dept.

A team of MIT researchers have created the world's strongest and lightest material known to man using graphene. Futurism reports: Graphene, which was heretofore, the strongest material known to man, is made from an extremely thin sheet of carbon atoms arranged in two dimensions. But there's one drawback: while notable for its thinness and unique electrical properties, it's very difficult to create useful, three-dimensional materials out of graphene. Now, a team of MIT researchers discovered that taking small flakes of graphene and fusing them following a mesh-like structure not only retains the material's strength, but the graphene also remains porous. Based on experiments conducted on 3D printed models, researchers have determined that this new material, with its distinct geometry, is actually stronger than graphene -- making it 10 times stronger than steel, with only five percent of its density. The discovery of a material that is extremely strong but exceptionally lightweight will have numerous applications. As MIT reports: "The new findings show that the crucial aspect of the new 3-D forms has more to do with their unusual geometrical configuration than with the material itself, which suggests that similar strong, lightweight materials could be made from a variety of materials by creating similar geometric features."

1 of 149 comments (clear)

  1. BULLSHIT by sexconker · · Score: 5, Informative

    The material in question is graphene, which they did not create or unveil.
    The structure in question is theoretical, and they have not made it nor do they have any real plans or methodology to do so.

    They made a mathematical model and then 3D printed a PLASTIC model in the same shape.
    They then crushed the plastic model and noted that it was pretty strong given its density, just as they predict a graphene structure in the same shape to be.

    They're not creating the graphene structure, and a macro version of the structure in plastic may or may not exhibit similar properties as a true version made of ultra thin graphene.

    https://youtu.be/VIcZdc42F0g

    I'm all for improved materials, but let's not make shit up, futurism.com .