Slashdot Mirror
New "Metallic Wood" Is As Strong As Titanium But Much Lighter (dwell.com)
Titanium "has long been touted as the metal of the future," writes Dwell, "due to its strength, rust resistance, and amazing lightness." But can careful atom-stacking lead to something better?
An anonymous reader writes: Researchers have discovered a way to create a new "metallic wood" material that is as strong as titanium, but five times lighter, reports Dwell. "So far, the researchers have built a sheet of nickel with nanoscale pores that is almost 70 percent empty space... It was created by building tiny plastic spheres, suspending them in water, allowing the water to evaporate, and then electroplating the spheres with nickel. Researchers then dissolved the plastic spheres, producing an incredibly strong, porous metal that floats on water."
Researchers are also considering the possibility of filling its empty space with an energy-storing material. "For example, a prosthetic leg made from this material and infused with anode and cathode materials, could also be a battery."
An anonymous reader writes: Researchers have discovered a way to create a new "metallic wood" material that is as strong as titanium, but five times lighter, reports Dwell. "So far, the researchers have built a sheet of nickel with nanoscale pores that is almost 70 percent empty space... It was created by building tiny plastic spheres, suspending them in water, allowing the water to evaporate, and then electroplating the spheres with nickel. Researchers then dissolved the plastic spheres, producing an incredibly strong, porous metal that floats on water."
Researchers are also considering the possibility of filling its empty space with an energy-storing material. "For example, a prosthetic leg made from this material and infused with anode and cathode materials, could also be a battery."
It's just a different grain structure. Wood is organically deposited along sap channels. Metal foams are sprayed all at once without that structure development. Micro-deposition into a synthetic grain structure could be much stronger.
A composite in a metallic-crystalline structure that self-aligns into a rigid-yet-ductile form at a certain temp/pressure/catalyst, etc, that's the grail. It follows that atomic deposition is going to make stronger bonds than macro-deposits.
Metallic foam is already well understood.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
https://www.tms.org/pubs/journ...
(see especially Figure 4 on that page which REALLY looks like metallic wood; the stuff in the article doesn't so much)
What makes the the linked article interesting is the novel manufacturing method.
Put my fist through my alarm clock with its ding-dong death inside my ear. - The Blackjacks.
I took the trouble to actually look at some internet sources on nickel. It's common in foods, and people typically ingest about 200 micrograms a day, probably a lot more than is needed and a lot less than is toxic. Knowledge of the human biological use of nickel is still rather sparse, but it appears to help the body absorb iron and create prolactin, among other things.
Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate