3D-printed “metamaterial” is stronger than anything in nature...It’s 50% stronger than comparable materials used in aerospace.

FreeThink ^ | April 15, 2024 | Kristin Houser

[Red Badger]

We could build a mini-submarine out of it!...................

[shotgun]

Hey that was my idea. Then I could hook up a Nintendo control and throw in 5 gallon bucket and sell seats to the bottom of the ocean. What could go wrong?

[wally_bert]

Rearden metal possibly?

[VRW Conspirator]

... it could also be a hurdle to getting it out of the lab and into real-world applications — at least initially.

Another laboratory wonder. Sounds great, but please define high-strength. Is the material capable of being a pressure vessel?

[Reno89519]

Can I make a firearm with it?

[Spacetrucker]

An expeditious way of feeding sea-bottom microbes.

[Red Badger]

An aircraft is a pressure vessel of sorts............

[Red Badger]

Probably.................

[Blennos]

3D-printed “metamaterial” is stronger than anything in nature

There's a whole of the natural world --nature-- we haven't explored yet. Statement should be qualified to "anything so far discovered."

[Woodman]

t is a Laser sintering process which is well developed in 3D printing at this time. I’m sure the issues are the scale and precision of the process. I’m pretty sure those printers don’t exist on a commercial level and would be very expensive today. There may also be a materials issue with both the purity and size of the material probably being critical.

I think it is doable, just very expensive today.

[shotgun]

Microbes got to eat too!

[marktwain]

The material has a "strength to weight ratio" greater than anything they have yet discovered in nature.

It is important to keep the "strength to weight ratio" in mind. It is also important to consider how they measure "strength". Is it compressive strength? Strength in tension? Resistance to deformation in torsion?

There are many different measures of "strength" depending on what loads are expected in a part.

[TangoLimaSierra]

Then I could hook up a Nintendo control...

I know people like to make fun of the controller in the sub, but here's a test:

Give a gamer a Nintendo controller and give another gamer a $500,000 controller designed by NASA and see which one lasts.

[Islander7]

“… their metamaterial, fabricated from a common titanium alloy, proved to be 50% stronger than the strongest alloy of similar density used in aerospace...”

They didn’t create a new material, they developed a stronger share to more evenly distribute stresses.

[Gen.Blather]

“Can I make a firearm with it?

“

Different materials have different “strengths.” Concrete, for example is good in compression, but of zero worth in tension. My guess is no, unless it is heat and shock resistant. The barrel of a gun heats up and a material that might make a great chassis for a car might disintegrate with the sudden changes in temperature even if it could withstand the pressure.

One thing you might do with such a material is create a vehicle covering similar to paint that is full of tuned cavity resonators that capture radar and dissipate it without returning an echo.

[Hot Tabasco]

Another laboratory wonder. Sounds great, but....

It's just the beginning. Think "mimeograph" machines and where we are today..

[Spacetrucker]

Microbe Lives Matter?

[null and void]

We could build a mini-submarine out of it!...................

That would be a titanic titanium effort...

[Sirius Lee]

Rearden metal possibly?

Tritanium, like the hull of the Starship Enterprise.