Posted on 02/02/2022 11:20:44 PM PST by Jonty30
Engineers at MIT have developed a new ultrathin material that’s as light as plastic but stronger than steel. The durable material could be used in vehicles or electronics, and makes use of a manufacturing technique that was previously thought impossible.
Polymers are versatile materials, of which plastics are perhaps the most well known examples. Under a microscope, polymers usually look like squiggly threads, one-dimensional chains of units called monomers, but they can be coaxed into three dimensional shapes through manufacturing methods like injection molding.
However, getting polymers to bind together to form two-dimensional sheets has been surprisingly difficult. While some teams have had some success, the resulting materials have faults that reduce their strength or other desirable properties.
(Excerpt) Read more at newatlas.com ...
# It would be amazing for the outer skin on the cockpit of an aircraft, if it meets the tensile and thermal requirements...imagine no heavy glass at all, just a complete 360 degrees of transparent fuselage.
Wonder woman was ahead of her time.
Transparent aluminum, from Star Trek IV, with Scotty on the computer.
I was just thinking that one really good use will be military armor. They might be able to reduce the thickness of the ceramic plates and coat them with this plastic material.
It could take 10-15 lbs off of a soldier.
if it is truly two dimensional then it has no depth to it at all, so I would guess that it is transparent
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