Posted on 04/19/2024 5:26:52 AM PDT by Red Badger
Using lasers and metal powder, Australian scientists have created a super strong, super lightweight new “metamaterial” — but they got the idea for this sci fi-sounding creation from plants.
The challenge: Materials that are strong yet lightweight, such as carbon fiber and graphene, are used to make everything from medical implants to airships, and developing ones with ever greater “strength-to-weight ratios” is the goal of many material scientists.
In pursuit of that goal, some have turned to nature, looking for ways to replicate in metal the hollow lattice structures, like those in the Victoria water lily, that make some plants remarkably strong.
What they’ve been able to create so far using available manufacturing techniques have fallen short, though — an uneven distribution of load stress is a major reason these synthetic materials don’t turn out as strong as their natural counterparts.
“Ideally, the stress in all complex cellular materials should be evenly spread,” said Ma Qian, a distinguished professor of advanced manufacturing and materials at RMIT University. “For most topologies, it is common for less than half of the material to mainly bear the compressive load, while the larger volume of material is structurally insignificant.”
What’s new? Using an advanced metal 3D-printing technique, Qian’s team has now created a new “metamaterial” — a material with properties not seen in nature — with a lattice structure that distributes load stress more evenly.
In testing, their metamaterial, fabricated from a common titanium alloy, proved to be 50% stronger than the strongest alloy of similar density used in aerospace.
“We designed a hollow tubular lattice structure that has a thin band running inside it,” said Qian. “These two elements together show strength and lightness never before seen together in nature. By effectively merging two complementary lattice structures to evenly distribute stress, we avoid the weak points where stress normally concentrates.”
Areas where stress concentrated in a previous design (left) can be seen in red and yellow. In the new structure (right), stress is more evenly distributed. Making a metamaterial: To create their super strong metamaterial, the RMIT team relied on a 3D printing technique called “laser powder bed fusion,” which is very different from traditional 3D printing, where a material is extruded from a nozzle layer by layer.
Instead, a layer of metal powder is spread over the base of the printer. A laser is then used to melt the powder in the desired pattern. Another layer of powder is then added to the bed, and the process is repeated, with the newly melted metal binding to the metal below it.
Looking ahead: While this technique enabled the creation of the unique metamaterial, it could also be a hurdle to getting it out of the lab and into real-world applications — at least initially.
“Traditional manufacturing processes are not practical for the fabrication of these intricate metal metamaterials, and not everyone has a laser powder bed fusion machine in their warehouse,” said lead author Jordan Noronha.
“However, as the technology develops, it will become more accessible and the printing process will become much faster, enabling a larger audience to implement our high-strength multi-topology metamaterials in their components,” he continued.
We could build a mini-submarine out of it!...................
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?
Rearden metal possibly?
Another laboratory wonder. Sounds great, but please define high-strength. Is the material capable of being a pressure vessel?
Can I make a firearm with it?
An expeditious way of feeding sea-bottom microbes.
An aircraft is a pressure vessel of sorts............
Probably.................
There's a whole of the natural world --nature-- we haven't explored yet. Statement should be qualified to "anything so far discovered."
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.
Microbes got to eat too!
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.
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.
“… 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.
“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.
It's just the beginning. Think "mimeograph" machines and where we are today..
Microbe Lives Matter?
That would be a titanic titanium effort...
Tritanium, like the hull of the Starship Enterprise.
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