Posted on 07/14/2012 9:22:48 AM PDT by null and void
Collaboration between the Technical University of Hamburg and the University of Kiel in Germany has resulted in the world's lightest solid material being created, aerographite
It wasn’t so long ago that a metallic micro-lattice developed by HRL Laboratories, the California Institute of Technology and the University of California held the honour of being the world’s lightest material. Formed from a multitude of hollow tubes, each 1,000 times thinner than a human hair, researchers claimed the material could be utilised in battery electrodes or as way of dampening acoustics, shock and vibration.
The micro-lattice was not only strong, but incredibly light, almost 100 times lighter than Styrofoam, yet unbelievably aerographite is 100 percent lighter again, weighing less than 200 times that of Styrofoam.
Similar in construction, aerographite is made predominantly from a structure of hollow carbon tubes, grown at a nano and micro scale and is 99.9 percent air. Under an electron microscope the material resembles a wisp of smoke, but to the naked eye is more similar to a black sponge.
Discovered by the scientists when researching three-dimensionally cross-linked carbon structures, aerographite is grown using zinc oxide templates allowing the creation of shapes up to several cubic centimetres in size.
Though mostly air, the material can not only be compressed by a factor of 1,000 and still spring back to its original shape, but can also support many times its own weight. Amazingly the material is also electrically conducive and chemically-resistant; with researchers indicating that aerographite could be either used as electrical shielding, help create an ultra-lightweight battery or be used elsewhere in MEMS (micro-electromechancial systems).
The team’s research has been published in the online journal Advanced Materials.
I made an airplane out of aerographite, but it kept blowing away every time I breathed.
Huh???
Though mostly air, the material can not only be compressed by a factor of 1,000 and still spring back to its original shape, but can also support many times its own weight.
So if by "many times its own weight" they mean 200 times it's own weight, you could make a darn good styrofoam coffee cup holder out of it.
How would it do as material for wings in an ultra-light, or even an ornithopter (bird like propulsion)? Ballast weight of the pilot, his rig, and a supporting frame (if necessary) could offset that “fly away” factor.
Yes, the writer flunked 3rd grade math.
a material strong as steel but light as styrofoam would sell well, provided it is not too expensive.
One idea might be that instead of replacing the present “skin” of an ultra-light with aereographite, to use it for the “ribs” of the fuselage; and then provide sufficient mass in the “skin”; which, with aereographite’s greater ability to resist weight much greater than itself, the structural integrity of such a craft might have greater survivability in a crash - sacrificing some of the skin while holding more of the fuselage intact? Maybe?
On the other hand, your idea of using it for the skin of the craft, might be exchanged for even sturdier-than-present “ribs” of the craft, with no net addition of weight, and maybe, properly “joined”, the “skin” of aereographite composition might preserve aereographite’s shock absorption abilities, and thereby help improve an ultralight’s “survivability” in a crash.
Maybe one method or the other might be tried by different manufacturer’s.
Let’s watch and see - when an if this material moves from the lab to real-time applications.
“Yes, the writer flunked 3rd grade math.”
Yea it would sure help if they stopped using English majors to write technical stuff - it’s way beyond their capability.
Looks like I’ll be trading in my Tempra-Pedic mattress soon. It would be like sleeping in zero gravity!
Apples (micro-lattice) and Oranges (Aerographite). Made perfect sense.
If you use helium how light will it be?
Thanks for posting. Another interesting graphite product, graphene, was discovered in 2004 and has great, if not revolutionary potential, in a number of applications:
http://www.zdnet.com/the-10-strangest-facts-about-graphene-3040093050/
There's probably a downside to the material, like being extremely brittle (a guess). They rarely mention the negatives in these press releases.
Get with the program. It looks an awful lot more like it does now that it did. sd
100^2 is 10,000 times lighter. If it’s “only” 200 times, that’s twice as light as 100 times.
’s what I was wondering - can it be made in a helium environment, and can it retain helium in its structure?
Vests?
I wonder of this will be used to make great light weight protection.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.