Boeing’s new metal is as strong as titanium and 100x lighter than styrofoam
Boeing has brought science fiction to life: their extremely lightweight material is made out of metal, is nearly as strong as titanium, and is 100 times lighter than styrofoam.
Boeing has brought science fiction to life: their extremely lightweight material is made out of metal, is nearly as strong as titanium, and is 100 times lighter than styrofoam. They’ve made a video, showing how it works:
The secret to the material’s extremely light weight is that it’s made up of 99.99% air. Like our bones, the microlattice is rigid on the outside, while being mostly hollow on the inside.
The microlattice cellular structure actually gives it one other interesting property: it can be compressed over 50% and still fully recover, as well as absorb an extraordinary amount of energy. Because of its unique properties, the new material could find its way into shock energy damping, batteries, and even airplanes.
The new material is the result of a collaboration between HRL Laboratories (owned by The Boeing Company and General Motors), The California Institute of Technology, and the University of California, Irvine, and was developed for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in the US.
Source: Fast Co. Design.
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