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Related: About this forumThis New Nanomaterial Can Withstand Forces 160,000 Times Its Weight
MIT engineers have taken inspiration from architecture to create a new material that combines high stiffness with low weightby using a repeating geometric structure that's airy, yet remarkably strong.
The new material design has been developed in a collaboration with the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and uses microlattices with nanoscale features to combine "great stiffness and strength with ultralow density." Essentially, it uses the same principles of lattice work that you find in structures like the
Eiffel Tower to provide strength with the minimum of extraneous material. The research is published in the journal Science.
Usually, stripping away material from a microstructure decreases stiffness and strength, but the researchers have mathematically determined how the geometric structure distributes and directs loads, so that they can trim material away at the nanoscale in places where it won't be missed.
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http://gizmodo.com/this-new-nanomaterial-can-withstand-forces-160-000-time-1595188234?utm_campaign=socialflow_gizmodo_facebook&utm_source=gizmodo_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow
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This New Nanomaterial Can Withstand Forces 160,000 Times Its Weight (Original Post)
n2doc
Jun 2014
OP
Wounded Bear
(58,773 posts)1. Cool stuff!
Thanx for the link.
Javaman
(62,534 posts)2. Now can we build the space elevator? nt
muriel_volestrangler
(101,411 posts)3. Not sure it would have direct applicability to a space elevator
The need there is for a high tensile strength, which is slightly different from stiffness. Carbon nanotubes already give us a high tensile strength. This allows materials to be arranged so that they can withstand deformation better (though that might be relevant for withstanding sideways loads on the elevator; I'm not sure if that's still a worry).