Meet the new supermaterial - super-graphene. From MIT:
MIT Unveils New Material That’s Strongest and Lightest On Earth
For years, researchers have known that carbon, when arranged in a certain way, can be very strong. Case in point: graphene.
Graphene, which was heretofore, the strongest material known to man, is made from an extremely thin sheet of carbon atoms arranged in two dimensions. But there’s one drawback: while notable for its thinness and unique electrical properties, it’s very difficult to create useful, three-dimensional materials out of graphene.
Now, a team of MIT researchers discovered that taking small flakes of graphene and fusing them following a mesh-like structure not only retains the material’s strength, but the graphene also remains porous. Based on experiments conducted on 3D printed models, researchers have determined that this new material, with its distinct geometry, is actually stronger than graphene – making it 10 times stronger than steel, with only five percent of its density.
Much more at the site. This will take a few years to get to commercial market but still - fascinating. You can tune the response of the material by adjusting its wall thickness. Very interesting.
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