Fabrication of new materials is lighter than aerogels, which is 10,000 times harder

In the past, scientists have successfully fabricated metamaterials heavier than air three times as hard as steel, known as aerogels.

But scientists at MIT and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have made a major breakthrough in materials technology, with a new lightweight metamaterial such as aerogel but with a stiffness 10,000 times. Promising to create a new revolution in the fabrication of vehicles such as cars, aircraft or spacecraft.

As described by researchers, the material they develop is a form of metamaterial . This is an artificial material with properties that no natural material has. It almost retains the hardness on each unit density, even at very low density it still guarantees hardness.

With these characteristics, researchers hope in the future it will be used to develop parts and components for aircraft, cars or spacecraft thanks to 3D printing technology.

This new metamaterial can be synthesized from metals, ceramics and plastics. A material made from the structure of a polymer overlaid with a ceramic coating will be one of the lightest in the world. It can support a mass of 160,000 times the weight of its own weight. The LNLL says it is 100 times harder than similar materials created in the past.

The team created the material using a stereolithographic printer . This is a technique used by the laser to freeze liquid material to form serial layers until the product is finished, the minimum thickness of each layer can reach 0.06mm so it is very accurate. SLA printers make family needs inaccurate enough to create new metamaterials as scientists do, because their structure must be perfectly formed at the microscope level. vi.