99.99 Percent Air, Thinner Than a Human Hair

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation 1 Comment

ScienceDaily reports that, “A team of researchers from UC Irvine, HRL Laboratories and the California Institute of Technology have developed the world’s lightest material — with a density of 0.9 mg/cc — about one hundred times lighter than Styrofoam™.” Their findings appear in the Nov. 18 issue of Science. Looking a bit like a jacks matrix, this “micro-lattice” cellular architecture consists of 99.99 percent air and a lattice of interconnected hollow tubes with a wall thickness 1,000 times thinner than a human hair, according to Dr. Tobias Schaedler of HRL. Despite its extreme lightness, the advanced material is not flimsy.  Squeezing it to 50 percent of its original dimensions does not destroy the lattice.  Instead, it handles the high strain and resumes its original size and shape, the ultimate memory metal.  Energy absorption capabilities are also high, as are its possibilities for use in “battery electrodes and acoustic, vibration or shock energy absorption,” according to Science Daily. The new material …