Nanomaterial is world's lightest

A new material developed by scientists at UC Irvine is described as the "world's lightest material," so light it can perch atop a dandelion clock without disturbing the seeds. The material is documented in the Nov 18 Science.

The new material redefines the limits of lightweight materials because of its unique “micro-lattice” cellular architecture. The researchers were able to make a material that consists of 99.99 percent air by designing the 0.01 percent solid at the nanometer, micron and millimeter scales. “The trick is to fabricate a lattice of interconnected hollow tubes with a wall thickness 1,000 times thinner than a human hair,” said lead author Dr. Tobias Schaedler of HRL.
The material’s architecture allows unprecedented mechanical behavior for a metal, including complete recovery from compression exceeding 50 percent strain and extraordinarily high energy absorption.

Multidisciplinary team of researchers develop world’s lightest material (Thanks, Fipi Lele!)

(Image: Dan Little, HRL Laboratories LLC)

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MORE: california • Engineering • material science • new materials • Science

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That is seriously cool.
http://twitter.com/cyberkristiyan Christian Kirtchev

In the automotive industry of the future, a car will weight as much as its engine and power source; would absorb impact and restore to its original shape with no harm to passenger or driver’s phisical and financial well being. How cool is that added there could be climate control systems inside those tubes?
- HahTse
  
  It also would been easily blown away by side winds while moving at high speeds…
  - Kristiyan
    
    Is this mesh, allowing airflow?
Blaine

Pour out a 40 for my homey Aerogel… Only god can judge you now.
Cowicide

Shouldn’t we use this kind of stuff for wind energy?

For example, extremely huge windmill blades that take very little wind to turn them because they don’t weigh shit?
- flosofl
  
  That extremely huge blade that don’t weigh shit would probably not be able to handle the stresses involved to rotate the turbine shaft. Most likely tear themselves to pieces.
  - Cowicide
    
    That extremely huge blade that don’t weigh shit would probably not be able to handle the stresses involved to rotate the turbine shaft. Most likely tear themselves to pieces.
    
    From what I understand, this material (while light) is also very strong. Also, it can be reinforced to some extent and still be lighter than current materials.
- kc0bbq
  
  The weight of the materials isn’t what makes a windmill hard to turn. The load on it makes it that much harder to turn. If you have a motor that draws a megawatt including all losses to whatever inefficiencies in the system you need to be able to push the windmill hard enough to create that million watts. If you cant, no matter how hard the wind is blowing it just won’t turn much.
  - Cowicide
    
    The weight of the materials isn’t what makes a windmill hard to turn.
    
    Sure it does. The heavier it is, the more friction at the base, etc. of the low speed shaft; hence, harder to turn. Lighter means less friction and more efficient use of the energy from the wind.
daneyul

The dandelion hat industry is going to go through the roof!
http://www.summerseale.com/ Summer Seale

Am I the only one who is so incredibly tempted to squish it between two fingers to see how “spongy” it feels…? =)
- jsandin
  
  Hell no.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_U5ZZW5WPX33BOA3UDDDQJC6WRA Charlie

So, it’s a series of tubes?
- Red Robot
  
  Photographic evidence that the internet runs on dandelions?
http://twitter.com/monkmunk monkmunk

Very cool, but i doubt that this is the world’s lightest material. It appears to at least be denser than air.
- Cowicide
  
  Is that you, Aerogel?
callen

Is it strong enough to build an airplane?
- rabidpotatochip
  
  I’m not sure I’d trust an airplane built out of this stuff. It may be irrational but I’m imagining much heavier turbulence in any kind of crosswind if the plane is so much lighter.
bcsizemo

So this will be just like aerogel? Useful in specific laboratory settings, but cost prohibitive to the real world at large?

It’s like all the cool stuff I hear about carbon nanotubes and how they will revolutionize the world, except we can’t crank them out easily and cheaply.
http://ok-cleek.com/blogs cleek

“by designing the 0.01 percent solid at the nanometer, micron and millimeter scales.”

but write-up makes it sound like they designed at the ever-popular thickness-of-a-human-hair scale.
mercator

Cool. When can I get a bike made of this stuff?
HahTse

The real question is: can they make enough of it (at sufficient lengths!) for a Space Elevator?
Ambiguity

Makers and DIY-ers who are interested in this kind of thing should check out the open-source aerogel project:

http://www.aerogel.org/
http://twitter.com/jon_brunette Jonathan Brunette

We are the 99.99% (of air)
SomeGuyNamedMark

It is probably expensive to make right now so it also sets a new record for “getting the least for the most money”
wobinidan

I have no idea what this article is about, so here’s a picture of a dandelion with a wafer on it’s head.
- Jerril
  
  Yep – dandelion clock = dandelion poofy bit.
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taraxacum
  - sweetcraspy
    
    Each dandelion clock is very softly chiming to tell the flowers, “It’s time to go to bed.”
  - Unanimous Cowherd
    
    That is very cool to know.
Unanimous Cowherd

“perch atop a dandelion clock” — what is a dandelion “clock”?

You mean that is what you call a dandelion seed head? Why have I never heard this?

Mind blown by my own obliviousness — “clock”? Who knew?
http://homebiss.blogspot.com/ Saidul A Shaari

Quotes; “…99.99 percent air…”

Awesome! Where can we get one?
Bubba73

The potential applications for dandelion clocks with hats are endless.
Nadreck

Is the energy absorption high enough for it to qualify as Vibranium?
David Smith

Looking ahead, to when this stuff is in widespread use… will there be problems when this material ends up discarded, in the trash, in the environment? Does the tininess of the particles mean they will slip through water filters or air filters, so we’ll end up breathing this stuff?
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_KLDXI7FI3NUHYC23SUHMGLNBCQ Tom

I made a huge empty box out of plywood. If I measure the amount of wood used vs. the total volume of the outside of the box, I’ve got a material that’s 99.999% air. That’s 10 times better than these guys.

Can I haz newz artical?
OoerictoO

you are right that the blades need strength, quite a bit of it. most modern blades are of composite designs (carbon/fibreglass/resin outers). with some research into collapsing molds for hollow centers (less dense than the above material). see wikipedia blade design for more info