If you follow the latest in the world of modern technology, then this material will not be big news for you. However, it is useful to take a closer look at the lightest material in the world and learn a little more detail.

Less than a year ago, the title of the lightest material in the world was given to a material called airbrush. But this material did not manage to hold the palm for a long time, it was intercepted not so long ago by another carbon material called graphene airgel. Created by a research group in the laboratory of the Division of Polymer Science and Technology at Zhejiang University, led by Professor Gao Chao, the ultralight graphene airgel has a density slightly lower than that of helium gas and slightly higher than that of hydrogen gas.

Aerogels, as a class of materials, were developed and produced in 1931 by engineer and chemist Samuel Stephens Kistler. Since then, scientists from various organizations have been researching and developing such materials, despite their dubious value for practical use. An airgel composed of multilayer carbon nanotubes, dubbed "frozen smoke" and having a density of 4 mg/cm3, lost the title of the lightest material in 2011, which passed to a metal microlattice material with a density of 0.9 mg/cm3. And a year later, the title of the lightest material passed to a carbon material called aerographite, whose density is 0.18 mg / cm3.

The new holder of the title of the lightest material, graphene airgel, created by the team of Professor Chao, has a density of 0.16 mg/cm3. In order to create such a lightweight material, scientists used one of the most amazing and thin materials to date - graphene. Using their experience in creating microscopic materials, such as "one-dimensional" graphene fibers and two-dimensional graphene ribbons, the team decided to add another dimension to the two dimensions of graphene and create a bulk porous graphene material.

Instead of the molding method, which uses a solvent material and which is usually used to produce various aerogels, Chinese scientists have used the freeze-drying method. Sublimation drying of a cooloid solution consisting of a liquid filler and graphene particles made it possible to create a porous carbon sponge, the shape of which almost completely repeated the given shape.

“No need to use templates, the size and shape of the carbon ultralight material we create depends only on the shape and dimensions of the container,” says Professor Chao, “The amount of airgel produced depends only on the size of the container, which can have a volume measured in thousands of cubic centimeters.”

The resulting graphene airgel is an extremely strong and resilient material. It can absorb organic materials, including oil, weighing up to 900 times its own weight with a high absorption rate. One gram of airgel absorbs 68.8 grams of oil in just one second, making it an attractive material to use as an absorber for oil spilled in the ocean.

In addition to serving as an oil scavenger, graphene airgel has the potential to be used in energy storage systems, as a catalyst for some chemical reactions, and as a filler for complex composite materials.

Everyone knows that at the moment diamond is the standard of hardness, i.e. when determining the hardness of the material, the hardness index of the diamond is taken as the basis. In our article, we will look at the ten hardest materials in the world and see how hard they are relative to diamond. A material is considered superhard if its values ​​are above 40 GPa. It should be taken into account that the hardness of the material can fluctuate depending on external factors, in particular, on the load applied to it. So, here are the ten hardest materials in the world.

10. Boron suboxide

Boron suboxide consists of grains having the shape of convex twenty-hedra. These grains, in turn, consist of twenty polyhedral crystals, the faces of which are four triangles. Boron suboxide has an increased strength of 45 GPa.

9. Rhenium diboride

Rhenium diboride is a very interesting material. At low loads, it behaves like a superhard, having a strength of 48 GPa, and under load, its hardness drops to 22 GPa. This fact causes heated discussions among scientists around the world as to whether rhenium diboride should be considered a superhard material.

8. Magnesium aluminum boride

Magnesium aluminum boride is an alloy of aluminum, magnesium and boron. This material has incredibly low rates of sliding friction. This unique property could be a real find in the production of various mechanisms, because magnesium-aluminum boride parts are able to work without lubrication. Unfortunately, the alloy is incredibly expensive, which currently blocks its wide application. The hardness of magnesium-aluminum boride is 51 GPa.

7. Boron-carbon-silicon

The boron-carbon-silicon compound has an incredible resistance to extreme temperatures and chemical attack. The hardness of boron-carbon-silicon is 70 GPa.

6. Boron carbide

Boron carbide was discovered in the 18th century and began to be used almost immediately in many industries. It is used in the processing of metals and alloys, in the manufacture of chemical glassware, as well as in energy and electronics. It is used as the base material for body armor plates. The hardness of boron carbide is 49 GPa, and by adding argon in the form of ions to it, this figure can be increased to 72 GPa.

5. Carbon-boron nitride

Carbon-boron nitride is one of the representatives of the achievements of modern chemistry; it was synthesized relatively recently. The hardness of carbon-boron nitride is 76 GPa.

4. Nanostructured cubonite

Nanostructured cubonite has other names: kingsongite, borazone or elbor. The material has hardness indicators close to diamond and is successfully used in industry in the processing of various metals and alloys. The hardness of nanostructured cubonite is 108 GPa.

3. Wurtzite boron nitride

The structure of the crystals of this substance has a special wurtzite shape, which allows it to be one of the leaders in hardness. When a load is applied, the bonds between the atoms in the crystal lattice are redistributed and the hardness of the material increases by almost 75%! The hardness of wurtzite boron nitride is 114 GPa.

2. Lonsdaleite

Lonsdaleite is very similar in structure to diamond, because they are both allotropic modifications of carbon. Lonsdaleite was discovered in the funnel of a meteorite, one of the components of which was graphite. Apparently, from the loads caused by the meteorite explosion, the graphite turned into lonsdaleite. When discovered, lonsdaleite did not show any particular champion hardness, but it has been proven that in the absence of impurities in it, it will be harder than diamond! Proven hardness of lonsdaleite is up to 152 GPa

1. Fullerite

It's time to consider the hardest substance in the world - fullerite. Fullerite is a crystal that consists of molecules rather than individual atoms. Due to this, fullerite has a phenomenal hardness, it is able to easily scratch a diamond, just like steel scratches plastic! The hardness of fullerite is 310 GPa.

fullerite

We have given a list of the hardest materials in the world at the moment. As you can see, among them there are enough substances harder than diamond and, perhaps, more new discoveries await us ahead, which will allow us to obtain materials with even higher hardness!

The lightest and most durable materials are called the future of construction. These materials will help create more energy efficient and environmentally friendly facilities in all areas of people's lives - from medical technology to transport.

Among the many innovative materials that seemed just a fantasy not so long ago, the most advanced and promising are:

3D graphene

Made from pure carbon, this ultra-thin graphene is considered one of the strongest materials on Earth. But recently, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology were able to turn two-dimensional graphene into a three-dimensional structure. They created a new material with a spongy structure. The density of 3D graphene is only 5 percent of the density of steel, but thanks to its special structure, it is 10 times stronger than steel.

According to the creators, 3D graphene has great application potential in many areas.

As for its creation technology, it can be applied to other materials, from polymers to structural concrete. This will allow not only to produce structures that are stronger and lighter, but also having increased insulating properties. In addition, porous structures can be used in water filtration systems or chemical plant waste.

Carbine

Last spring, a group of Austrian researchers successfully synthesized Carbyne, a form of carbon that is the strongest known material and even surpasses graphene.

Carbyne consists of a one-dimensional chain of carbon atoms that is reactive, making it very difficult to synthesize. The inflexible material is believed to be twice as strong as carbon nanotubes. Carbin can be used in nanomechanics, nano- and microelectronics.

Aerographite

Created from a network of porous carbon tubes, airbrush is a synthetic foam. It is one of the lightest structural materials ever created. Aerographite was developed by researchers from the University of Kiel and the Technical University of Hamburg. Aerographite can be made in various forms, its density is only 180 g/m 3 , which is 75 times lighter than expanded polystyrene. This material can be used in lithium-ion battery electrodes to reduce their weight.

Airbrush

Also known as graphene airgel, it is a lightweight material with a density of only 0.16 mg/cm3, which is 7.5 times less than air. In addition, it is a very elastic material, and it is able to absorb up to 900 times more oils and water than it weighs. This property of airbrush is very important: it will be able to absorb oil spills in the oceans.

It has similar properties, which is already being tested by researchers from Argonne.

The lightest material in the world January 8th, 2014

If you follow the latest in the world of modern technology, then this material will not be big news for you. However, it is useful to take a closer look at the lightest material in the world and learn a little more detail.

Less than a year ago, the title of the lightest material in the world was given to a material called airbrush. But this material did not manage to hold the palm for a long time, it was intercepted not so long ago by another carbon material called graphene airgel. Created by a research group in the laboratory of the Division of Polymer Science and Technology at Zhejiang University, led by Professor Gao Chao, the ultralight graphene airgel has a density slightly lower than that of helium gas and slightly higher than that of hydrogen gas.

Aerogels, as a class of materials, were developed and produced in 1931 by engineer and chemist Samuel Stephens Kistler. Since then, scientists from various organizations have been researching and developing such materials, despite their dubious value for practical use. An airgel composed of multilayer carbon nanotubes, dubbed "frozen smoke" and having a density of 4 mg/cm3, lost the title of the lightest material in 2011, which passed to a metal microlattice material with a density of 0.9 mg/cm3. And a year later, the title of the lightest material passed to a carbon material called aerographite, whose density is 0.18 mg / cm3.

The new holder of the title of the lightest material, graphene airgel, created by the team of Professor Chao, has a density of 0.16 mg/cm3. In order to create such a lightweight material, scientists used one of the most amazing and thin materials to date - graphene. Using their experience in creating microscopic materials, such as "one-dimensional" graphene fibers and two-dimensional graphene ribbons, the team decided to add another dimension to the two dimensions of graphene and create a bulk porous graphene material.

Instead of the molding method, which uses a solvent material and which is usually used to produce various aerogels, Chinese scientists have used the freeze-drying method. Sublimation drying of a cooloid solution consisting of a liquid filler and graphene particles made it possible to create a porous carbon sponge, the shape of which almost completely repeated the given shape.

“No need to use templates, the size and shape of the carbon ultralight material we create depends only on the shape and dimensions of the container,” says Professor Chao, “The amount of airgel produced depends only on the size of the container, which can have a volume measured in thousands of cubic centimeters.”

The resulting graphene airgel is an extremely strong and resilient material. It can absorb organic materials, including oil, weighing up to 900 times its own weight with a high absorption rate. One gram of airgel absorbs 68.8 grams of oil in just one second, making it an attractive material to use as an absorber for oil spilled in the ocean.

In addition to serving as an oil scavenger, graphene airgel has the potential to be used in energy storage systems, as a catalyst for some chemical reactions, and as a filler for complex composite materials.

In his activity, a person uses various qualities of substances and materials. And not unimportant is their strength and reliability. The hardest materials in nature and artificially created will be discussed in this article.

Commonly accepted standard

To determine the strength of the material, the Mohs scale is used - a scale for assessing the hardness of a material by its reaction to scratching. For the layman, the hardest material is diamond. You will be surprised, but this mineral is only somewhere in the 10th place among the hardest. On average, a material is considered superhard if its values ​​are above 40 GPa. In addition, when identifying the hardest material in the world, the nature of its origin should also be taken into account. At the same time, strength and strength often depend on the influence of external factors on it.

The hardest material on earth

In this section, we will pay attention to chemical compounds with an unusual crystal structure, which are much stronger than diamonds and may well scratch it. Here are the top 6 hardest materials created by man, starting with the least hard.

• Carbon nitride - boron. This achievement of modern chemistry has a strength index of 76 GPa.
• Graphene airgel (aerographene) - a material 7 times lighter than air, restoring its shape after 90% compression. An amazingly durable material that can also absorb 900 times its own weight in liquid or even oil. This material is planned to be used in case of oil spills.
• Graphene is a unique invention and the most durable material in the Universe. A little more about him below.
• Carbin is a linear polymer of allotropic carbon, from which super-thin (1 atom) and super-strong tubes are made. For a long time, no one was able to build such a tube with a length of more than 100 atoms. But Austrian scientists from the University of Vienna managed to overcome this barrier. In addition, if earlier carbine was synthesized in small quantities and was very expensive, today it is possible to synthesize it in tons. This opens up new horizons for space technology and beyond.
• Elbor (kingsongite, cubonite, borazone) is a nanodesigned compound that is widely used today in metal processing. Hardness - 108 GPa.

• Fullerite is the hardest material on Earth known to man today. Its strength of 310 GPa is ensured by the fact that it does not consist of individual atoms, but of molecules. These crystals will easily scratch a diamond like a knife through butter.

The miracle of human hands

Graphene is another invention of mankind based on allotropic modifications of carbon. In appearance - a thin film one atom thick, but 200 times stronger than steel, with exceptional flexibility.

It is about graphene that they say that in order to pierce it, an elephant must stand on the tip of a pencil. At the same time, its electrical conductivity is 100 times higher than the silicon of computer chips. Very soon it will leave laboratories and enter everyday life in the form of solar panels, cell phones and modern computer chips.

Two very rare results of anomalies in nature

In nature, there are very rare compounds that have incredible strength.

• Boron nitride is a substance whose crystals have a specific wurtzite shape. With the application of loads, the connections between the atoms in the crystal lattice are redistributed, increasing the strength by 75%. The hardness index is 114 GPa. This substance is formed during volcanic eruptions, in nature it is very small.
• Lonsdaleite (in the main photo) is an allotropic carbon compound. The material was found in a meteorite crater and is thought to have formed from graphite under the conditions of the explosion. The hardness index is 152 GPa. Rarely found in nature.

Wonders of wildlife

Among the living beings on our planet, there are those who have something very special.

• Web of Caaerostris darwini. The thread that Darwin's spider emits is stronger than steel and harder than Kevlar. It was this web that was adopted by NASA scientists in the development of space protective suits.
• Mollusk teeth Sea saucer - their fibrous structure is currently being studied by bionics. They are so strong that they allow the mollusk to tear off the algae that have grown into the stone.

iron birch

Another miracle of nature is the Schmidt birch. Its wood is the hardest of biological origin. It grows in the Far East in the Kedrovaya Pad Nature Reserve and is listed in the Red Book. Strength is comparable to iron and cast iron. But at the same time it is not subject to corrosion and rotting.

The widespread use of wood, which even bullets cannot penetrate, is hindered by its exceptional rarity.

The hardest of metals

It is a white-blue metal - chrome. But its strength depends on its purity. In nature, it contains 0.02%, which is not at all so small. It is extracted from silicate rocks. A lot of chromium is also contained in meteorites falling to Earth.

It is corrosion resistant, heat resistant and refractory. Chromium is a component of many alloys (chromium steel, nichrome), which are widely used in industry and in anti-corrosion decorative coatings.

Stronger Together

One metal is good, but in some combinations it is possible to give the alloy amazing properties.

An ultra-strong alloy of titanium and gold is the only strong material that has proven to be biocompatible with living tissues. The alloy beta-Ti3Au is so strong that it cannot be ground in a mortar. It is already clear today that this is the future of various implants, artificial joints and bones. In addition, it can be applied in drilling, sports equipment and many other areas of our lives.

An alloy of palladium, silver, and some metalloids may also have similar properties. Scientists from the Caltech Institute are currently working on this project.

The future at $20 a skein

What is the hardest material that any average person can buy today? For just $20, you can buy 6 meters of Braeön tape. Since 2017, it has been on sale from the manufacturer Dustin McWilliams. The chemical composition and method of production are kept in strict confidence, but its qualities are amazing.

Tape can hold everything together. To do this, it must be wrapped around the parts to be fastened, heated with an ordinary lighter, the plastic composition must be given the desired shape and that's it. After cooling, the joint will withstand a load of 1 ton.

Both hard and soft

In 2017, information appeared about the creation of an amazing material - the hardest and softest at the same time. This metamaterial was invented by scientists from the University of Michigan. They managed to learn how to control the structure of the material and make it exhibit various properties.

For example, when using it to create cars, the body will be rigid when moving, and soft when colliding. The body absorbs contact energy and protects the passenger.