Durable and lightweight materials. The heaviest substance in the universe. The most durable tree
The lightest material in the world January 8th, 2014
If you follow the news in the world modern technologies, then given material won't be big news to 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. Airgel consisting of multilayer carbon nanotubes, called "frozen smoke" and having a density of 4 mg / cm3, lost the title of the most light material in 2011, which moved to a metal microlattice material having 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 light material, scientists used one of the most amazing and thin materials today is 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 three-dimensional porous graphene. new 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.
“There is 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, by weight exceeding 900 times its own weight with high speed absorption. 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.
Durable materials have a wide range of uses. There is not only the hardest metal, but also the hardest and strongest wood, as well as the strongest man-made materials.
Where are the most durable materials used?
Heavy-duty materials are used in many areas of life. So, chemists in Ireland and America have developed a technology by which durable textile fibers are produced. The thread of this material is fifty micrometers in diameter. It is created from tens of millions of nanotubes, which are bonded together with the help of a polymer.The tensile strength of this electrically conductive fiber is three times higher than the strength of the web of the orb-weaving spider. The resulting material is used to make ultra-light body armor and sports equipment. The name of another durable material is ONNEX, created by order of the US Department of Defense. In addition to its use in the production of bulletproof vests, the new material can also be used in flight control systems, sensors, and engines.
There is a technology developed by scientists, thanks to which durable, hard, transparent and light materials are obtained by converting aerogels. On their basis, it is possible to produce lightweight body armor, armor for tanks and durable building materials.
Novosibirsk scientists have invented a plasma reactor of a new principle, thanks to which it is possible to produce nanotubulene - heavy-duty artificial material. This material was discovered twenty years ago. It is a mass of elastic consistency. It consists of plexuses that cannot be seen with the naked eye. The thickness of the walls of these plexuses is one atom.
The fact that the atoms are sort of nested into each other according to the “Russian nesting doll” principle makes nanotubule the most durable material known. When this material is added to concrete, metal, plastic, their strength and electrical conductivity are significantly enhanced. Nanotubulene will help make cars and planes more durable. If the new material comes into wide production, then roads, houses, and equipment can become very durable. It will be very difficult to destroy them. Nanotubulene has not yet been introduced into widespread production due to the very high cost. However, Novosibirsk scientists managed to significantly reduce the cost of this material. Now nanotubulene can be produced not in kilograms, but in tons.
The hardest metal
Among all known metals, chromium is the hardest, but its hardness depends largely on its purity. Its properties are corrosion resistance, heat resistance and refractoriness. Chrome is a whitish-blue metal. Its Brinell hardness is 70-90 kgf/cm2. The melting point of the hardest metal is one thousand nine hundred and seven degrees Celsius at a density of seven thousand two hundred kg / m3. This metal is in earth's crust at a rate of 0.02 percent, which is a lot. It is usually found as chromium ironstone. Chromium is mined from silicate rocks. 
This metal is used in industry, smelting chromium steel, nichrome and so on. It is used for anti-corrosion and decorative coatings. Chromium is very rich in stone meteorites falling to Earth.
The most durable tree
There is wood that is stronger than cast iron and can be compared with the strength of iron. We are talking about "Schmidt's Birch". It is also called the Iron Birch. Man does not know a more durable tree than this. It was opened by a Russian botanist named Schmidt, while in the Far East. 
Wood exceeds the strength of cast iron by one and a half times, the bending strength is approximately equal to the strength of iron. Due to such properties, iron birch could sometimes replace metal, because this wood is not subject to corrosion and decay. The ship's hull, made of Iron birch, can not even be painted, the ship will not be destroyed by corrosion, the action of acids is also not afraid of it.
Schmidt's birch cannot be pierced by a bullet, you cannot cut it down with an ax. Of all the birches on our planet, it is the Iron Birch that is long-lived - it lives for four hundred years. Its place of growth is the Kedrovaya Pad Nature Reserve. This is a rare protected species, which is listed in the Red Book. If not for such a rarity, the heavy-duty wood of this tree could be used everywhere.
But the tallest trees in the world, sequoias, are not very durable material.
The strongest material in the universe
Graphene is the strongest and at the same time lightest material in our universe. This is a carbon plate, which is only one atom thick, but it is stronger than diamond, and the electrical conductivity is a hundred times higher than the silicon of computer chips. 
Soon graphene will leave scientific laboratories. All the scientists of the world talk today about its unique properties. So, a few grams of material will be enough to cover an entire football field. Graphene is very flexible, it can be folded, bent, rolled up.
Possible areas of its use - solar panels, Cell Phones, touch screens, super-fast computer chips.
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Strength is defined as the ability of a material to resist being destroyed by impact. external forces and factors leading to internal tension. For materials that have high strength, wide scope. In nature, I exist not only hard metals and durable wood species, but also artificially created high-strength materials. Many people believe that the hardest material in the world is diamond, but is it really true?
General information:
Opening date - early 60s;
Pioneers - Sladkov, Kudryavtsev, Korshak, Kasatkin;
Density - 1.9-2 g / cm3.
Recently, scientists from Austria have completed work on establishing a sustainable production of carbine, which is an allotropic form of carbon based on the sp hybridization of carbon atoms. Its strength indicators are 40 times higher than those of diamond. Information about this was placed in one of the issues of the scientific printed periodical "Nature Materials".
After a thorough study of its properties, the scientists explained that in terms of strength it cannot be compared with any previously discovered and studied material. However, significant difficulties arose during the production process: the structure of carbine is formed from carbon atoms assembled in long chains, as a result of which it begins to break down during the production process.
To eliminate the identified snag, physicists from the public university in Vienna created a special protective coating in which carbine was synthesized. As protective coating layers of graphene were used, put friend on a friend and rolled up in a thermos. While physicists have been working hard to achieve stable shapes, they have figured out electrical properties material is affected by the length of the atomic chain.
Researchers have not learned how to extract carbine from a protective coating without damage, so the study of a new material continues, scientists are guided only by the relative stability of atomic chains.
Carbin is a little-studied allotropic modification of carbon, the discoverers of which were Soviet chemists: A.M. Sladkov, Yu.P. Kudryavtsev, V.V. Korshak and V.I. Kasatochkin. Information about the result of the experiment with detailed description discovery of the material in 1967 appeared on the pages of one of the largest scientific journals - "Reports of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR". 15 years later in the American scientific journal Science published an article questioning the results obtained by Soviet chemists. It turned out that the signals assigned to the little-studied allotropic modification of carbon could be associated with the presence of silicate impurities. Over the years, similar signals have been found in interstellar space.
General information:
Pioneers - Geim, Novoselov;
Thermal conductivity - 1 TPa.
Graphene is a two-dimensional allotropic modification of carbon, in which atoms are combined into a hexagonal lattice. Despite the high strength of graphene, the thickness of its layer is 1 atom.
The pioneers of the material were Russian physicists, Andrey Geim and Konstantin Novoselov. In their own country, the scientists did not secure financial support and decided to move to the Netherlands and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. In 2010, scientists were awarded the Nobel Prize.
On a sheet of graphene, the area of which is equal to one square meter, and the thickness is one atom, objects weighing up to four kilograms are freely held. In addition to being a highly durable material, graphene is also very flexible. From a material with such characteristics, in the future it will be possible to weave threads and other rope structures that are not inferior in strength to a thick steel rope. At certain conditions the material discovered by Russian physicists can cope with damage in the crystal structure.
General information:
Year of opening - 1967;
Color - brown-yellow;
Measured density - 3.2 g/cm3;
Hardness - 7-8 units on the Mohs scale.
The structure of lonsdaleite, found in a meteorite funnel, is similar to diamond, both materials are allotropic modifications of carbon. Most likely, as a result of the explosion, graphite, which is one of the components of the meteorite, turned into lonsdaleite. At the time of discovery of the material, scientists did not note high hardness indicators, however, it was proved that if there are no impurities in it, then it will in no way be inferior to the high hardness of diamond.
General information about boron nitride:
Density - 2.18 g / cm3;
Melting point - 2973 degrees Celsius;
Crystal structure - hexagonal lattice;
Thermal conductivity - 400 W / (m × K);
Hardness - less than 10 units on the Mohs scale.
The main differences of wurtzite boron nitride, which is a compound of boron with nitrogen, are thermal and chemical resistance and fire resistance. The material can be of different crystalline form. For example, graphite is the softest, but stable, it is used in cosmetology. sphalerite structure in crystal lattice similar to diamonds, but inferior in terms of softness, while having better chemical and thermal resistance. Such properties of wurtzite boron nitride make it possible to use it in equipment for high-temperature processes.
General information:
Hardness - 1000 Gn / m2;
Strength - 4 Gn / m2;
The year of discovery of metallic glass is 1960.
Metallic glass is a material with a high hardness index, a disordered structure at the atomic level. The main difference between the structure of metallic glass and ordinary glass is its high electrical conductivity. Such materials are obtained as a result of a solid-state reaction, rapid cooling or ion irradiation. Scientists have learned to invent amorphous metals, the strength of which is 3 times greater than that of steel alloys.
General information:
Elastic limit - 1500 MPa;
KCU - 0.4-0.6 MJ / m2.
General information:
Impact strength KST - 0.25-0.3 MJ / m2;
Elastic limit - 1500 MPa;
KCU - 0.4-0.6 MJ / m2.
Maraging steels are iron alloys with high impact strength without losing ductility. Despite these characteristics, the material does not hold cutting edge. The alloys obtained by heat treatment are low-carbon substances that take strength from intermetallic compounds. The composition of the alloy includes nickel, cobalt and other carbide-forming elements. This type of high-strength, high-alloy steel is easy to process, this is due to the low content of carbon in its composition. A material with such characteristics has found application in the aerospace field, it is used as a coating for rocket bodies.
Osmium
General information:
Opening year - 1803;
The lattice structure is hexagonal;
Thermal conductivity - (300 K) (87.6) W / (m × K);
Melting point - 3306 K.
A shiny bluish-white metal with high strength belongs to the platinoids. Osmium, having a high atomic density, exceptional refractoriness, brittleness, high strength, hardness and resistance to mechanical influences and aggressive influence environment, is widely used in surgery, measuring technology, chemical industry, electron microscopy, rocket technology and electronic equipment.
General information:
Density - 1.3-2.1 t / m3;
The strength of carbon fiber is 0.5-1 GPa;
The modulus of elasticity of high-strength carbon fiber is 215 GPa.
Carbon-carbon composites are materials that consist of a carbon matrix, which in turn is reinforced with carbon fibers. The main characteristics of composites are high strength, flexibility and impact strength. Structure composite materials can be either unidirectional or three-dimensional. Due to these qualities, composites are widely used in various fields, including the aerospace industry.
General information:
The official year of discovery of the spider is 2010;
>The impact strength of the web is 350 MJ/m3.
For the first time, a spider weaving huge webs was discovered near Africa, on island nation Madagascar. Officially, this type of spider was discovered in 2010. Scientists, first of all, were interested in the webs woven by arthropods. The diameter of the circles on the carrier thread can reach up to two meters. Darwin's web is more durable than synthetic Kevlar used in the aviation and automotive industries.
General information:
Thermal conductivity - 900-2300 W / (m × K);
Melting temperature at a pressure of 11 GPa - 3700-4000 degrees Celsius;
Density - 3.47-3.55 g / cm3;
The refractive index is 2.417-2.419.
Diamond in ancient Greek means "indestructible", but scientists have discovered 9 more elements that surpass it in terms of strength. Despite the endless existence of diamond in an ordinary environment, at high temperature and an inert gas, it can turn into graphite. Diamond is a reference element (on the Mohs scale), which has one of the highest hardness values. For him, as for many precious stones, characterized by luminescence, which allows it to shine when exposed to sunlight.
October 24, 2013
The lighter the better?
From childhood, many people remember the riddle about what is still heavier than a kilogram of down or a kilogram of lead. And many said that a kilogram of lead is heavier. For people - fluff, flower petals and dandelions seem to be something light.
Such a banal thing today as aluminum seemed to scientists of the 19th century a grandiose discovery. Many of them dreamed of dwellings for all the disadvantaged from this light and durable metal. Scientists around the world have always been interested in the creation of the lightest materials that can be transported without any problems.
Thus, humanity is trying to get closer to the divine principle, soar up and come close to the great primary source of all things. How can one not recall here the fairy tale about the invisibility cap - perhaps scientists' minds were still under the impression of children's books?
Use of the lightest materials
But the lyrical side always has a reverse, practical side. The lightest materials - one of the most significant issues and challenges modern science and, in particular, nanotechnologies. Similar materials necessary for the space and military industries, the production of computers based on the latest processors, in transplantology and many other areas of human life.
For a long time, polystyrene foam was considered one of the lightest materials created by man. This is a product of the class of foam plastics, which was made from polystyrene, coupled with its derivatives. It's hard to imagine, but this material consists of 98% air and only 2% remains on the polystyrene itself.
However, life does not stand still, and venerable scientists (after all, restless people) continue to push each other in search of new, even lighter substances. So, quite recently, the entire scientific community was excited by a new discovery in the field of heavy materials.
frozen air
The new substance was named "aerogel", which in Russian would sound like "frozen air" or "frozen smoke". Indeed, this substance in its appearance is very reminiscent of smoke, which, as if at the request of a crazy artist, inexplicably migrated from the canvas to reality.
This porous substance with a bluish tint resembles styrofoam or slightly hardened shaving foam. One of the main unique properties of this material is the ability to withstand loads that can exceed the own weight of the substance by more than 2000 times! And this, given that airgel is 9.8% air.
In addition, this substance is an excellent thermal insulator, which is almost 40 times superior to insulating fiberglass, so that airgel is already being used in the aerospace industry today. In addition to high thermal insulation characteristics this substance practically does not transmit sound, is able to withstand the effects of the most extreme temperatures, as well as a strong impact.
In practice, a bulletproof vest made of 1 cm thick airgel would be able to protect the wearer from the explosion of a whole kilogram of dynamite. But the list called "light materials" does not end there. Chinese scientists have managed to create a material so light that it can be placed on flower petals.
Fluff that can support an elephant
Thumbelina compared to this substance, which was called graphene, is just a "fat cow". Graphene is only twice as heavy as the simplest chemical element hydrogen and less dense than helium. However, despite such lightness and airiness, this material is extremely durable.
One sheet of thickness plastic bag able to bear the weight of an elephant. It takes three million sheets of graphene to make a stack 1 mm thick. In addition, graphene has simply fantastic absorption properties - up to 900 times its own weight in oil equivalent.
And this " smart material” absorbs oil, not water, which in turn makes it extremely promising in cleaning the planet from oil slicks. In addition to all of the above, graphene is so flexible that it can safely be stretched by 20%. However, experiments to create new ultralight materials continue.
Practice shows that even more incredible discoveries await humanity in the near future. Perhaps very soon, scientific minds will present to the judgment of contemporaries substances consisting of 9.9% of air alone.
Do you know what material on our planet is considered the strongest? We all know from school that diamond is the strongest mineral, but it is far from being the strongest.
Hardness is not the main property that characterizes matter. Some properties may prevent scratches, while others may promote elasticity. Want to know more? Here is a rating of materials that will be very difficult to destroy.
Diamond in all its glory
A classic example of strength, stuck in textbooks and heads. Its hardness means scratch resistance. On the Mohs scale (a qualitative scale that measures the resistance of various minerals), a diamond scores at 10 (the scale goes from 1 to 10, where 10 is the most solid). The diamond is so hard that other diamonds must be used to cut it.
A web that can stop an airbus
Often referred to as the world's most complex biological substance (although this claim is now disputed by inventors), Darwin's spider web is stronger than steel and more rigid than Kevlar. Its weight is no less remarkable: a filament long enough to encircle the Earth weighs only 0.5 kg.
Airbrush in a regular package
This synthetic foam is one of the lightest building materials in the world. Airbrush is about 75 times lighter than Styrofoam (but much stronger!). This material can be compressed up to 30 times its original size without compromising its structure. Another interesting point: airbrush can withstand a mass of 40,000 times its own weight.
Glass during a crash test
This substance was developed by scientists in California. Microalloyed glass has an almost perfect combination of stiffness and strength. The reason for this is that its chemical structure reduces the brittleness of glass but retains the rigidity of palladium.
Tungsten drill
Tungsten carbide is incredibly hard and has a high quality high rigidity, but it is quite fragile, it can be easily bent.
Silicon carbide in the form of crystals
This material is used in making armor for battle tanks. In fact, it is used in almost everything that can protect against bullets. It has a Mohs hardness rating of 9 and also has low level thermal expansion.
Molecular structure of boron nitride
About as strong as diamond, cubic boron nitride has one important advantage: it is insoluble in nickel and iron at high temperatures. For this reason, it can be used to process these elements (diamond forms of nitrides with iron and nickel at high temperatures).
Dyneema cable
It is considered the strongest fiber in the world. You may be surprised by the fact that dyneema is lighter than water, but it can stop bullets!
alloy tube
Titanium alloys are extremely flexible and have very high tensile strengths, but do not have the same stiffness as steel alloys.
Amorphous metals easily change shape
Liquidmetal was developed by Caltech. Despite the name, this metal is not liquid and room temperature have a high level of strength and wear resistance. When heated, amorphous alloys can change shape.
Future paper may be harder than diamonds
This is latest invention created from wood pulp, while having a greater degree of strength than steel! And much cheaper. Many scientists consider nanocellulose to be a cheap alternative to palladium glass and carbon fiber.
saucer shell
We mentioned earlier that Darwin's spiders weave some of the strongest organic material on Earth. Nevertheless, the teeth of the sea limpet turned out to be even stronger than the cobwebs. Limpet teeth are extremely hard. The reason for these amazing characteristics is the purpose: collecting algae from the surface of rocks and corals. Scientists believe that in the future we could copy the fibrous structure of limpet teeth and use it in the automotive industry, ships and even the aviation industry.
Rocket stage in which many nodes contain maraging steels
This substance combines a high level of strength and stiffness without loss of elasticity. Steel alloys of this type are used in aerospace and industrial production technologies.
osmium crystal
Osmium is extremely dense. It is used in the manufacture of things that require high level strength and hardness (electrical contacts, handles for tips, etc.).
Kevlar helmet stopped the bullet
Used in everything from drums to bulletproof vests, Kevlar is synonymous with toughness. Kevlar is a type of plastic that has extremely high tensile strength. In fact, it is about 8 times greater than that of steel wire! It can also withstand temperatures around 450℃.
Spectra pipes
High performance polyethylene is indeed durable plastic. This lightweight, strong thread can withstand incredible tension and is ten times stronger than steel. Similar to Kevlar, Spectra is also used for ballistic resistant vests, helmets and armored vehicles.
Flexible graphene screen
A sheet of graphene (an allotrope of carbon) one atom thick is 200 times stronger than steel. Although graphene looks like cellophane, it is truly amazing. It would take a school bus balanced on a pencil to pierce a standard A1 sheet of this material!
A new technology that could revolutionize our understanding of strength
This nanotechnology is made from carbon pipes, which are 50,000 times thinner than a human hair. This explains why it is 10 times lighter than steel but 500 times stronger.
microlattice alloys are regularly used in satellites
The lightest metal in the world, the metal microgrid is also one of the lightest construction materials on the ground. Some scientists claim that it is 100 times lighter than Styrofoam! A porous but extremely strong material, it is used in many areas of technology. Boeing has mentioned its use in aircraft manufacturing, mainly in floors, seats and walls.
Nanotube model
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) can be described as "seamless cylindrical hollow fibers" that consist of a single rolled molecular sheet of pure graphite. The result is very light material. On the nanoscale, carbon nanotubes are 200 times stronger than steel.
Fantastic airbrush is hard to even describe!
Also known as graphene airgel. Imagine the strength of graphene combined with unimaginable lightness. Airgel is 7 times lighter than air! This incredible material can fully recover from over 90% compression and can absorb up to 900 times its own weight in oil. It is hoped that this material could be used to clean up oil spills.
Massachusetts Polytechnic Main Building
At the time of this writing, MIT scientists believe they have discovered the secret to maximizing graphene's 2D strength in 3D. Their as yet unnamed substance may have roughly 5% the density of steel, but 10 times the strength.
Molecular structure of carbine
Despite being a single chain of atoms, carbine has twice the tensile strength of graphene and three times the hardness of diamond.
birthplace of boron nitride
This natural substance is produced in the vent active volcanoes and 18% stronger than diamond. It is one of two naturally occurring substances that have now been found to be harder than diamonds. The problem is that there is not much of this substance out there, and it is now difficult to say for sure whether this statement is 100% true.
Meteorites are the main sources of lonsdaleite
Also known as hexagonal diamond, this substance is made up of carbon atoms, but they're just arranged differently. Along with wurtzite and boron nitride, it is one of two natural substances harder than diamond. In fact, Londsdaleite is 58% harder! However, as in the case of the previous substance, it is in relatively small volumes. Sometimes it occurs when graphite meteorites collide with planet Earth.
The future is not far off, so by the end of the 21st century we can expect the appearance of heavy-duty and ultralight materials, which will replace Kevlar and diamonds. In the meantime, one can only be surprised at the development of modern technologies.