The lightest and strongest materials on Earth. The lightest material in the world Strong lightweight impact resistant cheap material in the world
The diversity of nature is limitless, but there are materials that would not have been born without human participation. We bring to your attention 10 substances created by human hands and showing fantastic properties.
1.Single-sided bulletproof glass
The richest people have problems: judging by the growing sales of this material, they need bulletproof glass that would save lives, but not prevent them from shooting back.
This glass stops bullets on one side, but at the same time passes them on the other - this unusual effect lies in the "sandwich" of a fragile acrylic layer and a softer elastic polycarbonate: under pressure, acrylic manifests itself as a very hard substance, and when a bullet hits it extinguishes its energy, cracking at the same time. This allows the shock-absorbing layer to withstand the impact of a bullet and acrylic fragments without collapsing.
When fired from the other side, the resilient polycarbonate allows the bullet to pass through itself, stretching and destroying the brittle acrylic layer, which leaves no further barrier for the bullet, but do not shoot too often, as this will create holes in the protection.
2. Liquid glass
There was a time when dishwashing detergent did not exist - people got by with baking soda, vinegar, silver sand, rubbing or a wire brush, but the new product will help save a lot of time and effort and generally make washing dishes a thing of the past. "Liquid glass" contains silicon dioxide, which forms a material when interacting with water or ethanol, which then dries, turning into a thin (more than 500 times thinner than a human hair) layer of elastic, ultra-resistant, non-toxic and water-repellent glass.
With this material, there is no need for cleaners and disinfectants, as it is able to perfectly protect the surface from germs: bacteria on the surface of dishes or sinks are simply isolated. Also, the invention will find application in medicine, because it is now possible to sterilize instruments using only hot water, without the use of chemical disinfectants.
This coating can be used to fight fungal infections on plants and seal bottles, its properties are truly unique - it repels moisture, disinfects, while remaining elastic, durable, breathable, and completely invisible, as well as cheap.
3. Shapeless metal
This substance allows golfers to hit the ball harder, increases bullet damage, and prolongs the life of scalpels and engine parts.
Contrary to its name, the material combines the strength of metal and the hardness of the surface of glass: the video shows how the deformation of steel and shapeless metal differs when a metal ball falls. The ball leaves many small "holes" on the surface of the steel - this means that the metal absorbs and dissipates the impact energy. Shapeless metal remains smooth, which means it returns impact energy better, which is also indicated by a longer rebound.
Most metals have an ordered crystalline molecular structure, and from an impact or other impact, the crystal lattice is distorted, which is why dents remain on the metal. In a shapeless metal, the atoms are arranged randomly, so after exposure, the atoms return to their original position.
4. Starlit
This is a plastic that can withstand incredibly high temperatures: its thermal threshold is so high that at first they simply did not believe the inventor. Only after demonstrating the capabilities of the material live on television, the staff of the British Atomic Weapons Center contacted the creator of the starlit.
The scientists irradiated the plastic with flashes of heat equivalent to the power of 75 bombs dropped on Hiroshima - the sample was only slightly charred. One of the testers noted: “Usually you have to wait several hours between flashes for the material to cool. Now we irradiated him every 10 minutes, and he remained unharmed, as if in mockery.
Unlike other heat-resistant materials, Starlite does not become toxic at high temperatures, and it is also incredibly lightweight. It can be used in the construction of spacecraft, aircraft, flame retardant suits or in the military industry, but, unfortunately, starlite never left the laboratory: its creator Morris Ward died in 2011 without patenting his invention and without leaving any descriptions . All that is known about the structure of starlite is that it contains 21 organic polymers, several copolymers and a small amount of ceramics.
5. Airgel
Imagine a porous substance of such low density that 2.5 cm³ of it contains surfaces comparable to the size of a football field. But it's not a specific material, but rather a class of substances: airgel is a form that some materials can take, and its ultra-low density makes it an excellent thermal insulator. If you make a 2.5 cm thick window out of it, it will have the same thermal insulation properties as a 25 cm thick glass window.
All the lightest materials in the world are aerogels: for example, quartz airgel (essentially dried silicone) is only three times heavier than air and is quite fragile, but it can withstand a weight 1000 times its own. Graphene airgel (pictured above) is made of carbon, and its solid component is seven times lighter than air: having a porous structure, this substance repels water, but absorbs oil - it is supposed to be used to combat oil slicks on the surface of the water.
6. Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)
This chemical solvent first appeared as a by-product of cellulose production and was not used until the 60s of the last century, when its medical potential was revealed: Dr. Jacobs discovered that DMSO can easily and painlessly penetrate body tissues - this allows you to quickly and without damage skin to inject various drugs.
Its own medicinal properties relieve pain from sprains or inflammation of the joints in arthritis, for example, DMSO can also be used to fight fungal infections.
Unfortunately, when its medicinal properties were discovered, commercial production was long overdue, and its widespread availability prevented pharmaceutical companies from making a profit. In addition, DMSO has an unexpected side effect - garlic-like odor from the user's mouth, so it is used mainly in veterinary medicine.
7. Carbon nanotubes
In fact, these are sheets of carbon one atom thick, rolled into cylinders - their molecular structure resembles a roll of wire mesh, and this is the strongest material known to science. Six times lighter but hundreds of times stronger than steel, nanotubes have better thermal conductivity than diamond and conduct electricity more efficiently than copper.
The tubes themselves are not visible to the naked eye, and in its raw form, the substance resembles soot: in order to manifest its extraordinary properties, trillions of these invisible threads must be made to rotate, which has become possible relatively recently.
The material can be used in the production of a cable for the “elevator to space” project, which was developed quite a long time ago, but until recently it was completely fantastic due to the impossibility of creating a cable 100 thousand km long that would not bend under its own weight.
Carbon nanotubes also help in the treatment of breast cancer - they can be placed in each cell by the thousands, and the presence of folic acid allows you to identify and "capture" cancerous growths, then the nanotubes are irradiated with an infrared laser, and the tumor cells die. Also, the material can be used in the production of light and durable bulletproof vests…
8. Pykerite
In 1942, the British faced the problem of a lack of steel for the construction of aircraft carriers needed to fight German submarines. Geoffrey Pike suggested building huge floating airfields from ice, but it did not justify itself: although ice is inexpensive, it is short-lived. Everything changed with the discovery by New York scientists of the extraordinary properties of a mixture of ice and sawdust, which was similar in strength to a brick, and also does not crack or melt. But the material could be processed like wood or melted like metal, sawdust swelled in water, forming a shell and preventing ice from melting, due to which any ship could be repaired right during the voyage.
But with all the positive qualities, pykrete was of little use for effective use: to build and create an ice cover for a vessel weighing up to 1000 tons, it was enough to have an engine with a capacity of one horsepower, but at a temperature above -26 ° C (and a complex cooling system is required to maintain it ) ice tends to sag. In addition, cellulose, also used in paper making, was in short supply, so pykrete remained an unfeasible project.
9. BacillaFila - building microbe
Concrete has the property of "tiring" over time - it becomes dirty gray and cracks form in it. If we are talking about the foundation of a building, repairs can be quite time-consuming and expensive, and it is not a fact that it will eliminate “fatigue”: many buildings are demolished precisely because it is impossible to restore the foundation.
A group of Newcastle University students have developed genetically engineered bacteria that can penetrate deep cracks and produce a mixture of calcium carbonate and glue, strengthening a building. Bacteria are programmed to spread over the surface of the concrete until they reach the edge of the next crack, at which point the production of cementing agent begins, there is even a self-destruct mechanism for the bacteria to prevent the formation of useless "growths".
This technology will reduce the anthropogenic emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, because concrete production gives 5% of it, and it will also help to extend the life of buildings, the restoration of which in the traditional way would cost a large amount.
10. Material D3o
Resistance to mechanical impact at all times was one of the main problems of materials science until D3o was invented - a substance whose molecules are in free movement under normal conditions and are fixed upon impact. The structure of D3o resembles a mixture of corn starch and water, which is sometimes filled with pools. Special jackets made of this material, which are comfortable and provide protection from falls, bats or fists that you may get, are already on the market. Protective elements are not visible from the outside, which is suitable for stuntmen and even the police.
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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, a 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 found in the earth's crust in the amount of 0.02 percent, which is quite 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 well 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 are solar panels, cell phones, touch screens, super-fast computer chips.
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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.
Each of you knows that diamond remains the standard of hardness today. When determining the mechanical hardness of materials existing on earth, the hardness of diamond is taken as a standard: when measured by the Mohs method - in the form of a surface sample, by the Vickers or Rockwell methods - as an indenter (as a harder body when examining a body with lower hardness). To date, several materials can be noted, the hardness of which approaches the characteristics of diamond.
In this case, the original materials are compared based on their microhardness according to the Vickers method, when the material is considered superhard at values of more than 40 GPa. The hardness of materials can vary, depending on the characteristics of the synthesis of the sample or the direction of the load applied to it.
Fluctuations in hardness values from 70 to 150 GPa is a generally established concept for hard materials, although 115 GPa is considered to be a reference value. Let's take a look at the 10 hardest materials other than diamond that exist in nature.
10. Boron suboxide (B 6 O) - hardness up to 45 GPa
Boron suboxide has the ability to create grains shaped like icosahedrons. The formed grains in this case are not isolated crystals or varieties of quasicrystals, representing a kind of twin crystals, consisting of two dozen paired crystals-tetrahedra.
10. Rhenium diboride (ReB 2) - hardness 48 GPa
Many researchers question whether this material can be classified as a superhard type of material. This is due to the highly unusual mechanical properties of the compound.
The layer-by-layer alternation of different atoms makes this material anisotropic. Therefore, the measurement of hardness indicators turns out to be different in the presence of different types of crystallographic planes. Thus, testing rhenium diboride at low loads provides a hardness of 48 GPa, and with increasing load, the hardness becomes much less and is approximately 22 GPa.
8. Magnesium aluminum boride (AlMgB 14) - hardness up to 51 GPa
The composition is a mixture of aluminum, magnesium, boron with low sliding friction, as well as high hardness. These qualities could be a godsend for the production of modern machines and mechanisms that work without lubrication. But the use of the material in such a variation is still considered prohibitively expensive.
AlMgB14 - special thin films created by pulsed laser deposition, have the ability to have microhardness up to 51 GPa.
7. Boron-carbon-silicon - hardness up to 70 GPa
The basis of such a connection provides the alloy with qualities that imply optimal resistance to chemical influences of a negative type and high temperature. Such material is provided with microhardness up to 70 GPa.
6. Boron carbide B 4 C (B 12 C 3) - hardness up to 72 GPa
Another material is boron carbide. The substance began to be used quite actively in various fields of industry almost immediately after its invention in the 18th century.
The microhardness of the material reaches 49 GPa, but it has been proven that this indicator can also be increased by adding argon ions to the structure of the crystal lattice - up to 72 GPa.
5. Carbon-boron nitride - hardness up to 76 GPa
Researchers and scientists from all over the world have long been trying to synthesize complex superhard materials, in which tangible results have already been achieved. The components of the compound are boron, carbon and nitrogen atoms - similar in size. The qualitative hardness of the material reaches 76 GPa.
4. Nanostructured cubonite - hardness up to 108 GPa
The material is also called kingsongite, borazone or elbor, and also has unique qualities that are successfully used in modern industry. With cubonite hardness values of 80-90 GPa, close to the diamond standard, the strength of the Hall-Petch law can cause their significant growth.
This means that with a decrease in the size of crystalline grains, the hardness of the material increases - there are certain possibilities for increasing up to 108 GPa.
3. Wurtzite boron nitride - hardness up to 114 GPa
The wurtzite crystal structure provides high hardness to this material. With local structural modifications, during the application of a specific type of load, the bonds between atoms in the lattice of a substance are redistributed. At this point, the quality hardness of the material becomes 78% higher.
Lonsdaleite is an allotropic modification of carbon and is distinctly similar to diamond. A solid natural material was discovered in a meteorite crater, formed from graphite, one of the meteorite components, but it did not have a record degree of strength.
Scientists have proven back in 2009 that the absence of impurities can provide a hardness exceeding the hardness of diamond. High hardness values can be achieved in this case, as in the case of wurtzite boron nitride.
Polymerized fullerite is now considered the hardest material known to science. This is a structured molecular crystal, the nodes of which are composed of whole molecules, and not of individual atoms.
Fullerite has a hardness of up to 310 GPa and is capable of scratching a diamond surface like normal plastic. As you can see, diamond is no longer the hardest natural material in the world, harder compounds are available to science.
So far, these are the hardest materials on Earth known to science. It is quite possible that soon we will have new discoveries and a breakthrough in the field of chemistry / physics, which will allow us to achieve higher hardness.
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), diamond scores at 10 (the scale goes from 1 to 10, where 10 is the hardest substance). 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 qualitatively high stiffness, but it is quite brittle and 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 a low level of 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 at room temperature has a high level of strength and wear resistance. When heated, amorphous alloys can change shape.
Future paper may be harder than diamonds
This latest invention is made from wood pulp, while having a higher 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 a high level of strength and hardness (electrical contacts, tip handles, 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 a really 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 structural materials on Earth. 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 a 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 vents of active volcanoes and is 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 ultra-strong and ultra-light materials that will replace Kevlar and diamonds. In the meantime, one can only be surprised at the development of modern technologies.