Scientists have designed a novel ‘metallic wood’ that is stronger, but at least four times lighter, than titanium.
High-performance golf clubs and airplane wings are made out of titanium, which is as strong as steel but about twice as light. These properties depend on the way a metal’s atoms are stacked, but random defects that arise in the manufacturing process mean that these materials are only a fraction as strong as they could theoretically be. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania in the US and the University of Cambridge in the UK have built a sheet of nickel with nanoscale pores that make it as strong as titanium but four to five times lighter. The empty space of the pores make the porous metal akin to a natural material, such as wood. (PTI)
