A team of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ( MIT ) has designed what could be the lightest and strongest material ever known , thanks to a process that has consisted of compressing and melting graphene flakes.
Graphene is one of the most important chemical elements in nature, which is obtained through carbon . It was discovered in the 1930s, but its use did not start until the beginning of this new century. It is born from the grouping of small carbon particles into very fine two-dimensional sheets .
Multiple applications
It is a very practical material , since its applications range from the manufacture of computers or mobile devices to the manufacture of airplanes and satellites, although its usefulness even extends to the protection of the environment (by replacing polluting materials) or to the healthcare field. In addition, it is a very hard, resistant, flexible and really light material, which gives it great malleability .
In its two-dimensional form, graphene is believed to be the strongest of all known materials . But researchers, until now, have had a difficult time translating that two-dimensional force into useful three-dimensional materials. MIT has managed to solve the problem by analyzing the individual behavior of the atoms that make up the structure of the material .
The team has been able to compress small flakes of graphene, using a combination of heat and pressure . This process produced a strong and stable structure, whose shape resembles that of microscopic creatures called diatoms . These shapes proved remarkably strong and allowed for 3-D application.
“Once we created these three-dimensional structures, we wanted to see what the limit was: what is the strongest possible material that we can produce,” says Qin , one of the scientists who has participated in the project.
The result of this has been the creation of a new material with a configuration similar to that of a sponge and whose density is only 5%. In this way, it has been achieved that the porous structure of graphene can have a resistance 10 times greater than that of steel and really light.
The unusual geometric shapes that graphene naturally forms under heat and pressure look like a Nerf ball , round, but full of holes . This complex shape is known as gyroids .
The same geometry could even be applied to large-scale structural materials , such as concrete for a bridge structure. This would be done with such a porous geometry, providing a comparable force at a fraction of the weight. This approach would have the added benefit of providing good isolation, due to the large amount of enclosed airspace within it.
In addition, as this form is plagued with very small spaces, the material can also find its application in some filtration systems , be it for water or chemical processing. According to the researchers, the mathematical descriptions derived from this group could facilitate the development of a wide variety of applications yet to be discovered.
Reference: Zhao Qin, Gang Seob Jung, Min Jeong Kang, and Markus J. Buehler. “The mechanics and design of a lightweight three-dimensional graphene assembly”, Journal Science. DOI: 10.1126 / sciadv.1601536
