Super Strong and Lightweight Metal May Build the Spacecraft of the Future

Material scientists at UCLA have combined magnesium and ceramic silicon carbide nanoparticles to form a new metal that could change the way cars, airplanes, and spacecrafts are built, a study in Nature reports.

Researchers from the UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science have got success in developing an extremely strong yet lightweight new structural metal using a novel way…

According to the scientists, the super-hard metal was created by mixing silicon carbide nanoparticles – the super-hard ceramic that is used on cutting blades – into a molten magnesium-zinc alloy.

The group of scientists also found a new method of dispersing and also stabilizing nanoparticles in molten metals. However, because of the tendency of particles to clump together rather than the getting separated evenly, the researchers made a decision to disperse the nanoparticles into a molten magnesium-zinc alloy.

Li added that this breakthrough will be instrumental in meeting today’s energy and sustainability needs by evenly dispersing dense nanoparticles to enhance the performance of other metals as well. The new metal is already quite strong and durable, but researchers are developing another manufacturing method to improve its performance and capacity.

Since magnesium is available in abundance, thereby it will not be environmentally hazardous to boost the production of this new metal. That is because the resultant metal is lighter, stronger, and more heat-resistant than other metals now in use.

Just imagine that a plane that is lighter in weight and is stronger than before – it can have so many applications in a diverse range of fields that it simply boggles the mind. Structural metals are load-bearing metals that are used in buildings and vehicles. The lightweight metal has extremely high specific strength and modulus.

In a statement provided to TheMonitorDaily, UCLA brings a new magnesium-carbide nanoparticles metal composite and it’s purely brilliant. The new metal boasts a stiffness-to-weight ratio that far surpasses other strong metals that engineers have reliably used for generations. It’s two-thirds the density of aluminum and is the lightest structural metal out there.

It has been long thought that ceramic particles can make metals stronger.

The key to the new technology, which could produce many more groundbreaking results, is the ability to inject metals with nanoparticles through a method that does not compromise the metals’ structural integrity. However, with microscale ceramic particles, the infusion process results in a loss of plasticity. But nanoparticles, by contrast, not only enhance the strength of a metal but can maintain or even improve their plasticity as well. Tiny particles tend to form clusters as they attract each other more. Scientists display the newly-formed dispersion depends on the kinetic energy of the particles’ movement, which helps stabilize molecule’ dispersion and prevents clumping to happen.

The biggest challenge was probably how to disperse the particles evenly.

Li believes they “are just scratching the surface of the hidden treasure for a new class of metals with revolutionary properties and functionalities”.

The idea of using magnesium in making cars, airplanes, and spacecraft is an attractive one, as the metal is relatively common, and upscaling its use “would not cause environmental damage”, according to a press release at Eurekalert.