(Video) The Worlds Lightest Metal Developed For Boeing

Microlattice is the Lightest Metal Ever made – Official!

Microlattice has been developed from 99.99% air (the rest of it is metal). The metal has been developed for Boeing and the video below will run you through the features and benefits of this invention. It has all the benefits of rigid metal whilst being “as light as a feather”. We’ve seen how many applications Carbon fibre has been used in due to it’s strength and lightness so microlattice will have many different uses.

 

What a great invention, please leave a comment

 

Microlattice was inspired by the structure of our bones, which are very rigid on the outside but mostly hollow on the inside, which means they can’t be easily crushed, but are lightweight enough for us to carry around all day. The new Boeing metal mimics this, and despite its rigid exterior, it has a 3D open-cellular polymer structure, which means its structure is 99.99 percent air.

*Microlattice can help develop more fuel efficient aircraft due to the large reduction in weight.

 

The lattice in the metal is made up of interconnected hollow metal tubes – constructed from nickel, in the case of the prototype. Each of these tubes has a wall thickness of just 100 nanometres, which is 1,000 times thinner than human hair.

These open cells in the structure give microlattice huge compression potential, which means it can absorb a whole lot of energy.

 

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