Researchers have created a metallic microlattice that has a density less than that of air and can spring back into shape after being compressed by more than 50%.
Low-density materials such as foams usually have inferior mechanical properties, including low strength. Tobias Schaedler at HRL Laboratories in Malibu, California, and his colleagues fabricated a three-dimensional polymer lattice, and coated it with a thin nickel–phosphorus film. They then etched away the polymer, leaving an ultralight lattice of hollow tubes (pictured) with a density of just 0.9 milligrams per cubic centimetre. The microlattice had better mechanical properties than other lightweight materials and was able to absorb and dissipate energy at a level similar to viscoelastic polymers.
The authors attribute these properties to the material's ordered lattice structure, and say that such microlattices could be useful as battery electrodes or sound or vibration dampers.
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Light, springy mesh. Nature 479, 448 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/479448a
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/479448a
