Materials // Aerographite – Lightest Material in the World © Based on Material by KU / TUHH, Germany
Scientists of Kiel University (KU) and Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH) in Germany present in Advanced Materials Aerographite, a net- work of porous carbon tubes that is three-dimen- sionally interwoven at nano and micro level – the lightest material in the world. It weights only 0.2 milligrams per cubic centimetre, and is therefore 75 times lighter than Styrofoam.
Despite of its low weight Aerographite is highly resilient. While lightweight materials normally withstand compression but not tension, Aerographite features both: an excellent compression and tension load. It is able to be compressed up to 95 percent and be pulled back to its original form without any damage, says professor Rainer Adelung of Kiel University.
"Up to a certain point the Aerographite will become even more solid and therefore stronger than before," he points out. Other materials become weaker and less stable when exposed to such stress. "Also, the newly constructed material absorbs light rays almost completely. One could say it creates the blackest black,” acknowledges Hamburg’s Professor Karl Schulte.
"Think of the Aerographite as an ivy-web, which winds itself around a tree. And than take away the tree", Adelung describes the construction process. The "tree" is a so-called sacrificial template, a means to an end. The Kiel-team, consisting of Arnim Schuchardt, Rainer Adelung, Yogendra Mishra and Sören Kaps, used a zinc oxide in powder form. By heating this up to 900° Celsius (1,652° F), it was transformed into a crystalline form.
Image: Small crumb being big: the newly constructed material absorbs light rays, such as this green laser pointer, almost completely. © Stefanie Maack / CAU
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105