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An inquiring human brain is able to produce the craziest – and useful – new materials that you can only imagine imagine. Take a look at this five created by human genius materials whose applications can be practically inexhaustible.
Aluminum Bubble Film
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A team of engineers from the University of North Carolina designed a new form of aluminum protective film, which they say can revolutionize the packaging and storage of any item.
Researchers take a thin sheet of aluminum and then use studded roller to roll small recesses in it. IN unlike its plastic counterpart, these voids are filled foamed material like calcium carbonate and then close another sheet of aluminum. Result: an array of bubbles that absorb a huge amount of energy, weigh 30 percent less than ordinary metal sheets, and at the same time almost 50 times stronger. It’s easy to make a new film, it’s cheap – and soon it can find application in any field, from freight containers to fragile goods to bicycle helmets.
Titanium foam
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Forget foam and sponge elastomers: they are replaced by the most real titanium. By simply saturating regular polyurethane with a mixture titanium powder and binding agents can force metal take the form of foam, and then evaporate the auxiliary substrate. Result: a titanium grill in the form of an initial foam, which can be give many different physical properties.
The specific parameters will depend on the porosity of the foam, but in in any case, the resulting material will be incredibly durable and easy. In fact, this material can ideally replace human bones: it has incredibly similar mechanical properties, and since it is porous, a new bone can build up inside and outside these are structures, fully integrating the implant with skeleton.
Graphene Airgel
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Graphene airgel received the title of the lightest material in the world just a few months ago – having a density lower than the density of helium, and only two times higher than that of hydrogen, this the material is actually just floating in the air.
It was created using a new technique that includes dry suspension of carbon nanotubes and graphene, and gives in The result is something like a carbon sponge. This material at the same time strong and elastic, and also incredibly light; and in addition, he may for example, absorb spilled oil that is 900 times higher than it own weight.
Artificial Spider Silk
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Natural silk is a terrific material, but difficult produce on an industrial scale – and that is why Japanese startup “Spiber” has developed a way to produce it synthetically. They were able to decipher the gene responsible for the production of fibroin in spiders, which is a key protein necessary for creating heavy-duty silk threads.
Hacking this key component, the company created genetically modified bacteria that can produce silk incredibly fast – and now can create a new type of silk in within 10 days, from the project to the finished product. Bacteria feed sugar, salt and other micronutrients, and quickly produces silk protein – which turns into a fine powder and processed into fiber, composites, solid blocks – what whatever. One gram of fibroin allows you to create 9 kilometers of silk, and by 2015, the company hopes to produce 10 metric tons of this protein per year.
Molecular superglue
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Oddly enough this sounds, but the research team from Oxford University has created molecular superglue, inspired by Streptococcus pyogenes – devouring flesh a bacterium.
They isolated the only protein from the bacteria – the one that allows her to attach to human cells – and created superglue that forms powerful bonds when it comes in contact with another protein molecule. These connections turned out to be so strong that the researchers who tested the sample broke measuring equipment before being torn glued materials. What now remains is to develop ways incorporate these proteins into other molecular structures to Create incredibly durable and selective adhesives.
