Researchers at the U.S. Army Research Lab (ARL) are developing precisely nanopatterned materials that are stronger than Kevlar and steel. The novel material has potential to create lightweight armor, protective coatings, blast shields, and other impact-resistant structures.
“Such lightweight and mechanically superior materials-based systems will enhance mobility of soldiers in land warfare operations and also ultimately allow us to launch advanced environmental monitoring systems to space and sustain them in orbit,” says James Burgess, a program manager at ARL.
A material’s ability to carry heavy loads has been linked to its structure at the nanoscale. For example, the nanostructures of graphene and polystyrene give them their high strengths. Using a nanosized repeating pattern based on tetrakaidecahedrons, the ARL team created a robust, resilient carbon material with strength comparable to some of the world’s toughest materials.
A tetrakaidecahedron is the optimal shape to pack equal-sized objects next to each other with minimal surface area. The ARL team began by designing a digital structure containing 13,500 tetrakaidekahedral unit cells...
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