A team led by researchers from UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science has created a super-strong yet lightweight structural metal with extremely high specific strength and stiffness-to-weight ratio. The new metal is composed of magnesium containing a dispersal of silicon carbide nanoparticles. It would be ideal for making lighter cars, aircraft, and spacecraft and helping to improve fuel efficiency. To create the super-strong metal, the team found a new way to disperse and stabilise nanoparticles in molten metals. They also developed a method to scale-up the manufacturing method that could pave the way for more high-performance light-weight metals (Nature, 23 December 2015 | DOI: 10.1038ature16445).
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