Burning a solid magnesium metal is part of a sacrificial anode from a hot water heater. (Photo : YouTube )
The airline and automotive industries are set to be revolutionized by the Superman of metals. This material created by a group of scientists in Los Angeles is very strong but very lightweight so it could help create faster vehicles.
This Superman of metals created by engineers at the University of California, Los Angeles, combine magnesium and ceramic silicon carbide nanoparticles. Without having its integrity altered, the metal can absorb and withstand high heat and its stiffness-to-weight ratio significantly surpasses other strong metals engineers have used for decades.
In a press statement obtained by Newsweek, UCLA manufacturing and engineering professor Xiao-Chun Li said, "It's been proposed that nanoparticles could really enhance the strength of metals without damaging their plasticity, especially light metals like magnesium. But no groups have been able to disperse ceramic nanoparticles in molten metals until now."
Along with Li, the other authors of the study titled "Processing and properties of magnesium containing a dense uniform dispersion of nanoparticles" are Lian-Yi Chen, Jia-Quan Xu, Hongseok Choi, Marta Pozuelo, Xiaolong Ma, Sanjit Bhowmick, Jenn-Ming Yang, and Suveen Mathaudhu.
In the study published in the Nature journal, the UCLA scientists pointed out that with a density two-thirds that of aluminium, magnesium is a light metal that is abundant on Earth. It is a biocompatible metal that has the potential to improve system performance and energy efficiency not only in aerospace and automobile but also in defence, biomedical applications and mobile electronics.
On the other hand, the scientists pointed out that certain limits have been reached by conventional synthesis and processing methods, which include alloying and thermomechanical processing, in improving the properties of magnesium and other metals.
