Materials scientists have created a glass nanolattice structure five times lighter and four times stronger than steel. They call the new material the strongest known for its given density. The use of a DNA structure and thin, flawless glass is the secret sauce (Newcomb, 2023).
Iron, for example, can handle 7 tons of pressure per square centimeter. A flawless cubic centimeter of glass, though, can take on 10 tons of pressure (the scientists say that is more than three times the pressure that imploded Oceangate’s Titan submersible) (Newcomb, 2023).
Glass’s reputation for shattering easily is actually a result of any flaws present in the material—flawlessness is what brings lightweight strength. And to create flawless glass, the team used a sample less than a micrometer thick. At that thickness, glass is almost always flawless, and is much less dense than other metals and ceramics (Newcomb, 2023).
The team then built a DNA lattice and coated it with a glass-like material only a few hundred atoms thick. Coating the DNA strands left empty space in portions of the material volume. This DNA skeleton reinforced the thin, flawless coating of glass for strength, and the voids made it lighter (Newcomb, 2023).
The team is now employing the same DNA structure design in further materials development, but has switched to stronger carbide ceramics for glass. They will also experiment with different DNA structures to see which makes the material strongest (Newcomb, 2023).
Analysis
I found this article very interesting because glass is known for easily shattering and is not a very strong material. This new technology utilized the DNA structure and created the new glass nanolattice structure that is five times lighter and four times stronger than steel. Although I may not have access to this kind of glass material, reading this article makes me starting to consider the material factors of my project. If I want to design something like groceries organizers, what kinds of materials should I consider? It is inevitable that objects in the trunk will collide when driving. Its important to ensure the safety of easily broken items like eggs and glass bottles (OpenAI, 2024).
Reference
Brookhaven National Laboratory. (2023, October 3). Scientists develop incredibly lightweight material 4 times stronger than steel. SciTechDaily. https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-develop-incredibly-lightweight-material-4-times-stronger-than-steel/
Newcomb, T. (2023, October 19). A new wonder material is 5x lighter—and 4x stronger—than steel. Popular Mechanics. https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a44725449/new-material-lighter-and-stronger-than-steel/
OpenAI. (2024). ChatGPT 4o. https://chatgpt.com/c/66e8eb05-0a18-800e-9f57-3b47a968aa68
