Engineers of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, California Institute of Technology and the Higher Technical School of Zurich demonstrated that the materials created from nanoscale structures thinner by human hair do not allow microparticles flying with supersonic speeds through them. Such structures can be the basis for efficient armor, protective coatings and explosion-proof shields for sensitive electronics, for example, in the defense and aerospace industry. The results of the study are presented in the article published in the journal Nature Materials.
Specialists created three-dimensional carbon material with a nanostructure by two-photon lithography, when the laser beam moves along a liquid light-sensitive resin, leaving the hard microscopic structures behind you. A repeated configuration in the form of a fourteenth brand was selected as a regular structure. Such a structure is characteristic of Wayira Fenna foam, which is based on energy-saving materials and in photonics. After annealing, the structure was placed in a high-temperature vacuum furnace to obtain ultralight carbon material.
To check the stability of the structure to extreme deformation, the team conducted experiments on the shocks of microparticles in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The laser was directed through the slide glass coated with a thin film of gold, which itself is covered with a layer of silicon oxide microxide diameter of 14 microns. Passing through the glass, the laser generates tiny plasma explosions in the gold layer and thus pushes silicon particles in the direction of the laser. Particle speed can reach 40-1100 meters per second.
It turned out that the material dispels the energy of the impact with efficiency, superior to traditional impact-resistant materials, such as steel, aluminum, polymethyl methacrylate and Kevlar. Ultra-speed visualization and confocal microscopy showed that the strength is ensured by mechanisms as the formation of compact seals (compact moderation) instead of the removal of the material and the capture of microparticles formed from the impact. In other words, microparticles were embedded in the material, and did not break it.
Nano Architecture material consists of ordered nanometer scale structures, which, depending on how they are located, give the necessary properties. Scientists have proven that it is possible to predict what damage will be caused by the material depending on the velocity of the particles and the density of the material itself with the help of a Pi-theorem by analogy with the fall of the meteorite on the planet.