"Metallic Wood" Has Strength of Titanium, Density of Water

Design News (March 5) -- Researchers are constantly seeking materials that are high-strength but low weight, similar to the properties of titanium. Key to achieving these is the way in which a metal’s atoms are stacked, and also maintaining that arrangement in the manufacturing process, which has been tricky. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, and the University of Cambridge believe they’ve achieved a breakthrough in this aim with the development of a new material they’ve dubbed “metallic wood”: a sheet of nickel with nanoscale pores that make it as strong as titanium but four to five times lighter.