3D PRINT STRONGER THAN STEEL

When it comes to the strength-to-weight ratio of a material, this couldn’t be more important as researchers constantly work to make strong, yet lightweight composites for fields like the aerospace industry.  This is where scientists at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany come in. Using the Nanoscribe laser lithography printer, which we’ve covered on the site before, PhD student Jens Brauer and his colleagues developed a process for 3D printing microscopic structures that are less dense than water, but stronger than steel.  Bakuer tells The Conversation that, “This is the first experimental proof that such materials can exist.”

If you look at the Ashby chart above, you’ll see that most materials that can withstand pressures of up to 280 MPa (megaPascals often used to measure stiffness or tensile strength) are metal alloys that tend closer to the denser side of the weight spectrum.  There are a couple of exceptions, however.  Wood and bone[1] tend to have high tensile strength while maintaining a very light weight, thanks to their porous internal structures.  Taking a cue from these natural materials, the team went about designing 3D structures that might exhibit similar properties.