The most durable metal: what is it

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Since childhood, we know that the most durable metal is steel. Everything iron is associated with her.

Iron man, iron lady, steel character. By saying these phrases, we mean incredible strength, strength, hardness.

For a long time, steel was the main material in production and weapons. But steel is not metal. To be more precise, it is not a completely pure metal. This is a compound of iron with carbon, in which other metal additives are also present. Using additives, steel is alloyed, i.e. change its properties. After that, it is processed. Steelmaking is a whole science.

The most durable metal is obtained by introducing the appropriate alloys into the steel. It can be chromium, which gives the metal hardness and heat resistance, nickel, which makes steel hard and elastic, etc.

Steel began to displace aluminum in some positions. Time passed, the speed increased. Aluminum didn't hold up either. I had to turn to the titan.

Yes, yes, because titanium is the most durable metal. To give the steel high strength characteristics, titanium began to be added to it.

It was discovered in the 18th century. Due to its fragility, it was impossible to use it. Over time, having received pure titanium, engineers and designers became interested in its high specific strength, low density, resistance to corrosion and high temperatures. Its physical strength exceeds the strength of iron by several times.

Engineers started adding titanium to steel. The result was the most durable metal, which has found application in an environment of ultrahigh temperatures. At that time, no other alloy could withstand them.

If you imagine an airplane flying three times faster than the speed of sound, you can imagine how the sheathing metal heats up. The sheet metal of the aircraft skin in such conditions is heated up to +3000С.

Today, titanium is used unlimitedly in all areas of production. These are medicine, aircraft building, ship production.

It's clear that the titan will have to move in the near future.

Scientists from the USA, in the laboratories of the University of Texas at Austin, have discovered a way to produce the thinnest and most durable material on Earth. They called it graphene.

Imagine a technical carbon plate, the thickness of which is equal to the thickness of one atom. But such a plate is stronger than diamond and conducts electricity a hundred times better than computer chips made ofsilicon.

Graphene is a material with damaging properties. It will soon leave the laboratories and rightfully take its place among the most durable materials in the universe.

It's even impossible to imagine that a few grams of graphene would be enough to cover a football field. Here is the metal. Pipes made of such material can be laid manually without the use of lifting and transport mechanisms.

Graphene, like diamond, is the purest carbon. His flexibility is amazing. This material folds easily, folds beautifully and rolls up nicely.

Manufacturers of touch screens, solar cells, energy storage devices, cell phones, and, finally, super-fast computer chips have already begun to look at it.