From childhood we know that the most durable metal is steel. Everything iron is associated with us.
Iron man, iron lady, steel character. Speaking these phrases, we mean incredible strength, strength, hardness.
For a long time, steel was the main material in production and armament. But steel is not metal. More precisely, it is not entirely pure metal. This is a compound of iron with carbon, in which other metal additives are present. Using additives, steel is alloyed, i.e. change its properties. After that, it is processed. Steelmaking is a science.
The strongest metal is obtained when appropriate alloys are introduced into the steel. It can be chrome, which gives the metal hardness and heat resistance, nickel, which makes the steel hard and elastic, etc.
In some positions, steel began to displace aluminum. Time passed, speed grew. Nor could aluminum stand it. I had to turn to titanium.
Yes, yes, because titanium is the most durable metal. To give steel high strength characteristics, titanium was added to it.
It was discovered in the XVIII century. Because of its fragility, it was impossible to apply. Over time, having received pure titanium, engineers and designers became interested in its high specific strength, low density, corrosion resistance and high temperatures. Its physical strength exceeds the strength of iron several times.
Engineers began to add titanium to steel. The result was the most durable metal, which has found application in ultrahigh temperatures. At that time, no other alloy could stand them.
If you imagine a plane that flies three times faster than the speed of sound, you can imagine how the sheathing metal heats up. The sheet metal of the aircraft skin under such conditions heats up to + 3000.
Today, titanium is used unlimitedly in all areas of production. This is medicine, aircraft, ship manufacturing.
With all the obviousness, we can say that in the near future the titan will have to move.
Scientists from the United States, in the laboratories of the University of Texas at Austin, have discovered a way to produce the finest and most durable material on Earth. They called it graphene.
Imagine a carbon technical plate, the thickness of which is equal to the thickness of one atom. But such a plate is stronger than diamond and it passes electric current a hundred times better than computer chips made of silicon.
Graphene is a material with amazing properties. He will soon leave the laboratory and rightfully take his place among the most durable materials of the Universe.
It’s even impossible to imagine that a few grams of graphene will be enough to cover the field for playing football. This is metal. Pipes of this material can be laid manually without the use of hoisting-and-transport mechanisms.
Graphene, like diamond, is pure carbon. Its flexibility is amazing. Such material is easy to bend, folds well and folds perfectly into a roll.
Manufacturers of touch screens, solar panels, energy storage devices, cell phones, and, finally, superfast computer chips have already begun to look at him.