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The Toughest Material on Earth

38 points by bilsbie 4y ago

bryan0 4y ago
I think this article is missing a basic definition of “toughness”. > In materials science and metallurgy, toughness is the ability of a material to absorb energy and plastically deform without fracturing. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toughness https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toughness
- eesmith 4y ago
  And measured in units I've not heard of before. The toughness was "as high as 500 megapascals square root meters".
  - ghaff 4y ago
    I had to double-check given how old my knowledge in this area is but MPa m^1/2 does indeed seem to be the unit used to measure toughness using diamond indenters etc. More precisely, it apparently describes the Fracture toughness, which is an indication of the tendency of the material to allow for a free propagation of a crack while under stress. The higher the value, the more energy the material absorbs and less freely does the crack propagate. (Toughness modulus is in Pascals.)
ghaff 4y ago
My master's thesis ended up being basically studying a lot of the basic material characteristics of about a 50:50 alloy of nickel and aluminum. (This article is about an alloy with a significant mix of three elements as part of a class of materials that combine even more in significant quantities.) My thesis advisor was trying to find out ways to present this class of alloys from becoming brittle when heated. The research never really produced good results though and he ended being mostly focused on studying (water) ice.
deleted 4y ago
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moloch-hai 4y ago
I thought the toughest material was produced by cephalopods, by a process we cannot hope to reproduce. Are different definitions of toughness in play?
- ghaff 4y ago
  I think you'll probably find it's one of the toughest organic materials. But there's certainly an interest in taking inspiration from such materials for other purposes.
tomcam 4y ago
This is all bull. Anyone who’s had a toddler swing their dense little head at you and was rewarded with a fat lip knows exactly what the hardest material on earth is. My startup, BabySkull.io (YC S23), is exploring this material for defense-related equipment.
ahazred8ta 4y ago
A chromium, cobalt, nickel alloy (CrCoNi / CrMnFeCoNi) which is fracture resistant even at cryogenic temperatures.
M95D 4y ago
Can we build a space elevator with it?

38 points by bilsbie 4y ago

I think this article is missing a basic definition of “toughness”. > In materials science and metallurgy, toughness is the ability of a material to absorb energy and plastically deform without fracturing. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toughness https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toughness

eesmith 4y ago
And measured in units I've not heard of before. The toughness was "as high as 500 megapascals square root meters".
- ghaff 4y ago
  I had to double-check given how old my knowledge in this area is but MPa m^1/2 does indeed seem to be the unit used to measure toughness using diamond indenters etc. More precisely, it apparently describes the Fracture toughness, which is an indication of the tendency of the material to allow for a free propagation of a crack while under stress. The higher the value, the more energy the material absorbs and less freely does the crack propagate. (Toughness modulus is in Pascals.)

ghaff 4y ago

My master's thesis ended up being basically studying a lot of the basic material characteristics of about a 50:50 alloy of nickel and aluminum. (This article is about an alloy with a significant mix of three elements as part of a class of materials that combine even more in significant quantities.) My thesis advisor was trying to find out ways to present this class of alloys from becoming brittle when heated. The research never really produced good results though and he ended being mostly focused on studying (water) ice.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

moloch-hai 4y ago

I thought the toughest material was produced by cephalopods, by a process we cannot hope to reproduce. Are different definitions of toughness in play?

ghaff 4y ago
I think you'll probably find it's one of the toughest organic materials. But there's certainly an interest in taking inspiration from such materials for other purposes.

tomcam 4y ago

This is all bull. Anyone who’s had a toddler swing their dense little head at you and was rewarded with a fat lip knows exactly what the hardest material on earth is. My startup, BabySkull.io (YC S23), is exploring this material for defense-related equipment.

ahazred8ta 4y ago

A chromium, cobalt, nickel alloy (CrCoNi / CrMnFeCoNi) which is fracture resistant even at cryogenic temperatures.

M95D 4y ago

Can we build a space elevator with it?