The strongest metal: what it is
Since childhood, we know that the most durable metal is steel. All iron is associated with it.
Long time in production and armamentthe main material was steel. But steel is not metal. More precisely, it's not quite pure metal. This is a compound of iron with carbon, in which there are other metal additives. Using additives, steel is alloyed, i. E. change its properties. After that, it is processed. Steel making is a whole science.
The most durable metal is obtained when appropriate ligatures are introduced into the steel. This can be chromium, which gives the metal hardness and heat resistance, nickel, making the steel hard and elastic, etc.
On some positions steel began to displace aluminum. Time passed and speed increased. I could not stand aluminum. I had to turn to the titan.
Yes, yes, because titanium is the most durable metal. To make steel of high strength characteristics, titanium was added to it.
It was discovered in the XVIII century. Because of its fragility, it was impossible to apply it. Over time, having received pure titanium, engineers and designers were 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 most durable metal was obtained, which was used in an environment of ultrahigh temperatures. At that time, they could not withstand any other alloy.
If you imagine a plane that flies in threetimes faster than the speed of sound, we can imagine how the sheathing metal is heated. The sheet metal of the aircraft skin is heated up to + 3000С in such conditions.
Today, titanium is used unrestrictedly in all spheres of production. This medicine, aircraft building, ship production.
It can be clearly said that in the near future the titan will have to move.
Scientists from the United States, at 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 a diamond and a hundred times better than an electric current flow than computer chips made of silicon.
Graphene is a material with damaging properties. He will soon leave the laboratory and rightfully take his place among the most durable materials of the universe.
It is even impossible to imagine that severalgrams of graphene will be enough to cover the field for playing football. This is metal. Pipes made of such material can be laid manually without the use of hoisting and transport mechanisms.
Graphene, like a diamond, is the purest carbon. Its flexibility is amazing. Such material easily bends, folds perfectly and perfectly folds into a roll.
The manufacturers of touch screens, solar panels, energy storage devices, cell phones, and, finally, super-high-speed computer chips have already started looking at it.
