14 STRONGEST Materials Known To Man
From the bullet-stopping power of kevlar to a sea-creature that has teeth that could scratch
diamonds’, discovery and invention are quickly expanding our views of the physical limits
of the elements and what they can make when put together.
Here are the strongest materials known to man!
#14.
“Diamond”- This beautiful mineral is valued not only because of its looks but also because
its is one of the strongest naturally occurring substances on Earth.
On the Mohs scale, which is used to categorize the strength of minerals, diamonds are unsurpassed
with a rating of 10.
In fact, in order to cut diamonds jewelers must used another diamond.
Diamonds also have one of the highest melting points of any material only liquefying when
it reaches temperatures over 7300 degrees Fahrenheit.
It is also considered the greatest naturally occuring conductor of heat.
Because of these amazing qualities diamonds have long been worth almost as much as gold
and have been used in construction, mining and medical technology for hundreds of years.
#13.
“Kevlar”- You may recognize Kevlar as the material used by militaries all over the
world for helmets and body armor and it’s because of its unique combination of being
light and ridiculously strong that makes it so effective at protecting soldiers.
Kevlar is a type of plastic that is made up of molecules with an incredibly strong structures
that are linked together like rings.
Once the plastic fibers made of these molecules are weaved together they display a tensile
strength that is almost ten times as strong as steel wire.
Not only can it resist physical blows it is highly resistant to changes in temperatures.
Kevlar has the ability to withstand temperatures as low as -320 degrees Fahrenheit and as high
as 850 degrees fahrenheit without being damaged.
Kevlar is also commonly used in tires, brakes, musical instruments, shoes, boats, phones
and much more!
#12.
“Spider’s Silk”- Spider’s silk, more specifically that of the Darwin’s Bark Spider
is the second strongest bio-material on Earth.
Biomaterials are materials that are naturally produced by a living organism.
Though most web-spinning spiders have incredibly strong silk, the Darwin’s Bark spider takes
the cake with silk that is 10 times stronger than that of Kevlar.
After discovering the unique strength of this spider’s giant webs in 2001, scientists
have been constantly studying it in order to unlock its secrets and use them for creating
extremely thin materials that can withstand the most formidable of punches.
Studying the silk could leak to breakthroughs in the ways that rope, wires and the fabric
of body armor are designed.
#11.
“Nanocellulose”- Nanocellulose is a pseudo-plastic made up of ridiculously small fibers made
from plant matter.
Though it comes in many forms nanocellulose is generally manufactured from wood pulp and
has many practical applications due to it being lightweight, non-toxic, absorbent, having
the ability to conduct electricity and it being very cheap to produce.
Like Spider’s silk it has astounding tensile strength, 8 times that of steel.
Though it is a fairly new material nanocellulose has already been tapped as a material that
will be used in making vehicles that are lighter and stronger amongst many other uses.
Researchers suggest that if one was to make a ship out of nanocellulose aerogel that it
could hold over one thousand times its own weight.
Because of the advent of 3D printing nanocellulose is becoming one of the most important materials
of the future.
#10.
“Limpet Teeth”-Beating out the Darwin’s Bark Spider’s silk for the strongest biomaterial
on Earth, is the teeth of a creature known as the Limpet.
Limpets are a type of mollusk that cling to rocks in and around the ocean and feed off
of the algae on the rocks.
In order to scrape this algae they have evolved some amazingly strong teeth.
Located on the critter’s tongue, their teeth are made up of a mineral called goethite which
are intertwined within a protein base.
The teeth are very small but they can withstand forces of up to 5 gigapascals which is half
a gigapascal stronger than that of spider’s silk.
The limpet’s teeth are so tough that when it eats it actually carves away at the rock
it is feeding on.
Studying the limpet’s teeth may give scientists and inventors clues into everything from excavating
technologies to building materials.
#9.
“Silicon Carbide”- The amazingly strong compound known as silicon carbide was first
invented in 1891 when Edward Acheson was trying to create artificial diamonds.
The resulting material which is a crystallized combination of silicon and carbon turned out
to be even stronger than that of a diamond.
Today silicon carbide is used for all sorts of things, mainly in brickmaking as it is
an immensely powerful conductor of heat.
It is also used in certain industrial sand papers and in grinding wheels.
Though sometimes it appears black or grey it often has a strikingly beautiful appearance
with shimmering streaks and speckles of purple, green, blue and yellow.
#8.
“Palladium Microalloy”-Say hello to one of the materials that is assured to be a prominent
part of buildings and vehicles of the future: Palladium Microalloy.
Also known as Metallic Glass this material was first produced in 2011 and though it has
glass-like qualities it is stronger and more durable than steel and doesn’t shatter like
normal glass would.
Instead of breaking into many tiny pieces if palladium microalloy is met with enough
force to break, which would take an immense amount of pressure, it actually ripples and
bends, thus maintaining most of its integrity.
Because it is lighter and has less density than steel yet is still tougher and can hold
more weight scientists believe that metallic glass will soon be replacing steel when it
comes to the constructions of bridges, skyscrapers and much more.
#7.
“Dyneema”-Dyneema is a form of ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene that is slowly replacing Kevlar
due to it being more than twice as tensile and lighter than it.
Forms of Dyneema were first synthesized in the 1950s and have been commonly used in medical
implants.
And though Dyneema was invented in the 60s it didn’t become commercially available
until the early 1990s.
Trademarked as the strongest fiber in the world Dyneema is 15 times stronger than steel
and like Kevlar is used in body armor and armored vehicles.
Dyneema has the added bonuses of being buoyant, invisible to thermal imaging, and extremely
resistant to electrical charges.
Because of these and many more amazing qualities Dyneema is also used for fishing nets, safety
gloves, towing lines and in medical equipment.
#6.
“Buckypaper”- Many of the strongest materials on Earth are made up of a new invention called
carbon nanotubes but one of the most groundbreaking is that of Buckypaper.
These nanotubes are tens of thousands of times finer than that of human hair and are as you
may have guessed made out of carbon.
When these tubes are weaved together it results in astonishingly light yet jaw-droppingly
strong materials.
Buckypaper can be made to be incredibly thin and look as flimsy as a piece of paper but
it weighs times less and could be more than five hundred times stronger than a sheet of
steel the same size.
Scientists have been experimenting with buckypaper and are trying to find ways to use its strength
to make things like spaceships and cars more durable.
Though this future may be far off as because of its unique properties, like being extremely
smooth and it being dangerously good at conducting electricity, scientists are struggling to
find ways to build with it.
#5.
“Graphene”- Graphene is one of the only two-dimensional materials ever discovered
by man and has some incredible properties.
Graphene is one atom thick yet is over one-hundred and fifty times stronger than that of steel
if it were the same size.
Graphene is also just as flexible as silicone and is amazingly malleable with the ability
to be stretched well over 100 times its size.
Because of these qualities and the fact that it is even more suited to conducting electricity
than copper and silicon, scientists all over the world are salivating at the possible applications
of graphene.
Since it was discovered it has been touted as a miracle material and could very well
change the way electronics and vehicles of all shapes and kinds are produced.
It may take time for us to see graphene become a household name but your children and their
children will most assuredly benefit from this astounding material.
#4.
“Metallic Microlattice”-Metallic Microlattice is both one of the strongest materials ever
created and one of the lightest.
Scientists have taken hierarchical lattice designs like that have been seen in numerous
architectural wonders and used them on a much smaller scale to create this super material.
Metallic Microlattice is made up of nickel-phosphorous tubes that are a thousand times finer than
that of human hair and connected them in a lattice pattern creating superb strength with
a remarkably efficient use of resources.
The finished product is upwards of one-hundred times lighter than that of styrofoam yet is
one of the strongest materials ever and can withstand an unbelievable amount of force
but still spring back into shape.
There is no doubt that metallic microlattice will be an important material in the production
of audio technology, batteries and military defense structures for years to come.
#3.
“Wurtzite Boron Nitride”- Though it is has been found to occur rarely in nature Wurtzite
Boron Nitride is mostly produced synthetically but is considered even stronger than that
of the common mineral diamonds.
Wurtzite Boron Nitride is created when a crystallized version of boron nitride is put under immense
pressure that changes the arrangement of its atomic bond.
The resulting Wurtzite is almost twenty gigapascals harder than that of a diamond, yet strangely
softer.
Because of the difficulty of synthesizing this material it may never be used for any
practical applications but perhaps one day scientists will unlock a way to mass produce
it.
It also doesn’t have the same aesthetic value of diamonds as instead of shiny and
beautiful its is a dull grey.
#2.
“Carbyne”-The only other two-dimensional material ever produced by man was created
using graphene.
Carbyne is created inside of a double walled tube of graphene, the only thing that is strong
enough to insure that the chain of atoms that make of Carbyne don’t break apart before
the process is done.
This resulting material is believed to be far stronger than even graphene and is considered
to have double the stiffness of anything discovered or created before.
As of now carbyne, which is made out of a rare variant of carbon, still isn’t stable
enough to use for anything practical but the speed of its development has been promising
for scientists.
This type of material might be required if man ever wants to master intergalactic space
travel.
#1.
“Lonsdaleite”- The only naturally occurring material found to be stronger than that of
Wurtzite Boron Nitride is a close cousin to the diamond and goes by the name Lonsdaleite.
Lonsdaleite is a form of carbon that is created when meteorites with graphite in them hit
Earth.
When this happens the insane amount of heat and pressure that occurs causes the graphite
to turn into a diamond that still bears the lattice structure seen in graphite.
Because of its striking similarity to diamonds lonsdaleite is sometimes called a hexagonal
diamond.
This lattice structure in turn makes lonsdaleite even stronger than that of a run-of-the-mill
diamond by over 50 percent.
Though it is very rare to find the pure versions of lonsdaleite that exhibit this strength
naturally.
Lonsdaleite was only seen in this form until the last few years when it was finally synthesized
in a lab.
The synthetic version was found to be even stronger than any naturally occurring specimen
ever found and could lead to even more scientific breakthroughs.
Though it is much harder than Wurtzite Boron Nitride scientists believe that Lonsdaleite
probably won’t have as much practical applications because it is so far even harder to produce.
Which of these materials do you think will play the biggest role in humanity’s future?