A super-strong and lightweight new nanostructured nickel alloy has been developed in order to increase the energy efficiency in engineering applications. The work was published in Scientific Reports journal of Nature Group.
In a joint study of the Assist. Prof. Sezer Özerinç from METU Department of Mechanical Engineering and scientist from United States and UK, hollow nano porous nickel alloys were produced. Materials with large pores are advantageous in terms of lightness, but do not provide the same advantage in terms of strength. When the hollows are nano-sized, porous and lightweight materials can be produced without losing strength. In this study, a material that is light enough to float on water but stronger than titanium was obtained with nickel material with a pore size of 250 – 500 nm and with hollows covering 75% of the total volume.
Nanomaterials developed based on this study, which shows that strong materials can be produced despite pores, will be used to produce lighter, more robust, energy efficient and environmentally friendly products in automotive, aerospace and biomedicine (implant).
Please find the article published in the Nature group at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-36901-3.
Assist. Prof. Sezer Özerinç: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0733-1705