Apparently strong, lightweight materials matter when building airplanes?
Either that or the Boeing engineers just want to dominate their kids' egg drop challenges at school.
From a cnn.com article about the microlattice...
The microlattice weighs only about one tenth as much as carbon fiber, and is actually slightly lighter than air itself, said Bill Carter, the director of the Sensors and Materials Laboratory at HRL.
It will likely first be used on space rockets that Boeing plans to build in about five years, and it should make its way into commercial planes about five years after that, said Carter. He said the cost of manufacturing will have to come down a little more before it is economically feasible to use on cars.
Would this replace normal, hexoganal patterns of carbon fiber composites?
ReplyDeleteIt's going to have to be stabilized for that to happen. The great thing about the carbon fiber composites is that they're both dimensionally stable (rigid, not much thermal expansion) and corrosion resistant. If those hurdles can be reached, maybe.
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