Scientists have created a spongy material that cannot be drilled or cut

An international scientific group consisting of German and British specialists announced the creation of special material made of spongy titanium-aluminum alloy with the addition of ceramic oxide spheres aluminum.

The created material is almost seven times lighter than steel and easily resists cutting with a grinder and water-jet cutting, and in the modification with the addition of nichrome it also perfectly resists drilling.

Who and how created the new material

FROM. Scinistsevski, together with engineers from the University of Dürheim and the Fraunhofer Institute, developed a composite material called Proteus.

In this material, the metal part is responsible for the elastic properties, and, accordingly, the ceramic component is responsible for the hardness. In this case, the resulting alloy has a high susceptibility to vibrations during local load centers.

In order to achieve this unique combination, the engineers did the following:

1. Aluminum powder and titanium hydride were thoroughly mixed and cold formed.
2. The resulting mixture was then passed through an extruder and the formed rods were cut into small pieces.
3. Further, metal cylinders and a scattering of aluminum oxide ceramic spheres were added to the steel rods.
4. And only then the resulting "pie with filling" was subjected to heat treatment at 760 degrees Celsius. The workpiece was kept at this temperature for about 20 minutes, and during this time, decomposed titanium hydride and escaping hydrogen created a spongy structure around the ceramic spheres.

Testing the resulting material and finishing with chrome

So, after the scientists received the first samples of the new material, they subjected them to serious tests, during which the following was found out:

The Proteus material easily endured cutting with a grinder, in which a sapphire-coated disc was installed. So, in a minute of work, the disc grinded from a diameter of 11.5 cm to 4.5 cm and completely fell into disrepair.

For comparison, a similar blade easily cuts MARS 220 centimeter steel in just 40 seconds.

In the material "Proteus", the disc rests against ceramic spheres and due to strong friction in everything vibrations occur on the material, which cause lateral grinding and thus very quickly destroy the disk

A similar effect was observed during drilling, but only when the drill hit a ceramic ball. If it passed by, then the material was drilled very easily.

To eliminate this drawback, it was decided to add nichrome to the alloy. After that, the strength and resistance of the entire material increased significantly.

The engineers also tested their material with waterjet cutting. So, a powerful jet of water was just as easily sprayed when it hit the spherical surfaces, thus the cutting speed was reduced by 50 times.

Discoveries are, of course, good, but where can this material be used.

Prospects for the use of the material

While engineers are preparing all the necessary documents to obtain a patent, they are simply convinced that this development will find the widest possible application.

For example, the material "Proteus" can be used to make safes, entrance doors and even protective clothing for industry.

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