materialsscienceandengineering
World’s Strongest Silver Breaks Decades-Old Theoretical Limit – Paves Way for New Class of Super-Strong Materials
Inventing the world’s strongest silver: Team creates metal that breaks decades-old theoretical limit, promising new class of super-strong and conducting materials.
A team of scientists has made the strongest silver ever—42 percent stronger than the previous world record. But that’s not the important point.
“We’ve discovered a new mechanism at work at the nanoscale that allows us to make metals that are much stronger than anything ever made before—while not losing any electrical conductivity,” says Frederic Sansoz, a materials scientist and mechanical engineering professor at the University of Vermont who co-led the new discovery.
This fundamental breakthrough promises a new category of materials that can overcome a traditional trade-off in industrial and commercial materials between strength and ability to carry electrical current.