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Writer's pictureJosh Cadbury

NEW MATERIAL SUGGESTS AN AUTOMOTIVE REVOLUTION



Manufacturers are falling over themselves to develop hybrid and electric cars and the trend seems inexorable. Futurists predict the end of the internal combustion engine and a hyper-efficient world filled with quiet, clean machines. Yet designers have a long way to go if they are to achieve a critical mass and displace the old-fashioned, dirty but oh-so-familiar vehicle of today. They must address cost, viability, convenience and skepticism and if sales are going to keep up with enthusiasm, they’ll need to do this quickly.

New Materials Needed

The battery is of course critical and certainly a stumbling block, in particular because it has to propel such a weight. Even though the electric car will invariably be much lighter (given the fact that most of the mass associated with the engine and transmission have disappeared), there is still a lot to weight to push.

Metallic Wood

A team of researchers at three universities may have discovered an answer in a new material they have nicknamed “metallic wood.” They claim that it is light enough to float in water but as strong as titanium and could have significant potential for the automotive industry.

Material Revolution

The researchers, from universities in Cambridge, Illinois and Pennsylvania, have detailed their discovery in the journal Scientific Reports. As you may expect the study is rather dry, but you can nevertheless delve into it here, should you wish? In a nutshell, they suspended some microscopic plastic spheres in water and then evaporated the liquid, before coating the spheres in nickel. Once they had dissolved the plastic completely, “metallic wood” was born.

The resulting material had interesting characteristics. It was very low density but also cellular in nature and this prompted the comparison to wood. Wood grain is composed of dense parts to maintain structure, with pores that support biological function.

Lighter Bodies, Better Batteries

If further research can find a way to scale up the process and add commercial viability, then this material could be used to create the body for the electric car of the future. The vehicle would be just as strong as its modern-day counterpart but be considerably lighter and this would have a great bearing on its efficiency. Some believe that it may be possible to fill the metallic wood with chemicals to create a revolutionary new type of battery and, potentially, scale this up so that it could power the electric car.

The Holy Grail?

Metallic wood. Is this the answer for those who view the electric vehicle revolution with some skepticism?

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