Aluminum oxide nanocardboard is strong, yet bendable

Researchers developed a structured nanomaterial that is stiff and light like corrugated cardboard but only tens of nanometers thick. ↓↓More info and references below↓↓ Corrugated cardboard is a classic example of a stiff yet lightweight material. Now researchers have developed a sandwich structure similar to that of corrugated cardboard at the nanoscale. The “nanocardboard,” made from an ultrathin film of aluminum oxide, is more than 10,000 times as stiff as a solid sheet of aluminum oxide with the same mass, and it can recover its shape after repeated bending. The team thinks the material could be used for a variety of aerospace and microrobotic applications. Read more: Nanocardboard as a nanoscale analog of hollow sandwich plates | Nature Communications Metamaterials With Unusual Mechanics | C&EN A Faster Method for Making Metamaterials | C&EN “Perspiration” by Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0 This video is a production of Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society. Contact us at cen_multimedia@!