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Materials of the Future: Boeing Creates “Lightest Metal Ever”

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Boeing Lightest metal ever micro lattice

Bicycle materials have a long history with aviation. Whether you’re talking carbon fiber, titanium, or even aluminum, anything that is strong and light enough to create something that is structurally sound for flight has been used in some regard.

Typically after years of development and engineering by the military or private firms, the materials tend to find their way to the comparatively tiny world of performance bicycles. If that trend continues, cyclists may have something to get excited about years down the road. We say years, because Boeing’s newest wonder material hasn’t even found its way into their planes yet. And while Boeing has numerous technologies and patents that still have yet to see commercial viability, Microlattice is fascinating, if for nothing else other than the title of the “lightest metal ever…”

As the video highlights, Microlattice could be built to be both strong, extremely light, and even flexible. Rather that using hollow tubes to build a bike, perhaps the bikes of the future will be built with “bones” created from Microlattice with unbeatable weight, stiffness, and compliance. I wouldn’t hold your breath, but it is fun to think about.

boeing.com

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boom
boom
8 years ago

I’m a mechanical engineer, and I think this is cool

AlanM
AlanM
8 years ago

I’m not a mechanical engineer, and I think this is cool.

Cowtown Cyclist
Cowtown Cyclist
8 years ago

This actually looks like it would be ideal for a helmet. Everything Koroyd is supposed to be.

Ben
Ben
8 years ago

Lattice and bones? You mean like the Razik bikes???

JBikes
JBikes
8 years ago

Lightest material/structure, not lightest metal.

Seems like a amazing core for CF laminate structures. Like end grain balsa that is flexible.

chasejj
chasejj
8 years ago

I think this is cool.

Martin lisk
Martin lisk
8 years ago

Designing lightweight, stiff, and strong windsurfing boards, we worked with Divincell and Quadracell. We would sandwich the Divincell and Quadracell around a polystyrene foam, and have everything bonded with carbon and epoxy.

How this equates to cycling: Right now, the emphasis is only using carbon tubes, with no internal structure. This is similar to how windsurfing masts and booms are made. Incredibly stiff and lightweight, but given enough time and torque, they do break down. Maybe in the design of the pieces that need the most stiffness and ding and crack protection, development of using a core material could be considered (thinking down-tubes, top-tubes and chain stays)

Ryan
Ryan
8 years ago

I’m a graphic designer (print), and I think this is cool.

jskane
jskane
8 years ago

Ima dork, and I think this is cool.

Todd
Todd
8 years ago

I’m not a pilot, but I play one one TV, and I think this is cool (I think?)…

djbutcher13
djbutcher13
8 years ago

non-air innertubes

Francois
Francois
8 years ago

I really don’t get it. The stuff is very flexible, so how could it help in a bike?

It’s obviously not to be used as a building material.
The article mentions filling hollow tubes with it: but that stuff absorbs energy when deforming. If you put it in your carbon tube, it would only be able to absorb a significant amount of energy if the tubes themselves are deformed a lot, but the tubes would break before it happens…

Also I missed the part about the metal (which metal is it??). The woman in the video mentions a polymer. To me it seems like some sort of ordered aerogel.

nobodylikesshocktop
nobodylikesshocktop
8 years ago

I think this is cool, and an entirely misleading title. Apparently fault Boeing for that though.

Burton
Burton
8 years ago

The operative phrase in this article — and the take-away — is “don’t hold your breath.”

Todd
Todd
8 years ago

Francois… Imagine the metal lattice as your matrix used in (or in conjunction with) a composite structure. This offers properties not found in current material science. Thinner, lighter parts with stronger mechanical properties.

Imagine filling those air spaces with tough or strong polymers and you have no idea what’s coming next. Fill a bumper in a car with an elastomeric product that changes durometer on impact, all suspended in that shapeable lattice and you have something never seen before -> A car that can handle an impact without much repair… Helmets, PPE… Lots of possibilities.

anonymous
anonymous
8 years ago

Drillium

Tydor
Tydor
8 years ago

I’m a homeless French atheist. And I think this is cool.

Duane
Duane
8 years ago

Do we get to say “steel is real” if this gets used? It definitely looks interesting but I do have a hard time imagining a very flexible material being relevant for bicycle parts, but I’m sure there is a way.

Georgius Agricola
Georgius Agricola
8 years ago

Tirerillite Bikedumbium Spokalcilliate tubing

dkrenik
dkrenik
8 years ago

Honeycomb within tubes has been done before (long time ago – can’t recall who). I’m more e3xcited to see graphene making inroads into the sport.

Phil Jones
Phil Jones
8 years ago

I’m a complete moron, and I don’t think this is cool.

Heber
Heber
8 years ago

I’m nobody, and I think this is cool

Smitty
Smitty
8 years ago

That’s neat I. I want graphene in bike tires please; super lightweight, bulletproof tires.

Ryan
Ryan
8 years ago

@Smitty,

I was thinking similarly, except making it the tire itself.

fergus
fergus
8 years ago

They sprayed that dandelion with hairspray for the photo

Paul
Paul
8 years ago

exciting, but at the same time makes me worry what price level should we imagine long way down the road once this gets to be top level material for us as well (if at all). something is telling me there is no shame in bike industry to double/triple the prices again…

Luis Raventos
8 years ago

Nice invention. Where can we use this new material? I think the aplications are clear, structural parts, like cranks, frames, forks, stem, handlebar, seatpost and saddle, inside the external structure of Carbon, Aluminium, Steel or Titanium. I think this is the main issue, how to put this inside the tubing.
How is manufactured this new “metal”? (I have not clear it´s a new metal, but I suppose it´s a very old one…like steel?)

gatouille
gatouille
8 years ago

No invention here. Nature create these kinf of structure. It’s just like molecule built with atom and a lot of blank space !!!
Human copying nature.

The revolution is the process which will allow us to create perfect structure and, with imagination and a lot of energy, new structure and new materials.
Process is the most important today.

Civil Engineer PHD x 5
Civil Engineer PHD x 5
8 years ago

I’m a Civil Engineer PHD x 5, and I think this is cool

MSE
MSE
8 years ago

@boom why do mechanical engineers think they know a lot about what things are made of? MEs typically know nothing about materials. There is a field of study called “Materials Science and Engineering” and they are the individuals that typically know the nuisances of what materials are made of and how they are made. Just FYI.

Question
Question
8 years ago

…but I stayed in a Best Western?

kwl
kwl
8 years ago

looks like to me that boing made something but they don’t know what its for. we could some day use it in one of these parts… d they have a rigid version otherwise its just an open cell flexible metal foam, no?

CDG
CDG
8 years ago

I just came here for the comments, and I think this is cool!

AbelF
AbelF
8 years ago

I work for Airbus, and I think this is cool!

Dsand
Dsand
8 years ago

I work for food and I think this is cool.

Jim Rice
Jim Rice
8 years ago

@gatouille, “Human copying nature” is called biomimicry.

From the Biomimicry Institute “Biomimicry is an approach to innovation that seeks sustainable solutions to human challenges by emulating nature’s time-tested patterns and strategies. The goal is to create products, processes, and policies—new ways of living—that are well-adapted to life on earth over the long haul.”

Architecture, product design and even organizational design borrow principles from nature.

@willembosboom
@willembosboom
8 years ago

Im cool and i think this is cool!

Antipodean_eleven
8 years ago

Someone reading Core77.com…. ? 🙂

Antipodean_eleven
8 years ago

And I read my own comment… and I think this is cool.

Chris S
Chris S
8 years ago

This is cool. Trust me, I’m a doctor.

steve h
steve h
8 years ago

micro lettuce, it’s the honeycomb middle that weighs so little!

Mack_turtle
Mack_turtle
8 years ago

An engineer walks into a bar. The bartender asks, “what can I get you to drink?” The engineer looks at the beers on tap, mixed drinks, bottles, et cetera and says “well, I am an engineer…” and without warning, the bartender reaches across his bar and punches that pretnsious knowitall in the mouth. Everyone cheers.

Jeff the pastry chef
Jeff the pastry chef
8 years ago

im a pastry chef and I think this is cool

Allan
Allan
8 years ago

LOL, nice work BR commenters!

Jason
Jason
8 years ago

“Bicycle materials have a long history with aviation. Whether you’re talking carbon fiber, titanium, or even aluminum, anything that is strong and light enough to create something that is structurally sound for flight has been used in some regard.”

And let’s not forget what trade the Wright brothers were in . . .

Pantaloon
Pantaloon
8 years ago

I remember what trade the Wright brothers were in… …and this is cool.

Cousin It
Cousin It
8 years ago

I normally just complain about Specialized and I think this is cool.

Prawn
Prawn
8 years ago

I am a post-prog rock keyboard player, and I think this is cool.

jay
jay
8 years ago

I’m illiterate and I think this is coule.

Vishnu
Vishnu
8 years ago

Vishnu says “Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds” and I think this is cool.

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