Researchers create the strongest material on Earth

Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley have developed the strongest material that can exist on Earth. This chrome-cobalt-nickel alloy would thus be 100 times more robust than graphene! This alloy also has the particularity of being particularly malleable (or in more scientific terms ductile), which means that it can bend under pressure and thus resist breaking, a bit like the reed in La Fontaine’s fable. This particular capacity for malleability is the result of several distinct mechanisms taking place at the atomic scale (such as the dislocation of atoms during pressure).

Electron microscope magnification of the chromium-cobalt-nickel alloy developed by a team of researchers from the University of California at Berkeley

Even more importantly, these resistance mechanisms under pressure prove to be even more effective in very low temperature conditions. At -196°C, the material was even more resistant than at room temperature, and it was necessary to push to -253°C to obtain a fracture line in the alloy (made of simple cracks). The resistance of this alloy has been measured at 400 to 500 megapascals per meter (!), compared to four megapascals per meter of graphene (yet already considered very strong). “Astounding Numbers” to Robert Ritchieone of the researchers behind this work.

The ultra-resistant chromium-cobalt-nickel alloy could be of great use in sectors where the resistance of materials is essential, such as aerospace or nuclear, for example, but it will also be necessary to count on the fact that nickel and cobalt are extremely expensive to extract.