Scientists from St. Petersburg created unsinkable metal

According to the press service of St. Petersburg Polytechnic University Peter the Great, scientists of this educational institution managed to develop and patent the technology of production of porous metal based on aluminum alloy. Due to the unusual structure, even large enough sheets of metal do not sink in the water.

The porosity effect is achieved not only due to the composition of the alloy itself, but also due to the addition of special foaming gas at the manufacturing stage. The advantage of porous metal in comparison with the “ordinary” lies not only in buoyancy, but also in the increased rigidity of finished metal structures, as well as extremely high sound and heat insulating properties. According to Oleg Panchenko, deputy head of the Laboratory of Light Materials and Designs of the SPBPU,

“If the material is highly porosity, its density can be reduced to water density and even lower. This means that the material will not sink. For example, if they use this type of metal in the design of ships, they will be able to maintain buoyancy even in the event of serious damage to the hull.”

Very often in production used metal with a thickness of about 1 millimeter, which imposes a number of restrictions. For example, the difficulty of connecting parts to each other or changing the shape of blanks. The use of porous material will allow you to avoid many deterrents, increase the thickness and maintain the weight and rigidity of the structure.

Source: hi-news.ru