Lightest metal ever

The material, known as a "microlattice," was developed by scientists at HRL Laboratories in Malibu, California, which is co-owned by Boeing and General Motors. The new microlattice is made up of a network of tiny hollow tubes and is roughly 100 times lighter than Styrofoam.
In an effort to save fuel, aerospace and automotive companies constantly strive to make their materials as lightweight as possible without sacrificing structural integrity. The process used to build the new microlattices holds huge promise, the researchers say, because the materials created are not only incredibly light, but also very strong.



The microlattice’s network of interconnected hollow tubes mimics the structure of bridge supports, the researchers said. But in this case, the walls of the tubes are just 100 nanometers thick — 1,000 times thinner than the width of a human hair — meaning that the material is 99.99 percent air.
The structure is built using an innovative additive manufacturing process, similar to 3D printing. But while 3D printing builds up structures layer by layer, the solution developed by HRL Labs uses special polymers that react to light to form the entire structure in one go.