Scientists have created a material four times stronger than steel from fragments of DNA and glass

Scientists from the University of Connecticut have developed a new material that combines lightness and strength. DNA and glass were used as building blocks for it.

Lightweight and durable materials are widely demanded in the industry. They are used to make protective vests and medical devices, parts of cars and aircraft. Alloys are usually used for the manufacture of such products. But in recent years, traditional metallurgical technology has reached its limit.

The authors of the latest development applied a new approach. They built a structure out of DNA and coated it with glass, creating a very strong material with a very low density. Glass is considered brittle, but it breaks only if there are defects (cracks, scratches, missing atoms). An “ideal” cubic centimeter of glass can withstand a pressure of 10 tons (for comparison, iron is seven tons).

“As long as the thickness of the glass is less than a micrometer, it is almost always free from defects. And since the density of glass is much lower than that of metals and ceramics, any structures made from “ideal” nanoscale glass should be strong and light,” the scientists concluded.

The team created a structure from DNA fragments of a certain length and chemical composition, which connected with each other and formed a scaffold. The DNA was then covered with a layer of glassy material a few hundred atoms thick.

The DNA framework strengthened the glass coating, and the voids that make up most of the material's volume gave it lightness. According to the scientists, the resulting structure is four times stronger and five times less dense than steel.

Currently, scientists continue to work on improving the properties of the material. For example, glass is being replaced with even more durable carbide ceramics.

Source: https://mir24.tv/