Chinese Academy of Sciences Discovers New Nanopore Technology to Strengthen Materials

TapTechNews August 9th news, a research team from the Chinese Academy of Sciences used gold as a model material and found that adding dispersed nanopores can reduce the material density and significantly increase its strength while not losing or even improving plasticity. The relevant research results were published in Science.

The team prepared structurally uniform nanoporous gold by dealloying corrosion method, and then properly compressed and annealed it to form a new material containing a large number of dispersed nanopores. Micro-tensile experiments found that after adding nanopores with a volume fraction as high as 5% to 10%, the material yield strength increased by 50% to 100%, and maintained good plasticity, and the plasticity of some samples was even better than that of fully dense materials with the same grain size.

The dispersed distribution of nanopores helps to reduce the stress and strain concentration around the pores and inhibits the initiation of cracks. The huge specific surface area of this material promotes the interaction between the surface and dislocations, thereby increasing the strength and also increasing the strain hardening rate, and the latter helps to improve plasticity.

Research shows that pores with a characteristic size of less than hundreds of nanometers have a strengthening effect similar to that of nanoparticles or nanoprecipitates, and it is a new type of nano-strengthening phase of zero mass and zero pollution. This strengthening method is helpful for the lightweight of materials and recycling, and can retain the excellent physical properties such as heat conduction and electricity conduction of the bulk material to a greater extent.

TapTechNews attached the paper link: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abo7579