As the press service of the St. Petersburg Polytechnic University Peter the Great scientists of this institution have managed to develop and patent technology for the production of porous metal-based aluminum alloy. Due to the unusual structure of even quite large sheets of the metal does not sink in water.
The effect of porosity is achieved not only by the composition of the alloy, but with the addition of special blowing gas at the time of manufacture. The advantage of porous metal compared to “normal” is not only buoyancy, but also increased the stiffness of the finished structures, as well as extremely high sound and thermal insulation properties. As stated by the Deputy head of the Laboratory of lightweight materials and structures Spbpu Oleg Panchenko
“When the high porosity material its density can be reduced to the level of the density of water or even lower. This means that the material will not sink. For example, when used in the construction of metal marine vessels of this type they will be able to maintain buoyancy even in case of serious damages of the hull”.
Porous alloy in the context of
Very often used in the production of metal with a thickness of about 1 millimeter, which imposes a number of restrictions. For example, the complexity of joining parts together or change the shape of the workpieces. The use of porous material will allow to avoid many limiting factors, to increase the thickness and keep the weight and rigidity.
It should be noted that similar technology has already been applied to Japanese experts, but their metal was completely porous. The developers of Northern capital has managed to create inhomogeneous structure of the metal: between the lower and upper solid layers enclosed porous layer that allows you to use it in a number of constructions, including in welding.
Scientists from St. Petersburg have created the unsinkable metal
Vladimir Kuznetsov