Nano Octet Truss Materials Synthesized
Engineers at MIT and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have been able to make tiny, nano-scaled versions of the octet truss, the geometry behind space frames developed by Buckminster Fuller. Produced by “a high-precision 3-D printing process called projection microstereolithograph,” the structures have been shown to translate the incredible weight-to-strength ratios of space frames to the nano scale. According to them:
We found that for a material as light and sparse as aerogel, we see a mechanical stiffness that’s comparable to that of solid rubber, and 400 times stronger than a counterpart of similar density. Such samples can easily withstand a load of more than 160,000 times their own weight.”
More for less, indeed!