Nanotechnology Breakthrough Produces Metal Rubber; Flexible Metal Sheets Snap Back To Original Shape After Being Crumpled

Metal rubber is very thin and can be bent, folded, or crumpled up, and then immediately snaps back to its original shape. It also conducts electricity just like solid metal. This of course has all sorts of industrial applications, including use in consumer electronics, military and aircraft industries, and medical technologies as well. It also has applications in robotics, where metal rubber could be used for robotic skin or flexible circuits. It may also be useful for creating artificial muscles.

While I'm not a big fan of the over-hyped nanotechnology field, this particular product of nanotechnology looks especially promising. A material such as this could potentially revolutionize flexible circuits and make all electronics, whether in robots, medical devices, or airplanes, far more resilient and resistant to fatigue.

• Terrible, horrible things can be done to this millimeters-thick patch of shimmering material crafted by chemists at NanoSonic in Blacksburg, Virginia.
• After the torment, it snaps like rubber back to its original shape, all the while conducting electricity like solid metal.
• The abused substance is called Metal Rubber, and, according to NanoSonic, its particular properties make it unique in the world of material chemistry.
• As a result, the company's small office has been flooded with calls from Fortune 500 companies and government agencies eager to test Metal Rubber's use in everything from artificial muscles to smart clothes to shape-shifting airplane wings.
• At this stage, however, NanoSonic is busy meeting the demand for its 12-inch-by-12-inch samples, which take custom-built robots up to three days to create.
• That's speedy, if you consider that Metal Rubber, a product of nanotechnology, must be fabricated molecule by molecule.
• The manufacturing process, called electrostatic self-assembly, starts with two buckets of water-based solutions---one filled with positively charged metallic ions, the other with oppositely charged elastic polymers.
• The robot dips a charged substrate (glass, for example) alternately from one bucket to the next.
• The dipping slowly builds up tight, organized layers of molecules, bonded firmly by opposing charges.
• With investor interest booming, Metal Rubber could make its commercial debut within a year or so.
• Abuse-resistant flexible circuits and wires, for instance, could allow you to do terrible, horrible things to your portable electronics---consequence-free.
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