Xi'an Jiaotong University (XJTU) has developed a groundbreaking "strong yet flexible" alloy, with the findings published online in the journal Nature on Sept 4.

A research team from XJTU's Frontier Science and Technology Research Institute and the National Key Laboratory of Strength of Metal Materials has recently created an exotic alloy that can be mass-produced, overcoming the long-standing challenge of creating a material with both high flexibility and high strength.

The alloy remains stable over a wide temperature range of −80 C to +80 C and demonstrates excellent fatigue resistance under high strain. It is expected to be applied in many futuristic technologies, such as morphing aerospace vehicles, superman-type artificial muscles and artificial organs.

Based on earlier research into strain glass, the research team fabricated the alloy with a simple three-step thermomechanical treatment to achieve a unique strain glass state. This state combines ultrahigh yield strength (1.8 GPa) and a polymer-like ultralow elastic modulus of 10.5 GPa, together with 8 percent reversible deformation.

The paper, titled A Polymer-like Ultrahigh Strength Metal Alloy, lists doctoral student Xu Zhizhi as the primary author, with Professors Ji Yuanchao, Ma Tianyu, and Ren Xiaobing as co-corresponding authors. XJTU is the corresponding institution for the paper.