which everyday material can take the most pressure?

Question

for example if i was to make a cube with 1 metre sides which would be the best everyday material to use so it would stand up to the highest pressure

sorry i meant to say a solid material like wood or steel made into a hollow box

the structure needs to be able to withstand constant pressure as if it was deep underwater

Answer 1

The first question you need to answer is, how deep the box will be? Water pressure adds up very quickly at 64.2lbs/cu.ft. The second is, how long will this box be underwater? Is the water salt water?

If price/time isn't a consideration I'd recommend steel reinforced concrete. Concrete performs excellent in compression. The steel reinforcement would be used for the tension forces placed on the box. Also, the concrete will protect the steel from being eaten away over time.

If the box is hollow but still allows water to enter the construction of the box could be fairly simple with woven wire webbing in the panels and rebar for the corners. If it needs to be dry inside tougher reinforcement methods might need to be uses, such as larger rebar and prestressing.

A 3x3ft box will be rather heavy since concrete is typically 150lbs/cu.ft. But if the box is full of air the box weight will keep it on the bottom of the water body. Other materials like wood or plastics would probably need to be tied down.

Answer 2

The material is not nearly as important as the joins and corners of the container. You can make a container out of something relatively flimsy, and if it's round, the pressure will be evenly distributed on all sides. That's how 2-liter Coke bottles work. There are very few right angles or edges and only one place where there is non-continuous material (at the cap). If you try to glue together 6 panels into a cube, the material is almost a non-issue unless you have some kind of way to join the edges in a very secure manner.

Answer 3

For everyday materials, the processing of the material into your hollow shape will cost much more than the material used.

So your shape is important, as getting complex shapes from inexpensive sheet materials requires expensive forming techniques.

As seen by other answerers, a spherical shape is best for withstanding high pressure, but forming sheet material into that shape is expensive, and not possible as a one-piece item, hence two or more pieces would have to be joined. This can prove expensive, and the strength of the joint is rarely as strong as the surrounding material.

You could think of GRP (fibreGlass Reinforced Plastic), this is quite an expensive material (but not necessarily prohibitively so), but when working on a one-off project, or low production quantities, it is very cheap to achieve complex shapes, even a one-piece sphere is easily possible.

Most power boats have GRP hulls.

So you have to think shape and process and material, and you're looking for the most cost effective total cost.

Answer 4

Normally most material hold up well under pressure, air spaces are compressible and normally this is the limiting factor when it comes to pressure limitations. If you take the example of titanium it can in a cube for take very high pressure as it is a relatively high density material, however if it was a hollow cube the outer surfaces would compress and the cube would fail.

Answer 5

Q1N Steel would probably be the best material, as it is a recognised submarine steel. Otherwise you could use a Titanium alloy, but given that high strength Titanium alloys include the precious metal Palladium they would not meet the everyday material requirement.

Answer 6

This might not be an answer, but the best shape is a sphere. as for size I think you need to define the limit to thickness. (Don't forget to state if it can flex or expand). Quickly off the top of my head I would suggest plastic! - Think of a fizzy drink bottle.

Answer 7

The best practical material (strength & cost taken into account) would probably be steel.

Answer 8

Tarmacadam
it takes the pressure of
everyday traffic and
airport traffic? therefore
must be strong..

Answer 9

Actually... yes. Water.

Answer 10

oil