What is the strorgest material?

Question

What is the strongest type of physical material? I am thinking in terms of resisting amazing amounts of heat, and EXTREME amounts of energy. Thanks!

Answer 1

*The answer depends a bit upon what you mean be "strongest". In the
usual sense of the term "strongest" is taken to mean "hardest", in
which case, diamond is the strongest of natural occurring materials.
*The word "Strongest" needs qualifying. If what you mean is
strongest in compression, then even ordinary concrete is high
on the list. I suspect, however, that you are wondering what
is the strongest material when subjected to tension. In that
case, carbon nanotubes are probably the strongest materials
yet discovered. Although not a practical material for
everyday use (yet), this material has been tested to be at
least 50 times stronger in tension than steel. Carbon
nanotubes are long tubular shaped molecules of carbon, far,
far smaller in diameter than a human hair, yet can be as long
as several millimeters in length. A concise explanation is
available here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_nanotube
*The strongest material that you can buy today, with strength over 1 million pounds per square inch is a carbon fiber called T-1000.

In this regard, diamond (despite its brittleness arising from its crystalline nature) is a tremendously strong material. It is only exceeded by its cousin graphite, and then only is a very specialized sense. In a single plane of carbon atoms formed into graphite, the bond lengths are even shorter than in diamond, and thus (in that direction) graphite is the chemically strongest of all materials.
*The material with greatest tensile strength is a carbon microfibre based material called T1000, it has a tensile strength of 800ksi. The strongest natural substance is Spider's Silk with tensile Strength of about 200ksi. Diamond is nowhere near.

Basically this means if you had ropes made of diamond, silk and T1000, under increasing strain... the diamond would snap first followed by the silk then the T1000

Answer 2

"The question has two answers. Materials that are strongest in compression are not necessarily strongest in tension or bending (stiffness). Diamond is likely the strongest material in compression because it was forged deep within the earth under tremendous pressures (and can be made in the lab under great concentrated pressure). The strongest material in tension is likely a carbon fiber (especially on a weight/volume basis). However, to be useful the carbon fibers are generally bonded together into ropes or sheets using various resins (like fiberglas sports cars?) and the strength of the composit depends on the type (tow) of carbon fiber, how produced (production temperature and even tensioning during production) and the strength of the resin (especially at operating temperature). Carbon nano-tubes will likely produce the strongest carbon fibers under tension and some folks even plan to use them to tether space satelites to the earth!"

Answer 3

Don't know what you have in mind, but metals start losing strength at 600 Deg. F., and don't have a whole lot left at 1200 Deg. F. If you are looking at temps above this you can forget about using metals unless you can protect them from the heat with refractory or insulating materials.

Some of the new ceramic materials are very good for high temp service and are also very strong if loaded correctly.

Answer 4

Strength is a material property of a substance that represents how much energy it can absorb before it breaks. The answer to your question is more than likely classified top secret by who ever is currently developing it. I know of a couple cool alloys that are probably along the lines of what you're looking for but like I said that's classified information and I'd go to jail for telling you. Sorry.

Answer 5

Many ceramic materials resist heat quite well. Your question is realy not very well defined though. There are so many engineering materials available because each application may have very specific needs. Seems like the first one on the list is always the cost......

Answer 6

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Answer 7

matter is energy in a different form. Energy can't be burnt and can't be torn apart - so in the purest answer to your question energy is the strongest material

Answer 8

For compression I believe it's a diamond. For tensile strength I recently read that for its relative size, spider silk is as strong or stronger than steel. However, I would go with carbon fiber.

Answer 9

Well..Kevlar,diamond..etc are really strong materials but there are a lot of strong materials too..cuz, if u mix Carbon with them u can take a strong material ;)

Answer 10

Network Covalent bonding is the strongest lattice structure.