Animated GIF of nanocardboard plate levitating (IMAGE)
Caption
Like paper cardboard and other "sandwich structured composites" used in architecture and aviation, nanocardboard's material properties stem from corrugation. Consisting of a hollow plate of aluminum oxide walls that are only a few nanometers thick, that corrugation is a regular pattern of channels spanning the plate, which enhance its bending stiffness and prevent cracks from propagating. These channels are also responsible for the plates' ability to levitate, as creating a temperature differential generates an air current that flows through their hollow structure. Penn Engineering researchers are now using a low-pressure test chamber to study nanocardboard's ability to levitate when bright light is shone on it.
Credit
Bargatin Group, Penn Engineering
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