Chinese scientists develop a "carbon spring" that is expected to be used for outer space exploration

Original title: Chinese scientists develop a "carbon spring" that is expected to be used for outer space exploration
According to Xinhua news agency, Hefei, September 15 (reporter Xu Haitao), it is as light as a sponge, elastic as a spring, and can withstand extreme temperatures from - 100 ℃ to 350 ℃. Recently, academician Yu Shuhong team of China University of science and technology, inspired by human "foot arch" and "crossbow" and other structures, developed a new carbon material with microstructure such as "crisp" in pancake fruit and called "carbon spring", It is considered to be an ideal material for manufacturing intelligent magnetic and vibration sensors, and is expected to be used in outer space exploration.
Carbon exists on the earth in many forms. Natural carbon materials are "rigid but not flexible", with the advantages of light, hard and high temperature resistance and the disadvantage of brittleness. In order to make porous carbon "hard and soft", Yu Shuhong's team cleverly draws lessons from the human "foot arch" structure. Yu Shuhong introduced that recently, they used two-way ice template technology to build a porous carbon material stacked by "micro arch structure".
After testing, this new material has excellent flexibility. When stretched to 1.2 times or compressed to 1 / 5, it can still rebound and recover. It can also withstand the temperature from - 100 ℃ to 350 ℃, realizing the super performance of far more natural carbon materials. Researchers named it "carbon spring" and used it to develop a new magnetic and vibration sensor. The former can detect a small magnetic field of 0.4 millitesla, and the latter can detect high-frequency small vibration with an amplitude of 0.5% 1000 times per second, including simulated seismic waves.
"These two kinds of sensors can work under extreme temperature, making it possible to apply them to outer space exploration," said Gao huailing, an associate researcher at the University of science and technology, for example, to detect the magnetic field strength, crustal movement, geological structure and so on.
Recently, the internationally renowned academic journal advanced materials published this achievement.