Image: Robert Ritchie/Berkeley Lab
American chemists have come to the conclusion that an alloy of chromium, cobalt and nickel in equal proportions is very strong and flexible at the same time, and at ultra-low temperatures these properties are further enhanced, especially compared to other materials.
This effect is achieved by the fact that at low temperatures the crystal lattice of the alloy changes from cubic to hexagonal.
The authors of a scientific paper published in the journal Science suggest that cobalt and nickel are too much in demand for the production of batteries to be enough for the mass production of a heavy-duty alloy. At the same time, it could be used for the manufacture of spacecraft hulls.