The future? Perhaps initially for submarine UAVs. Gets around MAD as well….
https://www.techradar.com/news/impos...r-and-sturdier
Scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have created a new material using a new polymerizing process. The material, called 2DPA-1, a type of polyaramide, is said to be as light as plastic and as strong as steel; even better, it can be manufactured at industrial scale which bodes well for its go-to-market timeframe.
The material, which is the first polymer to be polymerized in 2D, adopts a planar structure, as opposed to a string one; think spaghetti lines and lasagne sheets. The team, led by Michael Strano, the Carbon P. Dubbs Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT, managed to crack a problem that has left many generations of Ppolymer scientists befuddled.
2DPA-1 can sustain deformative forces up to six times greater than bulletproof glass and has a yield strength (the force required to break the material) 12 times that of steel at equal density. Another intriguing property is that it is impermeable to gases which could mean waterproof ultrathin coatings…..