Microlattice, the world’s lightest material?

Westfield Sportscars is pleased to announce that it will be collaborating with Companies, Universities in the UK, USA and China on the use of Microlattice in its future sports cars. Westfield have recently been awarded some Niche Vehicle Network funding to investigate the potential uses of it in the Niche Vehicle Sector.

On 6th October 2015 The Boeing Company announced to the world they had created the worlds lightest material, Microlattice. Current plans are to use it in non structural parts of the aircraft, providing a large weight reduction.
Microlattice is a synthetic porous metallic material consisting of an ultra light metal foam. It has a density of 0.9mg/cm3 being the lowest value of any know solid. It is one of the lightest structural materials known to science comparing against silica gels at 1.0mg/cm3

Voted as one of the top ten world innovations, 100% lighter than Styrofoam and being 99.99% hollow it can sit on top of a dandelion!

Westfield are looking to use Microlattice in the vehicle to complement its already ultra lightweight philosophy. Julian Turner Chief Executive Officer said,

“Due to the space constraints of our vehicles we have to innovate with materials and technology to enhance the products for our customers. We are very excited to be working with Microlattice as a complementary material in the vehicle. Microlattice has very different material properties to Carbon which is glass like in its structure so we are very excited to be given the opportunity to work on the project – This material is a game changer for our vehicles.”