The 10 Strongest Materials Known to Man

Have you ever heard of Buckypaper, a material 500 times stronger than steel and ten times lighter? What about Lonsdaleite, a material formed when meteorites hit Earth?

Below are the 10 strongest materials known to man:

10. Spiders’ Silk

Darwin bark spiders’ silk is considered the toughest biological substance. It is 10 times stronger than Kevlar. A strand long enough to circle the Earth would weigh less than 500 grams!

9. Silicon Carbide

This material forms the basis of armor used in battle tanks. Highly effective – not one British Challenger tank was destroyed in Operation Desert Storm.

8. Nanospheres / Nano-Kevlar

Self-assembling nanospheres are the stiffest organized material ever created. It is said that they could lead to the development of printable body armor.

7. Diamond

The hardest material on Earth. It has unrivaled resistance to scratching.

6. Wurtzite Boron Nitride

This material is created during volcanic eruptions and is theoretically 18% harder than diamond. However, large enough quantities don’t exist to test this theory.

5. Lonsdaleite

Formed when meteorites containing graphite hit Earth. Simulations show it to be 58% harder than diamond, but, again, it’s too rare to test.

4. Dyneema

High-performance polythene marketed as the strongest fiber in the world. Lighter than water, it can stop bullets and is 15 times stronger than steel.

3. Metallic Glass

Palladium microalloy glass has the best combination of toughness and strength. It’s thought to be the most durable material on the planet.

2. Buckypaper

Nanotechnology material made from tube-shaped carbon molecules 50,000 times thinner than human hair. It’s 500 times stronger than steel and 10 times lighter.

1. Graphene

One-atom-thick sheets of carbon are 200 times stronger than steel. It would take an elephant balancing on a pencil to break a sheet as thin as Saran wrap.