Boeing has recently released a new material that is made up of 99.99% air. This revolutionary material is constructed from a lattice of hollow, metal struts that allow it to have extremely high compression strengths while also being super lightweight.

The materials remarkable properties are demonstrated by this photo from Boeing, showing a dandelion supporting Boeing’s new material. The material has been named microlattice and is 100 times lighter than Styrofoam and has a far higher compressional strength.

The 3D open-cell polymer structure is described by research scientist Sofia Yang as “the world’s lightest material”. An example that Yang gives is that its incredible properties could protect an egg from being dropped from several stories high as the structure would be able to absorb and distribute the force from hitting the ground to protect the egg.

This ultra-light metallic microlattice was originally developed by a team of scientists at HRL laboratories in California. To produce the material the research group used a technique based on self-propagating waveguide formation. This involves passing a UV light into a reservoir of curable resin through a perforated mask. The process is similar to stereolithography (3D printing). However, the rate of formation is far quicker, and with this method templates can be created in between 20 and 100 seconds. The process results in a large 3D lattice of free standing metallic foam.

Boeing will likely be able to use this material in their aircraft to save weight to increase fuel efficiency and change flight characteristics.