09/08/2016 BAM:TheSlipperiestMaterialintheWorld

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BAM: The Slipperiest Material in the World

Engineering (http://interestingengineering.com/engineering/) August 8, 2016

MAVERICK BAKER (HTTP://INTERESTINGENGINEERING.COM/AUTHOR/MAVERICK-BAKER/)

BAM: Almost as hard as diamond while stealing the title for the worlds most slippery
material ever created is more slippery than Teon and makes components last many times
longer.

Ames Lab 101: BAM (Boron-Aluminum-Magnesium)

The revolutionary material consists ofboron, aluminum and magnesium (AlMgB14) with
titanium boride (TiB2) creating a superhard substance that is just third hardest todiamond
and cubic boron nitride. The material, dubbed BAM, was accidentally discovered at the US
Department of Energy Ames Laboratory (http://www.ameslab.gov/) in Iowa in 1999 following
attempts to create a substance that generates electricity when heated.

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09/08/2016 BAM:TheSlipperiestMaterialintheWorld

Worlds best lubricant

While BAM does not exhibit this property, its unique composition gave it an even more
desirable edge. The material exhibited superb hardness and incredibly low coecients of
friction.

Its hardness was discovered by accident. We had a terrible time cutting it, grinding it,
or polishing it,

Says Alan Russell (https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16102-material-slicker-than-

teon-discovered-by-accident), a materials scientist at Iowa State University in Ames.

Fortunately forAmes Lab (http://www.ameslab.gov/), the chance discovery led to the

development of a$3-million program (https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16102-
material-slicker-than-teon-discovered-by-accident) to further progress the new material
into a usable substance that could help signicantly increase energy eciency and material
resiliency.

The material has a coecient of friction of less than half that of the previous record holding
material of Teon. Where Teon has a coecient of friction of 0.05, BAM maintains an
incredible 0.02. For a general reference, steel maintains a frictional coecient of 0.16.

The new material can be applied as a micro-thin coating to many dierent surfaces which
provide the energy and longevity benets that BAM maintains. According to Bruce Cook
(https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16102-material-slicker-than-teon-discovered-by-
accident),lead investigator on the Ames Lab project, he estimates BAM could save US
industry alone 330 trillion kilojoules (9 billion kilowatt-hours) every year by 2030
translating into about $179 million of savings a year.

The materials mechanical characteristics are currently being studied as it is not well known
why the material maintains such dexterity. Normally, a material will only exhibit
characteristics of hardness or low friction points, it is an entirely new phenomenon in which
both were discovered at high degrees within the same material.

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BAM has the potential to solve every engineers worst nightmare: frictional wear. Friction
degrades machines, expends massive amounts of energy, and adds a large degree of
complexity to design. However, BAM could help alleviate much of the tension by providing a
super hard, incredibly slippery material that helps machines last much longer than ever
before.

Boron Aluminium Magnesium (BAM) [Image Source:Wiki

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium_magnesium_boride#/media/File:AlMgB14s.png)]

SEE ALSO:Revolutionary Wonder Material: Graphene

(http://interestingengineering.com/revolutionary-wonder-material-
graphene/)

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