The research comes from a partnership between the University of California Irvine, the California Institute of Technology, and HRL Laboratories, and research collaboration between Boeing and General Motors.
Bill Carter, director of the Sensors and Materials Laboratory at HRL, said: "The microlattice weighs only about one tenth as much as carbon fibre, and is actually slightly lighter than air itself."
The material is made of a 3D open-cellular polymer structure composed of small, hollow metallic tubes. Boeing said it can be compared to bone structure, where the outside is rigid and firm but the inside is mostly hollow – meaning the material is lightweight but not easily crushed.
It is made of nickel-phosphorus alloy coated thinly onto an open polymer structure. The polymer is removed, leaving only the metal structure made of 100nm thick walls.
The material is planned to be used first in space rockets, and then in commercial planes in about 10 years.
"One of the main applications we have been looking into is structural components for aerospace," Sophia Yang, research scientist at HRL Laboratories. "In the future, the material can help Boeing to save a lot of weight, to make the airplanes more fuel efficient."