New material — Boron Filament

Experiments made with filaments show them to have greater tensile resistance than the same material in its massive form. This phenomenon is surprising when considering the smaller diameter of the filament. Perhaps this can be explained by the presence of fewer faulty crystalline cells within the material, which tends to bring the real resistance figure closer to the theoretical one. In any event, it was this idea that led to the use of composite materials consisting of aligned fibres held together by a suitable matrix.