nature video | Laser-powered bullets reveal surprising metal hardness @NatureVideoChannel | Uploaded May 2024 | Updated October 2024, 1 week ago.
Conventional thinking suggests that metals soften as they warm. But this isn't always true, as researchers have succeeded in demonstrating that under extreme conditions, metals actually get harder as they get hotter.

By shooting metal targets with tiny, laser-powered projectiles, this team was able to create incredibly high strain rates. Under these conditions a property called drag strengthening comes into play giving rise to metals that behave in counterintuitive ways, and could inform high speed manufacture or aerospace engineering.

Read the paper: nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07420-1