A brand new super hard metal which is four times tougher than titanium

A super-hard metal has been made in the laboratory by melting together titanium and gold.

The alloy is the hardest known metallic substance compatible with living tissues, say US physicists. The material is four times harder than immaculate titanium and has applications in making longer-enduring restorative inserts, they say. Traditional knee and hip inserts must be supplanted after around 10 years because of wear and tear.

Subtle elements of the new metal is a compound of gold and titanium - are uncovered in the journal, Science Advances. Prof Emilia Morosan, of Rice University, Houston, said her group had made the disclosure while dealing with unpredictable magnets produced using titanium and gold.

The new materials should have been made into powders to check their immaculateness, however beta-Ti3Au, as it is known, was excessively extreme, making it impossible to be ground in a precious stone covered mortar and pestle.

The material "showed the highest hardness of all Ti-Au alloys and compounds, but also compared to many other engineering alloys", said Prof Morosan.

She said the hardness of the substance, together with its higher biocompatibility, made it a "next generation compound for substantively extending the lifetime of dental implants and replacement joints".

It might likewise have applications in the drilling industry, the sporting goods industry and many other potential fields, she added. The gold-titanium amalgam is a cubic compound with a specific course of action of atoms  are consolidated at high temperatures. Titanium is one of the few metals that human bone is able to grow around firmly, allowing it to be used widely in medicine and dentistry.