I need something thin and light

[alan2here]

I need a material that thin as paper, at least as light as paper and dosn't deform to much when handled unlike paper. It also needs to be able to be a circle or be able to be cut into a circle. Starched paper is no good as starch spray makes the paper too sogy.

[iNow]

It's tough without knowing the intended purpose, but I wonder if plexiglas would work. As far as I'm aware, you can get it thin like 1/16 of an inch.

[alan2here]

I was thinking more like 1/128 or 1/256 of an inch being roughly 0.2mm and 0.1mm.

 

Something like a larger quarter thickness credit card with no indented numbers on the surface might work depending on weights, as far as I can find out plastic can be lighter than paper.

 

Is there any improvement on plastic as a materal?

 

Its going to be levitated in a very weak and not particually stable magnetic levatation, suport a verry small amount of weight and force and spin round.

[UC]

Use foam-core board It's a good deal thicker than what you want, but very lightweight and rigid.

 

I've done two maglev track projects before (The "car" was constructed out of this material) and the stuff is more than light and strong enough to be held up by ordinary permanent magnets.

[alan2here]

I'm using diamagnetic levitation. It can't be heavier that paper. How heavy is thinest foam-core board?

[hydraliskdragon]

I know this is practically not possible but Aerogel?

[alan2here]

UN's granular aerogel superglued together maybe. But probably not :¬P Anyone have the plastic vs paper weights yet?

Edited May 18, 2009 by alan2here

[confused]

...isn't aerogel a little...expensive and/or difficult to make?

[alan2here]

Yeah, it's not to bad on price if you only want small bits but not so practical for this. The disk would have to be cut from a large expensive bit.

[Externet]

Try fiberglass or carbonfiber reinforced plastic foil. Seen it in thinner than a business card, and can be sanded down further.

 

Edited: added---> http://www.protechcomposite.com/servlet/the-40/carbon-fiber-sheet-panel/Detail

Miguel

[alan2here]

Thanks, I contacted a plastics manufactuer but they were no good as they only did thicker stuff. I'm trying the fibreglass people now and looking for other plastics and the such in case they are no good, but they do look promising, all the correct properties and suprisingly safe looking to use except I don't know yet about density. I'm also trying a speicalist paper manufacturer.

[alan2here]

Iv'e descovered that there fibreglass is a little denser than paper making 0.25mm far too thick.