PHILADELPHIA, March 18 (UPI) -- U.S. materials scientists are studying metals at the nano scale, testing the strength of wires a thousand times thinner than a human hair.

The research at the University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Science has enabled engineers to construct a theoretical model to predict the strength of such metals. Using that model, they've found that, while metals tend to be stronger at nanoscale volumes, their strengths saturate at around 10-50 nanometers diameter, at which point they also become more sensitive to temperature and strain rate.

Such prediction of different strength regimes of nanosolids is important for future application and engineering design of nanotechnology, the scientists said.

Associate Professor Ju Li and his collaborators at the Georgia Institute of Technology said that unlike previous models, their prediction can be directly compared with experiments performed at realistic temperature and loading rates.

The research appeared as a cover article in Volume 100 of the journal Physical Review Letters.