Engineers in California have designed and fabricated a type of steel that they say has the ability to withstand extreme impacts without deforming permanently.

Transmission electron microscopy image showing layered matrix of a hard but elastic steel alloy that can withstand impacts without deforming. The steel alloy emerged as the researchers from the University of California San Diego, the University of Southern California and Cal Tech were investigating amorphous steel alloys for their potential as affordable, hard, but less brittle materials. The amorphous alloys consist of arrangements of atoms that deviate from steel’s classical crystal-like structure, where iron atoms occupy specific locations.

Named SAM2X5-630, the new steel has one of the highest recorded elastic limits for any steel alloy, according to the researchers. The alloy can withstand pressure and stress of up to 12.5 giga-Pascals or about 125,000 atmospheres without undergoing permanent deformations.

Researchers at USC tested the alloy by hitting samples of the material with copper plates fired from a gas gun at 500 to 1,300 meters per second. The material deformed on impact, but not permanently. As research continues, efforts will focus on increasing the weight of the materials to make them even more resistant to impacts, the researchers indicated.

Among potential uses for the alloy, the researchers cite body armor, drill bits and space-debris shields for satellites.