Tiny anvil squishes metals atoms-thick

Researchers have forged relatively large sheets of metal that are just atoms thick. The team took inspiration from ancient copper forging techniques to squish molten droplets of metals such as bismuth, lead and tin into 2D sheets in a tiny sapphire anvil. This allowed them to study how the properties of super-thin sheets of the metals differ from 3D chunks of the same material. The team now have their sights on a new design that they hope will extend the technique to work with metals that have melting points above 500 ℃.