The discovery of nanotubes and graphene has pushed the limit of material strength high enough that building a space elevator could be managable. But most of the new materials are created from carbon or other non-metallic substances (silicon, boron).
What I would like to know: What is the strongest known metallic component and what advancements had been made in this regard ?
In the former question I was too imprecise because I erronously assumed that it may be deduced what I mean with strongest metallic material. So you get know my complete list of conditions:
After I perused the literature, I decided now that I want the material with the highest "tensile toughness" meeting the other conditions (in J m^-3). This solves elegantly the problem of desired ductility because strong brittle and weak ductile materials are ruled out.
While I suppose the first condition will leave only metals, in case it does not: Allowed are alloys and half-metals (B,Si etc.) as long as the end product shows the characteristic metallic luster if polished.
The material does exist and it can be provably synthesized on Earth. Theoretical materials are not allowed.
The material exists at standard NIST conditions: 293.15 K and a pressure of 101 325 Pa. It exists in Standard Dry Air.
It is also stable during a human lifetime, it does not dissolve, break apart or lose more than 5% of its strength when stored in Standard Dry Air.
Given unlimited resources (money and processing) I expect that I would get a 10 g ingot of the material within a week.
What are the material parameters (Yield strength, compressive strength, shear strength, tensile strength) in contrast to e.g. V2A steel ?