Home > News > Mother-of-pearl inspires super-strong plastic
October 4th, 2007
Mother-of-pearl inspires super-strong plastic
Abstract:
A plastic made at room temperature from clay and a common ingredient of paint and glue is a strong as steel and a match for materials made using much higher temperatures.
The substance mimics the structure of mother-of-pearl, and its creators say further development of their new technique could provide lighter body armour, as well as aircraft and vehicle parts.
Engineer Nicholas Kotov and colleagues at University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, US, have solved a problem that has baffled materials scientists for more than 30 years.
"When you tried to build something you can hold in your arms, there were difficulties transferring the strength of individual nanosheets or nanotubes to the entire material," Kotov explains.
Nanotubes and other structures have impressive mechanical strength, but getting them to take the strain in a composite material is not easy. Instead the other materials used to hold them together bear the brunt and buckle, snap or tear instead. The new material, however, is stiffer than any nanotube fibres made to date.
Source:
technology.newscientist.com
Related News Press |
Discoveries
Chemical reactions can scramble quantum information as well as black holes April 5th, 2024
New micromaterial releases nanoparticles that selectively destroy cancer cells April 5th, 2024
Utilizing palladium for addressing contact issues of buried oxide thin film transistors April 5th, 2024
Materials/Metamaterials/Magnetoresistance
Nanoscale CL thermometry with lanthanide-doped heavy-metal oxide in TEM March 8th, 2024
Focused ion beam technology: A single tool for a wide range of applications January 12th, 2024
Announcements
NRL charters Navy’s quantum inertial navigation path to reduce drift April 5th, 2024
Discovery points path to flash-like memory for storing qubits: Rice find could hasten development of nonvolatile quantum memory April 5th, 2024
The latest news from around the world, FREE | ||
Premium Products | ||
Only the news you want to read!
Learn More |
||
Full-service, expert consulting
Learn More |
||