Page 44 - Plastics News November 2020

Super polymer fibers with High strength and toughness

ith the help of researchers from the Martin Luther
WUniversity Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) in Saxony-
Anhalt, experts from Bayreuth, Nanchang, and Zurich
have managed to produce unique polymer fibers. These
fibers are distinctive for being extremely resilient while
also very lightweight. They have many potential uses,
including in the automotive industry. The MLU Research
Group for Microstructure-Based Material Design at the
Institute of Physics, led by Prof. Ralf Wehrspohn, used a
device known as the ZEISS Xradia 810 Ultra. This is a
high-resolution three-dimensional X-ray computed
tomography which was able to characterize the fibers.
The technology allows scientists to create highly
detailed 3D images of small samples. When the
researchers modeled the fibers, they saw for the first
time that the fibrils within each individual fiber are
almost always arranged in the same lengthwise
direction. Dr. Juliana Martins de Souza e Silva, Group
Lead for the X-ray electron microscope at the MLU and a
habilitation candidate in Prof. Wehrspohn's research
group, explains what the 3D images show together with
AIPMA YOUR GLOBAL MARKETING TOOL the other findings. The fibers, which are chemically
based on polyacrylonitrile, are remarkable for their
extreme resilience and tensile strength while at the
same time being extremely lightweight. One individual the additive that is responsible for making the material
fiber with a diameter of around 0.04 mm comprises up to
Boost Your Business Through AIPMA 4,000 ultra-thin fibrils. The additive – i.e., the strong, but also the fact that it is combined with the
connecting molecule – joins the fibrils in the fiber orientation of the many fibrils, which is a result of the
stretching and heat treatment used during the
ADVERTISE ON together with favorable results. However, it is not just manufacturing process.
v Website - www.aipma.net

v EDM Algae-inspired polymers light the way for enhanced night vision
v Membership Directory esearchers processed sulfur, and algae and plant and give the
Rcompounds, into an elastic lens that maintains p o l y m e r s a
substantial variable focus in infrared imaging. This d e s i r a b l e
Let AIPMA help you to suit your marketing needs, budget, development will be useful in policing, firefighting, e l a s t i c i t y .
products and solutions in front of your customers! ecology, and many other applications where it's critical Furthermore,
to see detail at variable distances in dark environments, the researchers

Contact, Ms. Priyanka H. Sakpal to learn more, Connect us on such as at night or through smoke. In a study recently confirmed that
published in ACS Applied Polymer Materials, researchers
the polymer has
E: priyanka@aipma.net M: +91 9867871622 from the University of Tsukaba synthesized an infrared- variable-focus
Your feedback matters... transmitting polymer -- based on low-cost, widely properties. By
available materials -- that retains its shape after projecting an
Do let us know what you feel stretching. The properties of this polymer are highly image through
applicable to the preparation of cheaper night-vision the lens, and monitoring the resulting image that came
about this issue of Plastics News . lenses that retain focus while imaging at variable through while elongating the lens, much of the
distances. As a first step, the researchers designed a
transmitted image remained in focus. "The lens retained
polymer that is elastic -- that is, reverts to its original 54% of the focus variation, which is sufficient for
Send us your thoughts at publication@aipma.net shape -- after being repeatedly restretched by 20%. practical uses," explains Dr. Takashi Fukuda, senior
"Inverse vulcanization is an ideal synthetic approach for researcher, National Institute of Advanced Industrial
Thank you, in advance. our polymers," explains lead author Professor Junpei Science and Technology (AIST). "The lens also retained
Kuwabara. "Squalene and other long unsaturated its full initial focus after contracting back to its original
hydrocarbons help optimize the cross-linking structure shape."

NOVEMBER 2020 44 Plastics News

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12 AIPMA Members Directory 2020

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