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Super-Light Plastic As Strong as Steel

Posted by Zonk on Fri Oct 05, 2007 05:02 PM
from the mini-factory-with-micro-workers dept.
Biotech Technology
Roland Piquepaille writes "A new composite plastic built layer by layer has been created by engineers at the University of Michigan. This plastic is as strong as steel. It has been built the same way as mother-of-pearl, and shows similar strength. Interestingly, this 300-layer plastic has been built with 'strong' nanosheets of clay and a 'fragile' polymer called polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), commonly used in paints and glue, which acts as 'Velcro' to envelop the nanoparticles. This new plastic could soon be used to design light but strong armors for soldiers or police officers. The researchers also think this material could be used in biomedical sensors and unmanned aircraft."
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Submission: A plastic as solid as steel by rpiquepa (644694)
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  • How quaint! (Score:5, Funny)

    by daeley (126313) on Friday October 05 2007, @05:07PM (#20874169) Homepage
    McCoy: You realize that by giving him the formula you're altering history.

    Scotty: Why? How do we know he didn't invent the thing?
    • The Ringworld engineers called. They have a patent for something called "scrith" and a half-dozen of the ugliest lawyers you've ever seen.

  • Obvious use (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward

    The researchers also think this material could be used in biomedical sensors and unmanned aircraft."
    And swords. Don't forget swords.
    • Think about it: The weight of the steel is an essential part of the design of a sword. The whole reason your _swing_ it instead of "just press it against somebody" is to give it impulse that will keep it going when meeting resistance.

      Your plasteel swords would just bounce of any kind of armour.

      (lightsabers dont count)
  • http://www.dailytech.com/Transparent+Plastic+Polymer+is+Strong+as+Steel/article9181.htm [dailytech.com]

    When i saw the title i imagined something more like bulletproof glass, but, as you can see, it's pretty thin.

    • Re:Link with pics (Score:4, Interesting)

      by debilo (612116) <shegez AT gmail DOT com> on Friday October 05 2007, @05:13PM (#20874229)

      When i saw the title i imagined something more like bulletproof glass, but, as you can see, it's pretty thin.
      Thanks for the link. I wonder if this could be used as a scratch-resistant coating for sensitive surfaces. I'm thinking of my iPod and my mobile phone. Or even the windshield, loose chippings can be so annoying.

    • Re:Link with pics (Score:5, Informative)

      by kebes (861706) on Friday October 05 2007, @05:36PM (#20874419) Journal
      The technique they are describing is called "Electrostatic Layer-by-Layer Deposition", and the resultant materials are called polyelectrolyte multilayers [wikipedia.org]. Basically you dip a substrate alternately into baths of different polymers, with each step depositing a thin layer of polymer. These materials have been studied for the last decade or so. This group is investigating layering one polyelectrolyte with strong clay platelets (rather than using two polyelectrolytes). Thus they create a "brick and mortar" assembly, where strong (nano-sized) clay platelets are glued together with flexible polymer layers.

      The process is good for creating very thin layers, but as you can imagine it's very slow for making thick materials. Each deposition step only adds on the order of a nanometer of material. Hundreds of steps are needed to create films thick enough to actually pick up, bend, and perform mechanical testing.

      However some researchers have already investigated switching from the laborious "sequential dipping" technique to a "roll-to-roll" technique. So, instead of dipping a glass slide (or whatever) into vats of liquid one after the other (each time adding a very thin layer), the idea would be to use roll-to-roll technology (like in printing presses) to dip huge sheets of material through various vats at high speed. It's been shown to work (with some difficulties along the way, of course)... so in principle if these materials become sought, there are ways of making them in greater quantities, and thicker than this lab demonstration suggests.

      Another unique thing about this "layer-by-layer" method of creating materials is that you can inherently control the composition of the material across the thickness. So you can actually have, for instance, the material's elastic modulus (or dielectric properties, or whatever), vary though the thickness of the material. Maybe you want a sheet of "plexiglass" that is super-strong at its core, but rather soft and rubberlike in its outer layer (so it doesn't hurt when you bang your head against it? Or maybe you want a liquid-like 'healing layer' on the outside to fill in scratches?). This depth-control of the material properties could be quite interesting for many applications where you want a mix of properties.

      (Disclosure: Part of my Ph.D. thesis work involved related layer-by-layer materials.)

      • Re:Link with pics (Score:4, Interesting)

        by foniksonik (573572) on Friday October 05 2007, @06:35PM (#20874957) Homepage Journal
        How about using an Inkjet method? You could get a good compromise between speed and flexible composition... or even with the roll-to-roll method they could use something like an ink plate to deposit just where they want the liquid to bind.... lots of good engineering research to be done there as well.

          • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

            by Moodie-1 (966737)
            Could you be referring to xerography? This is the process that photostat machines use and where Xerox got its name.

  • just curious (Score:5, Funny)

    by User 956 (568564) on Friday October 05 2007, @05:10PM (#20874201) Homepage
    Did they invent it by talking into the mouse?

  • Plasteel (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Sweet! Our soldiers can have REAL Storm Trooper armor now! Wait...that's a bad thing, right?
    • Our soldiers can have REAL Storm Trooper armor now! Wait...that's a bad thing, right?

      No, it's a really good thing. Even for the most libertarian "the revolution is coming" pessimist out there, having the Infantry in top shelf body armor is a good thing. I can only think of two scenarios where this could be viewed as a bad thing.
      1. If there ever where a need for the American people to violently turn on the government.
      - The Infantry would not be a major target. The political and economic elite would be.

  • Superman (Score:4, Funny)

    by king-manic (409855) on Friday October 05 2007, @05:15PM (#20874257)
    Man of heavily layered plastic?
  • Not sure which restaurant makes it, but there's this ultra-cheesy lasagna... it's pretty good but by the time it's "processed" it is not only as strong as steel, but as binding as epoxy.
  • I know the science of materials statics and strengths, physical engineering, isn't exactly an exciting field, but might this not have applications in, say, building materials? Home-cladding? Vehicle frames? Computer cases? Ultralightweight spacecraft components? Replacements for easily-broken household items such as cups and plates?

    Why do we always have to go to "It's light! It's strong! This will clearly help prevent foreigners from killing our troops!"?

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by TubeSteak (669689)

      Why do we always have to go to "It's light! It's strong! This will clearly help prevent foreigners from killing our troops!"?

      Maybe because the military is always eager to throw piles of cash at promising technology that will improve their ability to project force & protect the forces?

      A lot of (basic) research has been done on the Dept of Defense's dime.
      Most of it has eventually worked its way into the larger market place...

      Otherwise, you have to dig up venture capital and those guys can be real bastards when you can't commercialize the technology according to their 3 or 5 or X year plan.

    • As much as I hate to admit it, military research and development drives much of what we discover these days. The government pays big $$$ for new toys.
    • Why do we always have to go to "It's light! It's strong! This will clearly help prevent foreigners from killing our troops!"?

      Sign of the times. As a civie, my first thought about the world beyond my own little life in any given day is of the war. And to the business interests who want to sell this stuff, they want a piece of those sweet, sweet billions the government is spending on this war.

    • Why do we always have to go to "It's light! It's strong! This will clearly help prevent foreigners from killing our troops!"?
      Exactly! It's equally important to prevent us from killing our own troops, right? And other people's too, for that matter.

    • Why do we always have to go to "It's light! It's strong! This will clearly help prevent foreigners from killing our troops!"?

      Because many of these materials are difficult to make, or extremely expensive, or not suited for all uses, or 'all of the above'. It normally takes many years, if at all, for exotic materials to enter the consumer market. When they do, it is typically on high end/luxury stuff first (where price is less of an object) and only later trickles down to the shelves of your local big box

    • Blame the movies. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by jd (1658) <imipak@yahCOFFEEoo.com minus caffeine> on Friday October 05 2007, @06:00PM (#20874611) Homepage Journal
      How many movies have you seen where the hero rescues household finances by preventing the cups from getting broken? Or builds a 200 mpg car by replacing the iron shell with plastic, preventing the total collapse of the US car industry and Western Civilization?

      Let's face it, mundane (but realistic) uses aren't exciting and don't make good stories. The microwave gun that generates pain across nerve endings is discussed in terms of urban combat and riot-suppression, but in the real world, more people are probably going to end up using the device in farmland where electric fences are impractical or impossible, as a replacement for noisy bird scarers, possibly even in a very low-power form in medical diagnostics when you want to generate a very controlled stimulus to determine the location and extent of nerve damage, etc.

      An ultra-light plastic would be valuable for so many things, from cutlery to possibly safer alternatives to metal for pins and plates within the human body to a replacement for aluminium in airframes to a replacement for metals (lead especially) in "unbreakable toys". Depending on thermal properties, it may have uses in ducting where you need something strong but light. Depending on exactly what is meant by "strong", it may become a replacement for steel cabling in reinforced concrete - plastics tend to be better at aging. Current plastic drains are notoriously feeble. Now, please consider that Victorian drains are only now starting to reach the end of their lifespan, and Roman-era aqueducts are still perfectly functional, so anything that lasts a mere hundred years is simply living up to what was expected of material science a hundred years ago, and we really should be looking to match or better a bunch of iron Age punks. Could this plastic offer a cost-effective way of matching some of the greatest material science achievements in history?

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by ampathee (682788)
      Because that's where the grant money is?
      • That's what they said about cold-rolled steel two hundred years ago. Everyone had to settle for wood and stone. Now I can buy cold-rolled steel for less than a wooden beam for the exact same application.
  • "Michigan Engineering is seeking to raise $110 million for capital building projects and program support in these areas to further research discovery"

    Ah... sounds like there might be some PR hype lurking in here somewhere...
    • Ah... sounds like there might be some PR hype lurking in here somewhere...

      Well, I think it's safe to assume there's PR hype because this is a press release. The little blurb at the end is nothing terribly shameful or surprising.

  • Strong as Steel? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by trout007 (975317) on Friday October 05 2007, @05:29PM (#20874365)
    I hate that comparison. Are they talking Yield Strength or Ultimate Strength? What is the Modulus of elasticity? If you are talking strength there are many different steels with widely different strengths. Also if you are talking body armor there is also it's energy absorption capability.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by SoapDish (971052)
      Judging from the description of the "Velcro effect" I'd wager they're talking about ultimate strength. And even then, they may be talking about specific strength, so it could actually require a much larger geometry to achive the same strength as steel.

      And yes, yeild strength and ultimate strength are very different quantities when it comes to design (for those that don't know).

      The layered construction makes it sound like the material's not isomorphic, and I bet there are different compression and tensile ch

    • Re:Strong as Steel? (Score:5, Informative)

      by kebes (861706) on Friday October 05 2007, @06:13PM (#20874771) Journal
      If you're interested in the details (and have a subscription to Science), here's the actual paper:
      Paul Podsiadlo, Amit K. Kaushik, Ellen M. Arruda, Anthony M. Waas, Bong Sup Shim, Jiadi Xu, Himabindu Nandivada, Benjamin G. Pumplin, Joerg Lahann, Ayyalusamy Ramamoorthy, and Nicholas A. Kotov "Ultrastrong and Stiff Layered Polymer Nanocomposites [sciencemag.org]" Science 5 October 2007: 80-83. DOI: 10.1126/science.1143176 [doi.org].
      Blurb:

      Deposition of alternating nanoscale layers of clay particles and a polymer yields a transparent composite that is as stiff and strong as steel.
      The abstract is:

      Nanoscale building blocks are individually exceptionally strong because they are close to ideal, defect-free materials. It is, however, difficult to retain the ideal properties in macroscale composites. Bottom-up assembly of a clay/polymer nanocomposite allowed for the preparation of a homogeneous, optically transparent material with planar orientation of the alumosilicate nanosheets. The stiffness and tensile strength of these multilayer composites are one order of magnitude greater than those of analogous nanocomposites at a processing temperature that is much lower than those of ceramic or polymer materials with similar characteristics. A high level of ordering of the nanoscale building blocks, combined with dense covalent and hydrogen bonding and stiffening of the polymer chains, leads to highly effective load transfer between nanosheets and the polymer.
      In response to your questions about actual material response, the paper discusses a variety of metrics for a variety of different preparation conditions. They report that the nano-composite material has an ultimate tensile strength 10 times greater than the pure PVA polymer, up to 480 MPa. They also state that the modulus, E, was 100 times greater than the pure polymer, up to 125 GPa, which they compare to Kevlar (E ~ 80 to 220 GPa).

      In terms of energy absorption, they compare the uncrosslinked nano-composite to the crosslinked one. As you might imagine, the crosslinked one was more rigid (and gave rise to the modulus previously mentioned), having a low ultimate strain of 0.33 %. The uncrosslinked one deformed somewhat more (ultimate strain 0.7%), with higher energy absorption potential.

      As you note, the comparison of "strong as steel" is not very helpful. But looking at the stress-strain curves, these materials look quite strong. Also, since you can adjust the material properties (optimizing for energy storage versus elastic modulus), they might be great for achieving desired performance for certain niche applications.
  • So if it is clear, would that meant that Wonder-Woman isn't far behind??
  • Ya know, I'm not opposed to this technology being used to protect police officers and soldiers, but something in me cringes when that is the first suggested use listed in the article. We seem so hell bent on aggression and security that peaceful and scientific uses are at the bottom of the list or altogether neglected. For instance - this stuff might make motorcycle racing even more interesting - both from a rider's safety standpoint and bike technology.

  • Plasteel (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Ramble (940291) on Friday October 05 2007, @05:35PM (#20874409) Homepage
    Plasteel, anyone?

  • PVA... (Score:2, Informative)

    by Alceste (138400)
    Dissolves pretty readily in water. I wonder how this is stabilized.

    • Re:PVA... (Score:5, Informative)

      by kebes (861706) on Friday October 05 2007, @06:21PM (#20874841) Journal
      It turns out that these kind of materials are not water-soluble, even though both components are, and even though you can easily assemble them from water. It's certainly counter-intuitive, but the assemblies involve electrostatic (charge-charge) links and hydrogen-bonding (like in DNA) links. Even though those kinds of links are inherently water soluble, when you are layering "large" molecules (polymers and nano-platelets count as large in chemistry), then there are so many "sticker groups" that the overall binding is very strong. (There are other more subtle effects, like the entropy of assembly, also at play.) As a result, these materials don't readily dissolve in water.

      In the actual scientific paper, they further explain how they "cross-link" the material to make it more stable. Cross-linking is basically chemistry that generates strong covalent bonds between the various molecules. (This is what happens when you make a strong rubber...) They do indeed indicate that the cross-linked materials are more stable against changes in humidity (the un-crosslinked materials swell a bit when exposed to a humid atmosphere; which might be bad for some applications).

  • I watched the Super Friends growing up, I know how this ends [bcdb.com]! Marvin and Wendy had to foil a plot from a guy named "King Plasto" who used stuff just like this in his evil attempt to take over the world. Someone call the Great Hall Of The Justice League and get Batman and Aquaman on this, stat!

    To think I can remember that bad episode of a bad cartoon from the 70's, yet forgot my Dad's birthday this year. Again.

    Sigh.

  • They should start making condoms out of this!
  • So... why not make cars out of this stuff? Think, if it's as strong as steel, if the car body was made out of this then it would be like having a armored car, or at least a 50's American car. Then with the lighter weight it should improve gas mileage quite a bit. As long as the manufacturing process isn't too costly or cost goes down with more production, this sounds like it would be great.
  • i just want to know steel at what temperature.
  • Or the cops... or soldiers.. or anything but the 'common citizen'.

  • Biotech? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Biff Stu (654099) on Friday October 05 2007, @06:47PM (#20875093)
    Does anybody who creates the tags RTFA? (OK, I'm not new here. That's meant to be a rhetorical question.) I don't see how this is biotech. The stuff is made out of sequential layers of clay and PVA. These layers are deposited mechanically from solution. It's not like they have genetically engineered critters secreting some new cool substance. Yes, the researchers do compare the structure to mother of pearl, but other than a structural simularity, that's all there is.

      • Re:HEFTY Eat Your Heart Out! (Score:5, Informative)

        by kebes (861706) on Friday October 05 2007, @05:54PM (#20874555) Journal
        The dipping procedure is fairly easy to automate, but the technique only adds a very thin layer (think nanometers) for each dipping cycle. The usage of clay platelets in this present work does make the films thicker, but still their 300 layer film is only ~300 microns thick. So it takes awhile to build up enough layers for it to be macroscopically thick and strong. To speed it up, you can use a roll-to-roll process as long as you're trying to create large 'sheets' of material.

        I imagine you could produce some pretty interesting seamless objects with this... just smash it on the ground when you're done and shake the broken glass out.
        Indeed! You've hit upon one of the main "selling points" of this technique: unlike other coating techniques, it isn't limited to flat surfaces. In fact, you can even coat the insides of objects. For example you can coat the insides of thin capillaries by alternately flowing the two solutions through the capillary. Some companies were also checking whether you could prevent fouling/rusting of pipes by coating their insides with material: coating even huge lengths of pipes becomes easier when all you have to do is flow some solutions through them. (You can even 'fix' a pipe already installed by taking it offline and performing this operation every so once in awhile...)

        The ability to coat strange shapes may indeed allow for some neat tricks. Also note that coating glass is easiest, but actually you can layer onto all kinds of surfaces (all that's needed is a bit of surface charge). So you can imagine a sacrificial mold (something that you can burn away at low temperature or dissolve with some other solvent) that you them multilayer to create, as you say, a seamless object of controllable properties.

        This looks like something fun to try out.
        It's a remarkly simple technique to use. All you need is some water-soluble polymers, a glass microscope slide, and a few beakers! Of course, unless you're really patient (or have a robot or auto-dipper) it takes awhile to get a really thick film!

        (Disclosure: Part of my thesis work was on these layer-by-layer materials.)

    • Re:I'd been hoping we could get away from plastic (Score:5, Informative)

      by jtroutman (121577) on Friday October 05 2007, @06:05PM (#20874671)
      This is not the plastic you're thinking of. It's layers of montmorillonite clay, which is naturally occuring (Hydrated Sodium Calcium Aluminum Magnesium Silicate Hydroxide) and polyvinyl alcohol (the glue). Polyvinyl alcohol is derived from vinyl acetate, which in turn is made with ethylene and acetic acid with oxygen and a palladium catalyst. Petroleum is not necessary in any of these steps.

      What's important to consider, though, is not what this is currently made from, but that it is a test bed for other materials. Imagine if, instead of using the montmorillonite clay, they used bucky tubes...what about a stronger polymer? This is a proof of concept, not the be-all and end-all application.

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