New Lightweight Polymer Stronger than Steel
Using a novel polymerization process, MIT chemical engineers have created a new material that is stronger than steel and as light as plastic, and it can be easily manufactured in large quantities.
The new material is a two-dimensional polymer that self-assembles into sheets, unlike all other polymers, which form one-dimensional, spaghetti-like chains. Until now, scientists had believed it was impossible to induce polymers to form 2D sheets.
The new material is a two-dimensional polymer that self-assembles into sheets and could be used as a lightweight, durable coating for car parts or cell phones, or as a building material for bridges or other structures. [Image: polymer film courtesy of the researchers; Christine Daniloff, MIT]
Such a material could be used as a lightweight, durable coating for car parts or cell phones, or as a building material for bridges or other structures, says Michael Strano, the Carbon P. Dubbs Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT and the senior author of the new study.
"We don't usually think of plastics as being something that you could use to support a building, but with this material you can enable new things," he says. "It has very unusual properties, and we're very excited about that."
The researchers have filed for two patents on the process they used to generate the material. MIT postdoc Yuwen Zeng is the lead author of the study.
Light But Strong
The researchers found that the new material's elastic modulus -- a measure of how much force it takes to deform a material -- is between four and six times greater than that of bulletproof glass. They also found that its yield strength, or how much force it takes to break the material, is twice that of steel, even though the material has only about one-sixth the density of steel.
Another key feature of 2DPA-1 is that it is impermeable to gases. While other polymers are made from coiled chains with gaps that allow gases to seep through, the new material is made from monomers that lock together like LEGOs, and molecules cannot get between them.
"This could allow us to create ultrathin coatings that can completely prevent water or gases from getting through," Strano says. "This kind of barrier coating could be used to protect metal in cars and other vehicles, or steel structures."
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