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New Technique Allows Scientists To Create Materials That Get Stronger With More Use (newatlas.com)
Scientists at Hokkaido University have found a way to create materials that actually get stronger the more you use them. "By mimicking the mechanism that allows living muscles to grow and strengthen after exercise, the team led by Jian Ping Gong developed a polymer that breaks down under mechanical stress, then regrows itself into a stronger configuration by feeding off a nutrient bath," reports New Atlas. From the report: To achieve this, the Hokkaido team used what is called double-network hydrogels. Like other hydrogels, these are polymers that are 85 percent water by weight, but in this case, the material consist of both a rigid, brittle polymer and a soft, stretchable one. In this way, the finished product is both soft and tough. However, the clever bit is that under laboratory conditions the hydrogel was immersed in a bath of monomers, which are the individual molecular links that make up a polymer. These serve the same function in the muscle-mimicking material as amino acids do in living tissue.
According to the team, when the hydrogel is stretched, some of the brittle polymer chains break, creating a chemical species called "mechanoradicals" at the end of the broken polymer chains. These are very reactive and quickly join up with the floating monomers to form a new, stronger polymer chain. Under testing, the hydrogel acted much like muscles under strength training. It became 1.5 times stronger, 23 times stiffer, and increased in weight by 86 percent. It was even possible to control the properties of the material by using heat-sensitive monomers and applying high temperatures to make it more water resistant. Gong says this approach could lead to materials suitable for a variety of applications, such as in flexible exosuits for patients with skeletal injuries that become stronger with use. The study has been published in the journal Science. For those interested, the researchers have published a video discussing the new hydrogel material.
According to the team, when the hydrogel is stretched, some of the brittle polymer chains break, creating a chemical species called "mechanoradicals" at the end of the broken polymer chains. These are very reactive and quickly join up with the floating monomers to form a new, stronger polymer chain. Under testing, the hydrogel acted much like muscles under strength training. It became 1.5 times stronger, 23 times stiffer, and increased in weight by 86 percent. It was even possible to control the properties of the material by using heat-sensitive monomers and applying high temperatures to make it more water resistant. Gong says this approach could lead to materials suitable for a variety of applications, such as in flexible exosuits for patients with skeletal injuries that become stronger with use. The study has been published in the journal Science. For those interested, the researchers have published a video discussing the new hydrogel material.
until it gets to about 45 years
...resist.
Table-ized A.I.
That's just about all this accomplishes.
Been around for a long time. Perhaps Hokkaido university accidentally blocked this page.
That cures forever and ever amen
There's a great future in plastics.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
Sounds like the myomers from Battletech.
Someone get this tech over to Suidobashi Heavy Industry, stat!
You mean work hardening? like copper?
I mean it's weird for a plastic to do it, but work hardening is well known in metallurgy.
Chew gum for 30 minutes...
I had some gym socks back in junior high that did the same thing; how is this news?
Fascism: An authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization. See also: NAZI's
Building their full size gundams and now making saiyan materials that get strong after each battle.
I remember an experimental polymer having tiny capsules of monomer, with hardener/catalyst embedded into the edges of the capsule. When a breakage or crack happened, the capsules would tear open the resin, and it would harden and cure to repair the damage.
This is interesting research, but AFAIK, the "nutrient" stuff is pretty toxic, as uncured resins tend to be.
are we there yet?
It gets harder after you chew it for a bit.
You mean David Brin's "The Practice Effect" is REAL?!? I always thought that was the least believable premise ever for science fiction.
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.