polymerguru

  📢Zoom-In Mondays!📢 Have a look at this microscopy! What can you see?  What you're looking at is a fracture surface of a carbon fiber composite: one-half of a crack in one of these specimens. This carbon fiber specimen was built up from lots of layers (81 in this case). By making microscopic cuts with a laser, research conducted by J.A Pascoe aimed to figure out how to control crack growth when the specimen was pulled apart.  Instead of just fracturing straight through, some bundles of carbon fibers will be pulled out, and stick out relative to the main plane of the crack. Those are the "pillars" that make up the words in the fracture surfaces. By making the right pattern of cuts, the team managed to make the pull-outs happen exactly where they wanted.  Source: J.A Pascoe Twitter Profile

Infinite Material Solutions launches a new material with fascinating potential. The product, called Caverna™ PP, is the world’s first extrudable thermoplastic with a water-soluble, co-continuous, microporous morphology. In simpler terms: It’s a 3D printing filament that allows users to create lightweight foam parts resembling a sponge. Unique Blend of Polymers Specifically designed for use in Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) systems, Caverna PP is the first in Infinite’s line of forthcoming Caverna™ build materials. Each one will be a unique blend of two polymers: A soluble material to be removed through dissolution, and an insoluble build material (in this case, polypropylene) to remain. After dissolution, the water-soluble phase leaves behind a cave-like network of microporous, interconnected channels inside the build material, making it light, soft, and porous. Caverna PP joins two other novel materials in Infinite’s portfolio: AquaSys® 120 and AquaSys® 180 water-soluble support...

Neste,  Mitsui Chemicals, Inc.,   and  Toyota Tsusho Corp.  are joining forces to enable Japan’s first industrial-scale production of renewable plastics and chemicals from 100% bio-based hydrocarbons. Replacing Fossil-based Feedstock In this collaboration, Mitsui Chemicals will use Neste RE™, 100% bio-based hydrocarbons produced by Neste, to replace a part of the fossil feedstock in the production of a variety of plastics and chemicals at its crackers within Osaka Works during 2021. In doing so, Mitsui Chemicals will become Japan’s first company to use bio-based feedstock in its crackers. The collaboration between Neste, Mitsui Chemicals, and Toyota Tsusho will enable brand owners and other potential clients in the Asian market, particularly in Japan, to start incorporating renewable plastics and chemicals into their products and offerings. For this collaboration, Neste will produce its Neste RE™ feedstock entirely from renewable raw materials, such as bio-based wast...

Time to Get Technical.. Which companies are the biggest suppliers of carbon fiber? As reported by @CompositesWorld's article ''Carbon Fiber Suppliers Gear Up for Next Gen Growth'', 161200 metric tonnes of global carbon fiber were manufactured in 2019. @Toray dominates the carbon fiber supply chain with 57,000 metric tonnes of annual capacity, which nearly equals the capacity of the next four largest suppliers combined. 😮 According to Tony Roberts, a longtime composites industry veteran, ''The global demand for carbon fiber is complicated, mainly because it is offered in such variety, size (tow counts) and mechanical capability (strength, stiffness), that making sense of the data requires a closer look at the end markets that use carbon fiber.''  At the time, Roberts expected that by 2025, the total carbon fiber demand will be 191,350 metric tonnes and the global nameplate carbon fiber demand, will be about 201,000 metric tonnes. Accounting for knock...

  Researchers from JAIST have used bio-derived resources such as itaconic acid and amino acid for the syntheses of high-performance BioNylons having the pepsin degradation function. Need for Nylons with High Degradability Marine plastic waste problems have been more serious year by year. One of the worst issues is that creatures in ocean are going extinct by mistakenly swallowing them. Conventional biodegradable plastics are degradable in digestive enzymes, but their performances are too low to use in society. Currently available conventional nylon such as Nylon 6, Nylon 66, and Nylon 11 are nondegradable. On the other hand, BioNylons derived from itaconic acid showed higher performances than conventional ones and degradability in soil, but degradability under the digestive enzymes was not confirmed. To tackle these issues, a team of researchers from the Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technologies (JAIST) are investigating syntheses of new BioNylons with their degradabilit...

R esearchers at the University of Chicago have designed a completely novel potential treatment for COVID-19: nanoparticles that capture SARS-CoV-2 viruses within the body and then use the body’s own immune system to destroy them. These “nanotraps” attract the virus by mimicking the target cells the virus infects. When the virus binds to the nanotraps, the traps then sequester the virus from other cells and target it for destruction by the immune system. In theory, these nanotraps could also be used on variants of the virus, leading to a potential new way to inhibit the virus going forward. Though the therapy remains in early stages of testing, the researchers envision it could be administered via a nasal spray as a treatment for COVID-19. The results were published April 19 in the journal  Matter . “Since the pandemic began, our research team has been developing this new way to treat COVID-19,” said Asst. Prof.  Jun Huang  of the Pritzker School of Molecula...

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  The discovery of a novel enzyme that releases a valuable chemical from agricultural waste could provide an important breakthrough in the upscaling of renewable fuels and chemicals, a new study shows. Researchers – led by the University of York - have discovered an enzyme in a fungus that can act as a catalyst to bring about a biochemical reaction that breaks down lignocellulose to produce chemicals and fuels. Lignocellulose as Renewable Resource: Professor Neil Bruce from the Department of Biology and Director of the Centre for Novel Agricultural Products (CNAP) said: “ We believe this discovery is important as there is much interest in using lignocellulose as a renewable and sustainable resource for the production of liquid fuels and chemicals. ” Although lignocellulose is one of the most abundant forms of fixed carbon in the biosphere, the use of lignocellulose as a material to supply bioindustry has been hampered by its composition and structure, which renders it highly obstin...

  The Hemp plant has 50,000 different known uses to replace products we use on a daily basis. It is a renewable resource that yields a harvest in 4 to 5 months' time. Let’s list the many things that Hemp is for our people. Hemp is energy Hemp biomass can create biofuels such as gasoline, methane, ethanol, and methanol. Hemp can also be used to create electricity. It is a cleaner-burning fuel than of fossil fuels and is a renewable resource that can be harnessed by all people in all places. Hemp is building materials Hemp biomass can be used to create hempcrete, hemp insulation, and hemp wood. Hemp is more thermally efficient, fireproof & less susceptible to mold and mildew providing significant sound absorption. One acre of Hemp is equal to up to 4 acres of trees in fiber production Hemp is economic diversification and development for our planet The Hemp industry will create a new economy that is plant-based. It provides the answers we have been looking for about how we can sto...

  At  Linköping University, Sweden , scientists have designed a stable, highly conductive polymer ink. The breakthrough opens the door for novel printed electronics with high energy efficiency. The study findings have been published in the  Nature Communications  journal. Electrically conducting polymers have enabled the growth of lightweight and flexible electronic components like batteries, transistors, light-emitting diodes, solar cells, and organic biosensors. The electrical properties of such polymers can be tweaked with the help of a technique called “doping.” This technique involves adding several dopant molecules to the polymer to alter its properties. Based on the dopant, the doped polymer has the ability to conduct electricity by the motion of either positively charged holes (a “p-type” conductor) or negatively charged electrons (an “n-type” conductor). Major Advance Currently, the p-type conductor PEDOT:PSS is the most common conducting polymer in use...