America develops bullet-proof superhard materials from hair

In a new study, scientists at the University of California on January 18 said they had discovered why the hair was strong and had a strong anti-break ability. This finding could lead to the development of new materials for the production of armor and help cosmetics companies create better hair care products.

According to density, hard hair is equivalent to steel. It can last 1.5 times longer than the original length before breaking."We want to find out what this extraordinary power behind the material is," said Yang Daniel Yu, a nanotechnology doctor who currently teaches at the University of California and the first author of the study. .

Hair structure when viewed with a microscope.

"Naturally creating a variety of interesting materials and works. We are very interested in understanding the relationship between structure and properties of biological materials to develop synthetic materials, thereby creating Better materials are based on that nature, "said Marc Meyers, associate professor of mechanical engineering at the University of California and director of scientific work.

In the study published in the journal Nanoscience Science and Technology, researchers examined how the human hair's viral level when distorted or stretched will look like. The team discovered that hair has the ability to respond flexibly to each impact.

Human hair has two main components: the outer shell is made up of parallel installations, and the matrix network (matrix) , which has an amorphous matrix. This matrix is ​​very sensitive to the speed at which the hair is deformed, while the shell is not.

"This wonderful combination is what makes hair more resilient and stretchable," Yu explained.

Bulletproof materials for future US military armor will be made from hair.

And when stretched, the structure of the hair will change in a special way. At the nanoscale, hair strands are made up of thousands of spiral-shaped molecules called alpha helix chains.

When the hair is deformed, the alpha helix sequence "disassembles" itself and becomes a corrugated structure called a beta table . This structural change allows it to withstand well without being broken, which is the basis for developing future bulletproof armor materials for the US military.