The plastic process is 10 times more elastic than plastic

Researchers in China have unveiled plastics made with electrochemical spinning technology widely used in the automotive and electronics industries.

They say a high-tech process uses an electric charge to convert the polymer into thin filaments in an electrical environment that produces plastic sheets that can shrink 10 times as much as the original material without breaking and can be recycled. again for new applications plastic.

In this new study, Zhao-Xia Guo and colleagues point out that the original polyoxymethylene (POM) resin is a well-known technical material with hardened metal properties, lightweight and durable. chemistry. However, this material is quite brittle, limiting its applicability.

Although many different types of plastics have been turned into electrolysis with expanded applications and properties, so far researchers have been unable to spin the POM into fibers.

Scientists have invented a resin of 20 times the original material. The image is a micrograph of nanosized fibers by electrochemical spinning. (Photo: American Chemical Society)

The researchers say that POM can be turned into nanofibre - a fiber that is several thousand times the width of a hair - after decomposing it in a solution called HFIP. and then proceed through the electrochemical spinning process.

The result is that the POM panels have improved elasticity or flexibility, high porosity and high surface area. The researchers say these properties could extend the applications of plastic to the industrial, electronic and medical fields.

Reference article:

1. Lu et al. High resilient elastomeric fabrication by Polyoxymethylene Electroplating. Journal of Macromolecules, 2008; 0 (0): 0 DOI: 10.1021 / ma702881k