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MIT Engineers Create the “Impossible” – New Material That Is Stronger Than Steel and As Light as Plastic
SciTechDaily ^ | 02/03/2022

Posted on 02/03/2022 6:30:32 PM PST by BenLurkin

The new material is a two-dimensional polymer that self-assembles into sheets, unlike all other polymers, which form one-dimensional, spaghetti-like chains.

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...

Strano and his colleagues came up with a new polymerization process that allows them to generate a two-dimensional sheet called a polyaramide. For the monomer building blocks, they use a compound called melamine, which contains a ring of carbon and nitrogen atoms. Under the right conditions, these monomers can grow in two dimensions, forming disks. These disks stack on top of each other, held together by hydrogen bonds between the layers, which make the structure very stable and strong.

Because the material self-assembles in solution, it can be made in large quantities by simply increasing the quantity of the starting materials. The researchers showed that they could coat surfaces with films of the material, which they call 2DPA-1.

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.

(Excerpt) Read more at scitechdaily.com ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: 2dpa1; massachusetts; melamine; mit; physics; polyaramide; polymer; polymerization
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To: Telepathic Intruder

My feeling is that it won’t replace anything, but be a supplemental protection against wear and tear.

I’d be surprised if they could eliminate a foundation of metal or brick or cement with this, but I can see it covering metal or brick or cement to protect it against the wear and tear of the environment.

So, I can see them reducing how much metal or brick or cement is used and replacing it with this wonder material, but I can’t see this wonder material being a replacement for metal, brick or cement. It could allow a house to stand 500 years, maybe. That I can see.


21 posted on 02/03/2022 6:54:01 PM PST by Jonty30 (I love giving directions, because it is like me tell people where to go and how to get there.)
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To: BenLurkin

This will give the private space industry a HUGE shot in the arm.

Why? Because they will be first in line since this federal gubermint needs payoffs from the manufacturing plants to use it.


22 posted on 02/03/2022 6:55:50 PM PST by crz
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To: BenLurkin

Please note the ethnicities of the researchers:

Reference: “Irreversible synthesis of an ultrastrong two-dimensional polymeric material” by Yuwen Zeng, Pavlo Gordiichuk, Takeo Ichihara, Ge Zhang, Emil Sandoz-Rosado, Eric D. Wetzel, Jason Tresback, Jing Yang, Daichi Kozawa, Zhongyue Yang, Matthias Kuehne, Michelle Quien, Zhe Yuan, Xun Gong, Guangwei He, Daniel James Lundberg, Pingwei Liu, Albert Tianxiang Liu, Jing Fan Yang, Heather J. Kulik and Michael S. Strano, 2 February 2022, Nature.

Now, once again, can we hazard a guess as to why China is leapfrogging over America, technically?


23 posted on 02/03/2022 6:59:20 PM PST by Lazamataz (He who does, does not talk. He who talks, does not do.)
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To: Jonty30

Since apparently they can only make the stuff in 2 dimensional sheets and use hydrogen bonding for 3 dimensional objects, that may be the case. I guess we’ll see what they’re able to do with it.


24 posted on 02/03/2022 6:59:22 PM PST by Telepathic Intruder (Democracy is two dead Democrats and a Republican voting who's brains are for dinner.)
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To: Lazamataz

The Dems and Unity party are totally sabotaging America’s potential. We need to get rid of the current education system from pre-K to university. We’ve made it far too difficult in obtaining an education, unless you’re a millionaire already.

What is really needed, imo, is a series of certifications that, when put together, gives you a diploma. There is no reason that we can’t have a weekend class that students spend the week preparing for and the teacher goes over everything on an all day class.

Something like that.


25 posted on 02/03/2022 7:03:00 PM PST by Jonty30 (I love giving directions, because it is like me tell people where to go and how to get there.)
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To: BenLurkin

Wow.

This stuff sounds better than an everlasting gobstopper.


26 posted on 02/03/2022 7:04:05 PM PST by WeaslesRippedMyFlesh
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To: BenLurkin

I hope China appreciates all the work we do for them!


27 posted on 02/03/2022 7:05:38 PM PST by Reily
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To: BenLurkin
Two dimensional melamine sheets? Been using that for years...


28 posted on 02/03/2022 7:14:30 PM PST by ProtectOurFreedom (81 million votes...and NOT ONE "Build Back Better" hat)
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To: Fai Mao

They already invented that.

CC


29 posted on 02/03/2022 7:14:37 PM PST by Celtic Conservative (My cats are more amusing than 200 channels worth of TV.)
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To: BenLurkin

It needs a sexier name than “2DPA-1.”


30 posted on 02/03/2022 7:18:34 PM PST by TChad ("Joe, we should evacuate the civilians before the military. You understand that, right? Joe?")
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To: Secret Agent Man

You want a “a competent rational democrat.”

Lets see...polyaramide, monomer building blocks, melamine, rings of carbon and nitrogen atoms, grows in two dimensions, forms disk, hydrogen bonds between the layers, self-assembly, high elastic modulus, high yield strength.

CHECK. Check. check.

And “impermeable to gases” — DQ’d! Those corruptocrat gasbags will never be impermeable to gases.


31 posted on 02/03/2022 7:18:58 PM PST by ProtectOurFreedom (81 million votes...and NOT ONE "Build Back Better" hat)
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To: BenLurkin
Was this the team that developed it:


32 posted on 02/03/2022 7:28:48 PM PST by Renfrew
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To: TigerClaws

“Thank you, Area 51!”

The former president of Lockheed’s Skunkworks let a slip back in the 90’s in an interview saying “whatever gadget you saw in Star Trek, we reverse engineered it in Area 51. It’s all real”. He later backtracked saying “I was just kidding around”.


33 posted on 02/03/2022 7:31:09 PM PST by max americana (FIRED LEFTARD employees at our office every election since 2008 and enjoyed seeing them cry.)
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To: TChad

Obtanium?


34 posted on 02/03/2022 7:32:32 PM PST by Telepathic Intruder (Democracy is two dead Democrats and a Republican voting who's brains are for dinner.)
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To: blueunicorn6

This might be true but how much heat/reaction can the new material take before melting/disintegrating as AGTMs create a “plasma jet” to enter the tank. Many HEAT rounds today can cut into 1300mm or more of armor.


35 posted on 02/03/2022 7:33:03 PM PST by Liaison (TANSTAAFL)
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To: left that other site

From Atlas Shrugged.


36 posted on 02/03/2022 7:34:18 PM PST by telescope115 (Proud member of the ANTIFAuci movement. )
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To: Secret Agent Man
I’m waiting for them to create a competent rational democrat.

Unobtainium?
37 posted on 02/03/2022 7:38:01 PM PST by rottndog (What comes after America?)
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To: TChad

Itllcostafortunenum


38 posted on 02/03/2022 7:51:26 PM PST by BradyLS (DO NOT FEED THE BEARS!)
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To: rottndog

I think it’s Imaginarium.

Or Fantasium.


39 posted on 02/03/2022 7:52:23 PM PST by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: BenLurkin

Bullshit. That headline describes SILK.


40 posted on 02/03/2022 7:54:55 PM PST by Honest Nigerian
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