Researchers have developed by "electrospinning" a process (illustrated in the post below) by which a plastic which they claim is ten times more stretchable than that of the original material. An international team, led by Chinese scientists, have produced the plastic, which is widely used in automobiles and electronics. This high-tech process that uses electric charge to turn polymers into thin fibres in the presence of electricity. According to them, the high-tech process can produce plastic mats that can stretch ten times more without breaking than the original material and it could lead to new uses for the plastic, the ScienceDaily reported. Lead researcher Zhao Xia Guo said that the original plastic, called polyoxymethylene(POM), "is an engineering staple known for its metal-like hardness, lightweight, and resistance to chemicals".According to the researchers, POM could be turned into nano-sized fibres - thousands of times thinner than the width of a single hair.
SOURCE
TOI-2nd June 2008
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