APROPOS K
Overview: Apropos K
Unique polymer fibers: Light, strong, and tough
19/12/2019
Strong and tough yet as light as a feather -- materials with this exceptional combination of properties are urgently needed in many industrial sectors and in medicine, as well as being of great interest for scientific research. A research team from the University of Bayreuth has developed polymer fibers with precisely these properties. ...
Hermann Staudinger’s life
10/12/2019
On 10. December 1953, when he was 72 years old, a retired professor and past the peak of his creative scientific career, Hermann Staudinger received belated honours: the Nobel Prize in Chemistry as the unparalleled culmination of his life’s work, which was devoted to basic chemical research and the theoretical foundations of plastics chemistry.
Polymer getting glued in the sea
20/11/2019
New bio-inspired hydrogels can act like superglue in highly ionic environments such as seawater, overcoming issues in currently available marine adhesives.
A fast and precise look into fiber-reinforced composites
14/11/2019
Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI have improved a method for small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) to such an extent that it can now be used in the development or quality control of novel fiber-reinforced composites.Degradable plastic by DMDO: 'Unnecessary' component key
11/11/2019
Associate Professor Yasuhiro Kohsaka of the Research Initiative for Supra-Materials (RISM) and 3 students at the Faculty of Textile Science and Technology, Shinshu University succeeded in developing a degradable plastic. Sometimes the solution is not so obvious nor the most logical, efficient way to solve the problem. ...74 years ago: sensational success with ballpoint pens
29/10/2019
On 29. October 1945, the New York department store Gimble launched a completely new writing implement on the market that has in the meantime established itself as probably the most significant product of its kind. What we are talking about here is the ballpoint pen, which was developed because its inventor was interested in writing that dried quickly and did not smear.
New material captures carbon dioxide
11/10/2019
The captured CO2 can be converted into plastic and other useful organic materials.
Combination of wood fibers and spider silk create a new kind of polymer
19/09/2019
Achieving strength and extensibility at the same time has so far been a great challenge in material engineering: increasing strength has meant losing extensibility and vice versa. Now Aalto University and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland researchers have succeeded in overcoming this challenge, inspired by nature.
Making polyurethane degradable gives its components a second life
16/09/2019
Polyurethane waste is piling up, but scientists have a possible solution: They have developed a method to make polyurethane degradable. Once the original product's useful life is over, the polymer can easily be dissolved into ingredients to make new products such as superglue.Making More Plastics Recyclable
03/09/2019
To date, it is nothing but the wishful thinking of many plastics recyclers: that recyclability is taken into account right from the very beginning of a product’s life cycle, at the product design stage. A new project aims at making this dream come true.