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"Discovery Files" Features from the National Science Foundation
"Plasticity"
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I'M SO PLASTIC... THE "DISCOVERY FILES": NEW ADVANCES IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING, FROM THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION. BEING CALLED "PLASTIC" COULD BE TAKEN AS A COMPLIMENT--IF YOU LOOK AT THE PROPERTIES THAT REALLY MAKE PLASTIC WORK: IT'S FLEXIBLE; IT'S STRONG; IT ACCOMMODATES; IT FLOWS; AND IT HANDLES STRESS WELL. BUT, WHAT GIVES PLASTIC ITS PLASTICITY? A RESEARCH TEAM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON HAS UNCOVERED THE FUNDAMENTAL WAY THAT PLASTIC--A RIGID SOLID--CAN ALSO ACT AS A FLOWING, MALLEABLE MATERIAL. THE TEAM STUDIED GOOD-OLD PLEXIGLAS--SUBJECTING IT TO A BATTERY OF TESTS, AND STUDYING MOLECULAR CHANGES. IT'S REALLY ABOUT STRESS-MANAGEMENT: INSTEAD OF THE PLASTIC BREAKING, WHAT THEY FOUND WAS THAT THE MORE YOU INCREASE THE PULLING-FORCE ON THE MATERIAL, THE MORE ACTIVE THE MOLECULES BECOME--READY TO GO WITH THE FLOW, REARRANGING THEMSELVES AS A REACTION TO THE PULLING. WHILE YOU MAY CALL IT THE "TAFFY-PULL PRINCIPLE", SCIENTISTS CALL IT "MOLECULAR REARRANGEMENT". BUT, JUST LIKE TAFFY, THE MATERIAL ACTS DIFFERENTLY, AT DIFFERENT TEMPERATURES: THE PLASTIC GOES TO A KIND OF A FLOWING-LIQUID STATE, WHEN PULLING-FORCE IS APPLIED--THEN GOES BACK TO SOLID, WHEN THE FORCE STOPS. THAT'S THE "HOW"; NOW, THE TEAM CONTINUES TO TRY AND UNDERSTAND THE "WHY". THAT ANSWER MAY GIVE US INSIGHTS INTO A NEW GENERATION OF STRONGER, MORE-LIGHTWEIGHT POLYMER MATERIALS. THE "DISCOVERY FILES" COVERS PROJECTS FUNDED BY THE GOVERNMENT'S NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION: FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH BROUGHT TO YOU BY YOU! LEARN MORE AT "N-S-F"-DOT-GOV--OR ON THEIR PODCAST.
For additional "Discovery Files" features from the National Science Foundation, click here.
