Science and Technology Daily News (intern reporter Lu Zijian) Recently, a scientific research team from the Montreal Institute of Engineering published a new research result in the "Cell Report Physical Science" magazine, saying that they used additive manufacturing to invent a new type of composite material.
The material can absorb up to 96% of impact energy, and the material will not break.
The emergence of this material makes it possible to produce more durable smartphone protective screens.
The researchers said that the design of the material was inspired by spider webs and its amazing properties.
Professor Friedrich Gosling said that spider webs can deform through sacrificial connections at the molecular level inside their silk proteins, so that they can resist the impact generated by insects. This feature inspired them.
The research aims to show how to combine plastic webbing with glass panels to prevent the panels from breaking when impacted.
When polycarbonate is heated, it becomes sticky like honey.
Using this property, Professor Gosling's team used a 3D printer to "knit" a series of fibers with a thickness of less than 2 mm, and then quickly and vertically print a series of new fibers before the entire network solidified.
When the 3D printer slowly extrudes the printing material to form fibers, the melted plastic will form a circle, eventually forming a series of rings.
"Once hardened, these loops become sacrificial connections, giving the fiber greater strength. When a collision occurs, these sacrificial connections absorb impact energy and break to maintain the overall integrity of the fiber, similar to silk protein "Professor Gosling explained.
The lead author of the study, Zou Shibo (transliteration), embedded a series of fiber meshes into transparent resin panels and then conducted an impact test.
As a result, the wafer can dissipate up to 96% of the impact energy without breaking, but only deform in certain places, thereby maintaining the overall integrity of the wafer.
In fact, in an article published as early as 2015, Professor Gosling’s team demonstrated the principles of manufacturing these fibers.
The article published this time reveals how these fibers behave when they are tangled into a web.
Professor Gosling believes that in addition to smart phone screens, the material can also be used to make new bullet-proof glass and protective coatings for aircraft engines.