Latest developments in the creation of new materials

A large portion of the plastic produced worldwide is used as packaging material, and only around 68% of the packaging bought by consumers is recycled, resulting in several tons of plastic ending up in the oceans each year. Because of these problems, the use of biopolymers as packaging material has become increasingly popular over the last few decades in the need to shift towards a greener alternative. Although natural biopolymers could be attractive alternatives to conventional plastic, generally, films made from biomaterials generally have low mechanical strength and poor barrier properties – compromising functional properties on the safety of the product being packaged. However, these properties could be improved by the addition of certain materials (e.g. chitosan or alginate) or by crosslinking, such is the work of many recent and ongoing research projects, for example that are using their Texture Analyser to explore the mechanical suitability of such ideas:

Plastic straws contribute to waste and result in the release of greenhouse gases in their manufacture. Despite this, they provide a superior sensory experience compared to other options. Scientists from Cornell University have been investigating alternative biodegradable and reusable drinking straws as alternatives to single-use plastic. This study contains a review of aspects of this experience, along with consumers' motivations for using straws. They measured the durability of straws soaked in water, using their TA.XTplus Texture Analyser to perform three-point bend tests.

Fungal mycelia are versatile, highly productive and sustainable sources for biocomposites to replace conventional plastics. However, with only very few fungal strains that have been characterised, numerous strains still remain unexplored as potential competitors against traditional non-biodegradable materials. Moreover, the functionality of mycelium composites at commonly occurring, challenging ambient conditions such as changing humidity and temperature is not well characterised. Researchers from the University of Helsinki evaluated the properties of the fungal composite material produced by novel fungal strains, including Trichoderma asperellum and Agaricus bisporus, grown on oat husk and rapeseed cake after oil pressing. They used their TA.XT2i Texture Analyser to perform compressive tests. The results showed that the mycelium composites were hydrophobic and strong, particularly when grown on rapeseed cake. A. bisporus grown on rapeseed cake exhibited increased stiffness after humidity was successively increased and decreased. The moisture-resistance of these novel mycelium composites is encouraging for novel sustainable material solutions.

Cellular glass is a type of insulation that is composed of crushed glass and a material such as limestone or carbon. Because glass is a large part of its composition, it possesses some of the same advantages of glass. There are many applications for cellular glass. It can be specially shaped for insulating objects such as pipes or tanks or used to produce insulation panels for structures. Other applications include cold storage and flotation devices. Work that is being carried out in this field of materials using a Texture Analyser includes:

Nonconventional manufacture technique of cellular glass from recycled aluminosilicate glass-based waste

Other materials are also being progressed providing such characteristics as shape recovery, compression strength, adhesiveness, hardness or rigidity – the mechanical properties depending upon the purpose of the material:

In the fast-paced world of electronics the constant redevelopment of mobile phone technology calls for the assessment of materials with properties that provide new functional opportunities and experiences for the consumer. With recent development of display-relating technologies, display devices transformable at the stage of use such as folding, rolling in a roll shape or stretching like a rubber band have been researched and developed. These displays may be transformed into various shapes, and therefore, may satisfy demands for both a larger display at the stage of use and a smaller display for portability. However, existing adhesive compositions for a foldable display have had problems in that, even when satisfying such a folding reliability condition, delamination and panel breakage occur when conducting a dynamic folding test at −20° C, a severe condition among conditions allowing an actual folding test. A patent has recently been released by LG that provides satisfying reliability conditions without causing problems such as delamination and breakage even at −20° C when conducting a folding test while maintaining properties of existing adhesive compositions for a foldable display such as reliability conditions and adhesion properties at room temperature and high temperature. They used their TA.XTplus Texture Analyser to perform peel tests.

Due to the empirical or imitative way that the Texture Analyser range can be applied, it is called upon time and time again for use in innovative areas of industry such as the creation and development of new materials. Unbound by fundamental or standard methods and analysis options, the Texture Analyser provides the flexibility of method development unavailable in other materials testing instruments. For this reason, it is found in countless recent patents applications where testing solutions for the measurement of properties of new materials are required for mechanical testing problems which cannot be assessed by applying rigid, old-fashioned standard method approaches.

Topics: Materials Innovative materials Polymers Material properties