TPU nanocomposite imitates spider silk.(thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer)

Urethanes Technology, February, 2007 by White, Liz

Biomaterials such as spider silk and bone get their unique mix of strength, stiffness and extensibility from zones of crystallites dispersed in a matrix of softer protein.

In the last few years, scientists have established that the secret behind the combined strength and flexibility of such fibres lies in the arrangement of the nano-crystalline reinforcement while they are being produced.

"If you look closely at the structure of spider silk, it is filled with a lot of very small crystals," said Prof Gareth McKinley of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in an MIT news release on his research: "It's highly reinforced."

Now McKinley's research into nanocomposites designed to imitate such materials has produced a thermoplastic...

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