2023-11-09 06:30:00
Plastic has not said its last word. If not fantastic, it will perhaps be possible to sing the praises of VPR, a material described as “more resistant and more extensible » than market standards. Developed by researchers at the University of Tokyo (Japan), it can lose 25% of its weight by being exposed to sea water for thirty days.
To achieve this performance, scientists worked on the properties of vitrimers, a category of organic polymers which, following hardening, can be remelted, like glass. A French innovation presented in 2011 by teams from the Higher School of Industrial Physics and Chemistry of the city of Paris and the National Center for Scientific Research. The first vitrimers (with the symbol V) were made from epoxy resin. Researchers at the University of Tokyo took this material to add a polyrotaxane molecule (with the acronym PR).
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Among the other advantages of this coupling, there is, for the material, an elongation at break 5.3 times greater than that of a vitrimer without PR, as well as “self-healing properties“. In addition, VPR can be chemically recycled ten times faster than traditional vitrimer, and return to its original form twice as quickly. Although recognized for several properties (scratch healing, self-adhesion, shape memory), vitrimers lacked, according to the researchers, in their resistance to breakage. The VPRs created were also immersed in acetone for ten days, with a swelling rate «minimal»from 0.5 to 2%.
Possible applications in construction
“Polyrotaxane is attracting increasing interest in science and industry due to its ability to improve the strength of different materials. In this study, the improved strength of VPR meant that more complex shapes might be created and maintained even at low temperatures., continues the University of Tokyo. Stronger thanks to this new type of molecule, bridges and roads might benefit from it through steel or concrete, while applications are also possible in IT or fashion. Work to be carried out with caution: at temperatures above 150 degrees Celsius, the VPR bonds recombine and the materials can be transformed into different forms.
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