Researchers at Wageningen University & Research (WUR) have defied long-standing material theories by developing a brand-new class of material known as a “compleximer.”
This amber-colored substance achieves a combination of traits previously thought to be mutually exclusive: it possesses the rugged impact resistance of plastic while remaining as easy to reshape and blow as glass.
For decades, materials science has operated under a strict rule of thumb regarding “glassy” materials. The prevailing wisdom suggested that the more slowly a material melts and the easier it is to process, the more brittle it inevitably becomes.
However, Professor Jasper van der Gucht and his team have effectively shattered this assumption.
Their discovery reveals a material that melts slowly enough to be meticulously shaped but remains tough enough to bounce off a floor rather than shattering into shards.
To read more, click here.