A new material inspired by the scorpion shows its strength. It can be stretched without breaking and repairing its own molecular bonds. Therefore, it may be useful in the manufacture of robotic joints that lift heavy objects, or packaged to protect delicate goods from accidental fall. Related results were published in the journal Science. Earthworms and some other mollusks use adhesive proteins and hard fibers like plastic to hold the solid surface tightly. This fiber has a very strong tension and can self-repair when some internal molecular bonds break. For mites, these stretchy but still tough fibers come in handy when the waves hit. Megan Valentine and colleagues from the University of California, Santa Barbara, created plastics with the same properties by simulating the chemical phenomena utilized by steroids. The molecular bond between iron and an organic compound known as catechol makes this material difficult to break or tear while maintaining stretchability. Iron-catechol bonds consume energy from some objects that impact or stretch this material. These molecular bonds that make sacrifices break, but the overall structure remains intact. “It's a bit like a bicycle helmet: if you have an accident on a bicycle, the foam inside the helmet will cushion and consume some energy. All the energy that originally caused the skull fracture will enter the helmet.†Valentine said, “Let's develop For the new material, we replace the foam with a molecular bond that makes sacrifice to protect the underlying polymer system. By sacrificing the iron-catechol bond, the new material can be stretched by 50%. Then, once the pressure disappears, the molecular bonds are reformed and reused. Compared to materials that do not possess these molecular bonds, plastics with molecular bonds added can be stretched 770 times and toughened by a factor of 58. “Usually this involves a balance: you can make materials that are harder to break but not so good, or that are easier to break but are easily stretched,†says Niels Holten-Andersen of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “But by adding these molecular bonds inspired by the scorpion, the researchers succeeded in combining not easy to break and stretch.â€
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