{"id":6798,"date":"2025-02-18T09:49:20","date_gmt":"2025-02-18T14:49:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/?p=6798"},"modified":"2025-02-18T09:49:21","modified_gmt":"2025-02-18T14:49:21","slug":"bent-but-not-broken","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/2025\/bent-but-not-broken\/","title":{"rendered":"Bent but Not Broken"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n

NC State researchers have developed a new type of material combining the strength of a hard plastic water bottle with the elasticity of a contact lens. Dubbed \u201cglassy gels,\u201d the new materials were featured in the prestigious journal Nature<\/em>. Unique and easily produced, they may eventually be used in everything from 3D printing to windows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It started with an accidental discovery. Postdoctoral researcher Meixiang Wang was trying to create a stretchy material for use in sensors when she found that adding liquid to a polymer produced a surprisingly hard and flexible material, says Michael Dickey, a chemical and biomolecular engineering professor and a co-author on the paper. \u201cUsually when you put liquid into polymers, when they get wet, they\u2019re kind of squishy, and the material is softer,\u201d Dickey says. \u201cBut in this case, it was hard.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen we add the liquid, it can stretch five times its original length without breaking, like a rubber band.\u201d
\u2014 Michael Dickey<\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Dickey and others joined the team to further investigate the material\u2019s exact properties and how they form. They found that adding the right amount of a liquid with a particular concentration of ions causes the chains of molecules in plastic to bond together in a way that makes the material both stronger and more flexible. If the molecules in soft plastics are like strands of cooked spaghetti, he says, the electrical charge in the ionic liquid creates a pattern that holds together more like a net, allowing for stretchability. \u201cNormally it would be hard, and if you stretch it, it would just break,\u201d Dickey says. \u201cBut when we add the liquid, it can stretch five times its original length without breaking, like a rubber band.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dickey says he\u2019s gotten inquiries about using glassy gels in windows, batteries, adhesives and food processing. In 3D printing, the material could be easily formed into a number of products. Unlike most plastics, which must be manufactured, glassy gels are easy to produce\u2009\u2014\u2009simply mix together the various parts and cure them with heat. They also return to their original shape easily after being stretched and are sticky to the touch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not something we set out to make,\u201d Dickey says, \u201cbut it does have such unique properties that I\u2019d like to think that it will find some applications.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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NC State researchers have developed a new type of material combining the strength of a hard plastic water bottle with the elasticity of a contact lens. Dubbed \u201cglassy gels,\u201d the new materials were featured in the prestigious journal Nature<\/em>. Unique and easily produced, they may eventually be used in everything from 3D printing to windows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It started with an accidental discovery. Postdoctoral researcher Meixiang Wang was trying to create a stretchy material for use in sensors when she found that adding liquid to a polymer produced a surprisingly hard and flexible material, says Michael Dickey, a chemical and biomolecular engineering professor and a co-author on the paper. \u201cUsually when you put liquid into polymers, when they get wet, they\u2019re kind of squishy, and the material is softer,\u201d Dickey says. \u201cBut in this case, it was hard.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen we add the liquid, it can stretch five times its original length without breaking, like a rubber band.\u201d
\u2014 Michael Dickey<\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Dickey and others joined the team to further investigate the material\u2019s exact properties and how they form. They found that adding the right amount of a liquid with a particular concentration of ions causes the chains of molecules in plastic to bond together in a way that makes the material both stronger and more flexible. If the molecules in soft plastics are like strands of cooked spaghetti, he says, the electrical charge in the ionic liquid creates a pattern that holds together more like a net, allowing for stretchability. \u201cNormally it would be hard, and if you stretch it, it would just break,\u201d Dickey says. \u201cBut when we add the liquid, it can stretch five times its original length without breaking, like a rubber band.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dickey says he\u2019s gotten inquiries about using glassy gels in windows, batteries, adhesives and food processing. In 3D printing, the material could be easily formed into a number of products. Unlike most plastics, which must be manufactured, glassy gels are easy to produce\u2009\u2014\u2009simply mix together the various parts and cure them with heat. They also return to their original shape easily after being stretched and are sticky to the touch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not something we set out to make,\u201d Dickey says, \u201cbut it does have such unique properties that I\u2019d like to think that it will find some applications.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Engineers have developed flexible glass that stretches science and the imagination.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6799,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"views\/single-immersive.blade.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"source":"","ncst_custom_author":"Marti Maguire","ncst_show_custom_author":true,"ncst_dynamicHeaderBlockName":"ncst\/default-immersive-post-header","ncst_dynamicHeaderData":"{\"backgroundColor\":\"indigo_400\",\"caption\":\"Photo illustration by Joshua Steadman.\",\"displayCategoryID\":9,\"showAuthor\":true,\"showDate\":true,\"showFeaturedVideo\":false,\"subtitle\":\"Engineers have developed flexible glass that stretches science and the imagination.\"}","ncst_content_audit_freq":"","ncst_content_audit_date":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,9],"tags":[272,1765,765,1766,1767],"_ncst_magazine_issue":[],"class_list":["post-6798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newswire","category-stories","tag-college-of-engineering","tag-glassy-gel","tag-marti-maguire","tag-meixang-wang","tag-michael-dickey"],"displayCategory":{"term_id":9,"name":"Stories","slug":"stories","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":9,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":260,"filter":"raw"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6798"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6798\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6887,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6798\/revisions\/6887"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6798"},{"taxonomy":"_ncst_magazine_issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/_ncst_magazine_issue?post=6798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}