Material scientists in the Netherlands have whipped up a new compound that has the best qualities of both plastic and glass.
The so-called "compleximer" maintains the reformability of glass while being impact-resistant like plastic. There are massive practical implications for a material like this, though exactly how it's functioning remains a mystery to the researchers.
"Got a serious crack? Just heat it up with a hairdryer, press it together, and the gap is sealed again," suggested report author Jasper van der Gucht. "We started with a material that, according to current theory, should not exist, and we end with new questions about how materials behave."
The researchers suspected that compleximer was being held together by physical forces, as opposed to the long chemical chains that bind plastics. Being able to repair items made out of the material could help prevent the need to send them through recycling processes altogether.
Advances in plastics like this can also help improve the recyclability of everyday items like containers. As it stands, plastic recovery is utterly inadequate, and plastic manufacturing continues to give life to polluting oil production.
Plastic waste is a major safety hazard for wildlife. As plastic breaks down, particles routinely find their way into human food supply chains as well.
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Researchers have been trying to tackle the issue from a number of angles, including improving the recyclability of existing plastics, better sorting techniques, and new chemical processes.
You can do your part by using less plastic in your day-to-day life.
Dutch researchers were looking forward to creating a version of compleximer made with biological materials for greater sustainability. It will also take time before the material is ready for mass production. Until then, researchers remained excited about the progress they had made.
"It cast a completely new light on something scientists have been trying to understand for decades," said van der Gucht. "Now we have something that completely defies that rule."
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