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Say Goodbye to Wimpy Paper |
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Written by Jared Maynard
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Tuesday, 10 June 2008 |
"Paper grocery bags that can hold a few liters of milk without tearing? That may not be too far off thanks to the development of a "nanopaper" that is tougher than cast iron. The material--made from nanosized whiskers of cellulose--is also lighter than conventional paper and could provide sturdy scaffolds for growing replacement tissues and organs.
Conventional paper is made from cellulose, a crystalline polymer of glucose that's the primary component of plant cell walls. At the nanoscale level, cellulose can be extremely strong, with individual fibers capable of withstanding more stress than glass fibers or steel wire. But paper processing generates relatively large cellulose microfibers riddled with defects that can break apart under stress. That leaves most commercial paper with a tensile strength that tops out at about 30 megapascals (MPa), says Lars Berglund, a lightweight structures engineering expert at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden." ~sciencemag.org
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