Researchers at Arizona State University’s School of Molecular Sciences and the Biodesign Institute’s Center for Sustainable Macromolecular Materials and Manufacturing are pioneering a multi-faceted approach to address the complex sustainability challenge. By leveraging innovative polymer technology, they are uncovering insights into material behavior under high-speed impacts, paving the way for more durable and long-lasting products. This work has the potential to reduce waste and drive a more circular economy, ultimately enhancing environmental sustainability.
Lightening the Load on Material Failure
Picture a backpack that never wears down or a helmet that always works after taking hundreds of hits. It’s the future researchers at Arizona State University are striving to achieve.
Working with Associate Professor Yoan Simon, the team has engineered a smart polymer material that enables us to visually record how the polymer reacts to high-speed projectile impacts. Using mechanophores, molecules that emit light when under significant mechanical force, the researchers discovered a method to illustrate how waves travel through these materials and how tiny ripples just beneath the surface form during an impact.
Attacking the problem at a fundamental level this novel approach delivers an insight into material failure that has never been seen before, leading to truly revolutionary advancements in product durability. Simon says: “For many years, they have been activated and if deformations were visible to the naked eye in materials where ordinary plastic was hardly applicable in such molecular sensors. “What is really unique in this study, and it’s the first time we provide such visualization tool that can look deep inside the material.
Revealing Mach cones hidden in sensory data
The approach from the research team mixes complex computational modeling with state-of-the-art analysis methods pioneered at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). They used an experimental set-up that worked like a “microscopic gun” to shoot microprojectiles into the polymer material and then, using ultrafast cameras and advanced microscopy, recorded resultant Mach cones – acoustic waves moving more quickly than the speed of sound in the material.
To put it in simple terms, We employed a microscopic gun to shoot microprojectiles at different materials and then used ultrafast cameras as well as advanced microscopic techniques to get some very critical data regarding how much energy was being dissipated into the material and how this energy was being transmitted through it,” said Simon.
This first-of-its-kind visualization strategy not only sheds light on how materials behave during high-speed impacts but also offers unparalleled insights into animal dynamics, mild traumatic brain injuries, cold spray additive manufacturing, and even hypervelocity events in space.
Cruising Towards a Greener Future
Ultimately, this research aims to create a more sustainable future alongside the scientific advancement. The team hopes to use this information to design better products that are more resistant and less likely to break from every-day accident or stress, which they say would greatly reduce the output of used materials which can just be thrown away.
This is easier said than done, of course, however Simon points out that the remedy could really be as simple as extending the life of parts. Whether from backpack tethers to bike helmets and even football helmets, the ability to make materials that can endure an increased number of circular use cycles without breakage will be essential for any advancement into the upcoming future of a true circular economy.
Through their pioneering work in material science, the researchers suggested that failures of engineering may one day be replaced with success stories of sustainability and a more eco-friendly future.
