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CNET Sci-Tech Shape-shifting 'superhero' material can lift 1,000 times its weight

Shape-shifting 'superhero' material

can lift 1,000 times its weight
Call Wayne Industries! A stretchy new polymer can pack a punch, with a shoelace-size piece able
to lift the weight of a liter of soda, its creators say.

Sci-Tech
February 9, 2016
4:21 PM PST

by Eric Mack
@ericcmack

A new polymer boasts traits that seem pulled straight from

the pages of a comic book.
The material, developed by University of Rochester scientists,
can be triggered to change shape when it comes in contact
with body heat, and in the process it lifts 1,000 times its own
mass. The super-polymer could one day be used to used to
stitch you up after surgery and possibly take form-tting
spandex to a whole new level.
In the video below, chemical engineering professor Mitch
Anthamatten demonstrates how the material can be stretched
into a new shape, which it can then hold until it comes in
contact with body heat and returns to its original form. "Our shape-memory polymer
is like a rubber band that can lock itself into a new shape when stretched,"
Anthamatten said in a release. "But a simple touch causes it to recoil back to its
original shape."

Mitch Anthamatten Explains a Shape-Memory Cy...

The material can also be "tuned" so that a higher or lower temperature triggers it to
return to its original or "permanent" shape. But beyond creating a new shapehttp://www.cnet.com/news/shapeshiftingsuperheromaterialcanlift1000timesitsweight/

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Shapeshifting'superhero'materialcanlift1,000timesitsweightCNET

memory polymer, the team also wanted a material that could pull, or lift, its own
weight -- and then some.
"Tuning the trigger temperature is only one part of the story," Anthamatten said.
"We also engineered these materials to store large amount of elastic energy,
enabling them to perform more mechanical work during their shape recovery."

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The result is that when the material is

triggered to recoil, it releases stored
elastic energy that allows it to take on
some heavy lifting. In the case of a
piece of the polymer the size of a
shoelace, the team claims it would be
able to lift a liter of soda.

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We don't yet know if this super-strength

ability would scale up to the size of say, a red carpet that
could ing unsuspecting villains into the air, but if it does I
assume somebody will want to order one for Wayne Manor.

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Meanwhile, back in the real world, Anthamatten hopes the powerful polymer could
one day be used in products like articial skin, body-heat assisted medical
dispensers and self-tting apparel, which is probably another application
superheroes might be interested in.
Tags: Crave, Sci-Tech

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