BLACKSBURG, Va., Sept. 8 -- Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University issued the following news release:
What if the key to making stronger, more sustainable plastics isn't changing their ingredients, but rearranging their molecules?
Virginia Tech researchers have put that idea to the test, creating degradable polymers with a new molecular architecture that combines properties that are often difficult to achieve in one material: strength, toughness, flexibility, and the ability to block oxygen.
The findings could have implications for food packaging, which needs to keep oxygen out while remaining strong and flexible enough to withstand processing, transportation, and storage. By rearranging polymer chains into rings, the resear...