NEC alters memory of new plastic

Kazuhiko Inoue of NEC in Japan described the development of a new plastic with rewritable shape memory at the American Chemical Society National Meeting in Washington, DC. Shape-memory plastics consist of a thermoplastic phase and a 'frozen' phase. The initial shape is 'memorized'...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Materials today (Kidlington, England) England), 2005-11, Vol.8 (11), p.16-16
Main Author: Borchardt, John K.
Format: Article
Language:English
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Kazuhiko Inoue of NEC in Japan described the development of a new plastic with rewritable shape memory at the American Chemical Society National Meeting in Washington, DC. Shape-memory plastics consist of a thermoplastic phase and a 'frozen' phase. The initial shape is 'memorized' in the frozen phase, with the shape-memory effect permitting its recovery from whatever temporary shape the plastic has been formed into. Shape memory requires a crosslinked structure containing stable covalent chemical bonds. However, conventional crosslinked plastics cannot be melted and fabricated into new shapes, so the original shape of a shapememory plastic cannot be altered. In contrast, the plantderived, polylactic acid-based plastic developed by NEC researchers can be reformed into new shapes, allowing rewritable shape memory.
ISSN:1369-7021
DOI:10.1016/S1369-7021(05)71146-9