Safety-Proofing Plastic

Reported August 2005

CLEVELAND (Ivanhoe Broadcast News) -- Researchers are constantly looking for new ways to make the materials we use better. Now, they may have found one -- a plastic that changes color when it's about to be damaged.

It's a fishermen's worst nightmare: A fish bites, the line snaps! They haven't invited an unbreakable fishing line, but research chemist Chris Weder and his team at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland have created the next best thing, a line that changes color when too much stress is applied.

"It might mean potentially fewer fish will get away because the line breaks, because you're aware of the fact that your line has been worn out," Weder tells Ivanhoe.

But fishing isn't the only use for this new polymer. Part of a family of new materials, it changes color when stressed or heated and could one day help climbers know their rope needs to be replaced or reveal drug tampering. Tiny holes would light up and alert consumers that something's wrong. The same goes for spoiled food. If meat temperature is too warm, the packaging would change color.

They would see it because of the sensor molecules that are mixed with plastic. When the molecules are together, everything looks normal. When the molecules are damaged or spread apart, that's when it changes color.

Weder says, "My hope is that this will be seen on the market in products before long and will help to make this a better world."

Researchers are also working on using this new technology to develop material to use in the construction of bridges and airplanes. They say items made with it could hit the market with the next two years.

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Optical Society of America
2010 Massachusetts Ave., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036.1023
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info@osa.org



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