Researchers engineer new polymers to change their stiffness, strength when exposed to liquids

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Sea cucumbers inspired the design of chemo-responsive nanocomposite with adaptive mechanical properties. Credit: F. Carpenter
Sea cucumbers inspired the design of chemo-responsive nanocomposite with adaptive mechanical properties. Credit: F. Carpenter

An interdisciplinary team of researchers from the departments of macromolecular science and engineering and biomedical engineering at the Case School of Engineering and the Louis Stokes Cleveland Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center has published ground-breaking work on a new type of polymer that displays chemoresponsive mechanic adaptability -- meaning the polymer can change from hard to soft plastic and vice versa in seconds when exposed to liquid -- in the March 7, 2008, issue of Science.


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