Material Science News and Discussions

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Ring-shaped polymers solidify into glass, offering sustainable material potential
https://phys.org/news/2025-01-polymers- ... erial.html
by Monica Cooney, Carnegie Mellon University Materials Science and Engineering

When a spider is spinning its web, its silk starts out as liquid and quickly turns into a solid that is, pound for pound, sturdier than steel. They manage to create these impressive materials at room temperature with biodegradable and environmentally friendly polymers. Materials scientists at Carnegie Mellon are studying these processes to better understand the ways biological systems manipulate polymers, and how we can borrow their techniques to improve industrial plastic processing.

One unique quality of polymers is that their molecules can have different shapes or "architectures," and these shapes can have a big impact on their material properties and recyclability. Polymer chains can form molecular strings, mesh-like ne

tworks, or even closed rings.

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This is quite the breakthrough, the materials science equivalent of the text-to-image or video generative AI.

MatterGen: A new paradigm of materials design with generative AI

Published January 16, 2025

By Claudio Zeni , Senior Researcher Robert Pinsler , Senior Researcher Daniel Zügner , Senior Researcher Andrew Fowler , Senior Researcher Matthew Horton , Senior Research SDE Ryota Tomioka , Senior Principal Research Manager Tian Xie , Principal Research Manager

Materials innovation is one of the key drivers of major technological breakthroughs. The discovery of lithium cobalt oxide in the 1980s laid the groundwork for today’s lithium-ion battery technology. It now powers modern mobile phones and electric cars, impacting the daily lives of billions of people. Materials innovation is also required for designing more efficient solar cells, cheaper batteries for grid-level energy storage, and adsorbents to recycle CO2 from atmosphere.

Finding a new material for a target application is like finding a needle in a haystack. Historically, this task has been done via expensive and time-consuming experimental trial-and-error. More recently, computational screening of large materials databases has allowed researchers to speed up this process. Nonetheless, finding the few materials with the desired properties still requires the screening of millions of candidates.

Today, in a paper published in Nature(opens in new tab), we share MatterGen, a generative AI tool that tackles materials discovery from a different angle. Instead of screening the candidates, it directly generates novel materials given prompts of the design requirements for an application. It can generate materials with desired chemistry, mechanical, electronic, or magnetic properties, as well as combinations of different constraints. MatterGen enables a new paradigm of generative AI-assisted materials design that allows for efficient exploration of materials, going beyond the limited set of known ones.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/researc ... rative-ai/

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21st-century chainmail uses molecular instead of metallic links
By Michael Franco
January 17, 2025
https://newatlas.com/materials/21st-cen ... molecular/

In what they're calling the "highest density of mechanical bonds ever achieved," researchers created a super-strong flexible material that works very much like chainmail. The breakthrough has already demonstrated its ability to improve body armor.

In the world of chemistry, getting polymers (long chains of large molecules) to form mechanical bonds inside their structures has proven extremely challenging. Unlike chemical bonds, which involve the sharing of electrons by atoms or the effects of electrostatic forces among them, mechanical bonds involve molecules physically threading through one another.

Now however, a breakthrough technique at Northwestern University (NU) has overcome the challenge. Researchers there made two-dimensional sheets out of X-shaped monomers, which are the building blocks of polymers. (In chemistry, two-dimensional objects are those consisting of just a single layer of atoms.) The monomers were made up of molecules holding four extended aromatic groups, which gave them their X shape.

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Machine learning and 3D printing yield steel-strong, foam-light materials
https://phys.org/news/2025-01-machine-3 ... trong.html
by BySafa Jinje, University of Toronto

Researchers at the University of Toronto's Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering have used machine learning to design nano-architected materials that have the strength of carbon steel but the lightness of Styrofoam.

In a new paper published in Advanced Materials, a team led by Professor Tobin Filleter describes how they made nanomaterials with properties that offer a conflicting combination of exceptional strength, light weight and customizability. The approach could benefit a wide range of industries, from automotive to aerospace.

"Nano-architected materials combine high performance shapes, like making a bridge out of triangles, at nanoscale sizes, which takes advantage of the 'smaller is stronger' effect, to achieve some of the highest strength-to-weight and stiffness-to-weight ratios, of any material," says Peter Serles, the first author of the new paper.

"However, the standard lattice shapes and geometries used tend to have sharp intersections and corners, which leads to the problem of stress concentrations. This results in early local failure and breakage of the materials, limiting their overall potential.

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Foam packaging may have met its match, in the form of origami cardboard
By Ben Coxworth
February 06, 2025

Non-recyclable, non-biodegradable, petroleum-based EPS (expanded polystyrene) foam packaging is not eco-friendly stuff. There could soon be a greener and snazzier-looking alternative, however, in the form of origami-folded cardboard.

First of all, yes, the production of cardboard does begin with trees being cut down.

Unlike EPS foam, though, cardboard can be recycled (into more cardboard), it doesn't hang around in the environment forever, and none of its ingredients are derived from environmentally-unfriendly fossil fuels. Additionally, it can be made from industry-waste wood which would otherwise be discarded.

With these selling points in mind, scientists in the Finnish FOLD project have recently developed an origami-based method of utilizing cardboard as a shock-absorbing EPS alternative. The project includes researchers from VTT Technical Research Centre, Aalto University, and a number of private companies.

https://newatlas.com/materials/origami- ... packaging/

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Filipino Scientists Make Aluminum Transparent by Using Tiny Acid Droplets
February 12, 2025

Introduction:

(Eurekalert) Transparent aluminum oxide (TAlOx), a real material despite its sci-fi name, is incredibly hard and resistant to scratches, making it perfect for protective coatings on electronics, optical sensors, and solar panels. On the sci-fi show Star Trek, it is even used for starship windows and spacefaring aquariums.

Current methods of making TAlOx are expensive and complicated, requiring high-powered lasers, vacuum chambers, or large vats of dangerous acids. That may change thanks to research co-authored by Filipino scientists from the Ateneo de Manila University.

Instead of immersing entire sheets of metal into acidic solutions, the researchers applied microdroplets of acidic solution onto small aluminum surfaces and applied an electric current. Just two volts of electricity—barely more than what’s found in a single AA household flashlight battery—was all that was needed to transform the metal into glass-like TAlOx.

This process, called “droplet-scale anodization,” is not only simpler than existing manufacturing methods but also environmentally friendly, cutting down on chemical waste and energy use. The technique relies on a special effect called “electrowetting,” where an electric field changes the properties of a liquid droplet, allowing precise control over the anodization process.

This new approach might make TAlOx cheaper and more accessible for applications in everything from touchscreens and lenses to ultra-durable coatings for vehicles and buildings. It could also lead to advances in miniaturized electronics, as scientists now have a way to convert metal surfaces into insulating, transparent layers on a microscopic scale.

Read more here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1073561

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AI designs an ultralight carbon nanomaterial that's as strong as steel
By Abhimanyu Ghoshal
February 21, 2025

Using machine learning, a team of researchers in Canada has created ultrahigh-strength carbon nanolattices, resulting in a material that's as strong as carbon steel, but only as dense as Styrofoam.

The team noted last month that it was the first time this branch of AI had been used to optimize nano-architected materials. University of Toronto's Peter Serles, one of the authors of the paper describing this work in Advanced Materials, praised the approach, saying, "It didn’t just replicate successful geometries from the training data; it learned from what changes to the shapes worked and what didn’t, enabling it to predict entirely new lattice geometries."

To quickly recap, nanomaterials are engineered by arranging atoms or molecules in precise patterns, much like constructing structures with extremely tiny LEGO blocks. These materials often exhibit unique properties due to their nanoscale dimensions.

These atoms or molecules are arranged in repeating three-dimensional patterns known as lattices. A lattice consists of regularly spaced points (called lattice points), which define the periodic structure of the material. This ordered arrangement influences the material’s physical, chemical, and electronic properties.

https://newatlas.com/materials/ai-ultra ... omaterial/

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Self-healing asphalt uses plant spores to keep potholes from forming
By Ben Coxworth
February 26, 2025

If you want to stop potholes from forming in asphalt roads, you've gotta get 'em while they're still just tiny cracks. A new self-healing asphalt could one day do that very thing, utilizing spores obtained from moss.

The experimental material is currently being developed by scientists from Swansea University and King's College London in the UK, working with colleagues from the University of Bío-Bío in Chile.

The researchers started by utilizing machine learning algorithms to model the manner in which bitumen (the sticky black stuff in asphalt) oxidizes and hardens in response to environmental factors. Once it has hardened past a certain threshold, the bitumen cracks instead of stretching when subjected to heavy loads.

In order to heal the initial micro-cracks before they can form into larger cracks – and ultimately into potholes – there needs to be a way of rejuvenating the oxidized bitumen. That's where the spores come in.

https://newatlas.com/good-thinking/self ... nt-spores/

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Today's discarded clothing could end up in tomorrow's stronger paper
By Ben Coxworth
February 28, 2025
https://newatlas.com/environment/recycl ... ger-paper/

While it's great that many types of paper can now be recycled, textile waste is still mostly just dumped or burned (with a few experimental exceptions). A new technique could change that by combining the two materials, using discarded cotton clothing to boost the strength of packaging paper.

The process is being developed at Austria's Graz University of Technology, by a team led by postdoctoral researcher Thomas Harter.

It begins with discarded cotton-based clothing being mechanically ripped into shreds and then combined with a water-based solvent solution. That mixture is subsequently milled in order to pull apart the interwoven cotton fibers without allowing them to clump together or form knots.

The resulting fibrous slurry is claimed to be much like the pulp used in paper-making. In fact, the substance gets added to the recycled-paper pulp utilized in the production of packaging papers such as cardboard, boosting the strength of the finished product.

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AI reveals new way to strengthen titanium alloys and speed up manufacturing
https://techxplore.com/news/2025-03-ai- ... lloys.html
by Paulette Campbell, Johns Hopkins University

Producing high-performance titanium alloy parts—whether for spacecraft, submarines or medical devices—has long been a slow, resource-intensive process. Even with advanced metal 3D-printing techniques, finding the right manufacturing conditions has required extensive testing and fine-tuning.

What if these parts could be built more quickly, stronger and with near-perfect precision?

A team comprising experts from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, and the Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering is leveraging artificial intelligence to make that a reality. They've identified processing techniques that improve both the speed of production and the strength of these advanced materials—an advance with implications from the deep sea to outer space.

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Green steel plant glugs out first ton of molten metal
By Michael Franco
March 13, 2025

MIT spinout Boston Metal has powered up its electricity driven steel production reactor and made over a ton of metal in a crucial step toward commercializing its process. With clean electricity, the process could make steel with zero CO2 emissions.

According to the World Steel Association, steel production releases almost twice its weight in carbon dioxide (CO2) pollution. Specifically, it says, for every one metric tonne of the metal produced, 1.92 metric tonnes of the greenhouse gas is released. That accounts for between seven and nine percent of global CO2 emissions.

This is because in the ore found in nature, iron is bound to oxygen, creating iron oxide, more commonly known as rust. To begin its journey into steel, the ore is placed into blast furnaces where a type of coal known as coke is burned. Carbon monoxide from the burning coke combines with the oxygen to strip it away, purifying the iron for use as steel but also forming the planet warming greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide.

https://newatlas.com/energy/green-steel ... ton-metal/

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Hyperadaptor' alloy with stable properties stands strong across extreme temperatures
https://techxplore.com/news/2025-04-hyp ... trong.html
by Pohang University of Science and Technology

A research team at POSTECH (Pohang University of Science and Technology) has developed a new alloy that maintains its strength and ductility across extreme temperatures ranging from –196 °C to 600 °C. The findings, which have drawn attention from the aerospace and automotive industries, were published in the journal Materials Research Letters. The team was led by Professor Hyoung Seop Kim from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Graduate Institute of Ferrous Technology, and Department of Mechanical Engineering.

Most metals used in everyday life are sensitive to temperature changes—metal doorknobs feel icy in winter and hot in summer. Consequently, conventional metal materials are typically optimized for performance within a narrow temperature range, limiting their effectiveness in environments with dramatic temperature fluctuations.

To overcome this challenge, the POSTECH research team introduced the concept of the "Hyperadaptor" and developed a nickel-based high-entropy alloy (HEA) that embodies this idea.

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Fungus-based material could offer a sustainable concrete alternative
By Abhimanyu Ghoshal
April 21, 2025

https://newatlas.com/materials/fungus-m ... ternative/
Among the many things we could do to reduce strain on the environment is find greener ways of constructing buildings. You see, cement production accounts for 8% of CO2 emissions worldwide – and a lot of that goes towards making concrete.

It's a difficult problem to solve, because doing so will require us to find eco-friendly materials that are as strong as concrete and need little maintenance. That's why scientists have been looking into engineered living materials (ELMs) which incorporate organisms like bacteria with non-living components to offer unique properties along with structural benefits – and less reliance on cement as a binder.

A team of engineers from Montana State University has developed a building material using the root-like mycelium network of a fungus, along with specially selected bacteria.

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MIT's Laser-Printed 'Metamaterial' Is Both Stretchy and Strong
The material could someday be used in flexible semiconductors, tear-resistant textiles, bioengineering scaffolds, and more.

https://www.extremetech.com/science/mit ... and-strong
By Adrianna Nine April 24, 2025

Engineers at MIT have developed a material with a "double network" structure that makes it both stretchy and strong. Capable of stretching up to four times its default size without fully breaking, the material could someday find a place in flexible semiconductors, tear-resistant textiles, bioengineering scaffolds, and more.

The engineers' creation is considered a "metamaterial," or a synthetic material whose microscopic structures lend it unusual properties. In the past decade or so, scientists have used metamaterials to create the first large-scale invisibility cloak (à la Harry Potter) and to build a "physics-defying" superconductor with a higher-than-usual critical temperature. If it's a material that uses a tiny, internal framework to do something nature doesn't want it to do, it's probably a metamaterial.

According to a paper published Wednesday in Nature Materials, this particular metamaterial uses a sort of dual structure to take on multiple strengths at once. Both networks consist of the same plexiglass-like acrylic polymer, albeit in incredibly fine strands. A laser-based printing method called two-photon lithography produces the lattice-like base structure, which lends the metamaterial strength and some rigidity. Then, it weaves in a series of coils that wrap around the lattice's struts and trusses. The result looks a bit like a pile of dried spaghetti and spiral-shaped pasta, but it's much more flexible than that: The coils allow the metamaterial to stretch without instantly snapping in two.

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Iron-fortified lumber could be a greener replacement for steel beams
By Ben Coxworth
April 29, 2025

https://newatlas.com/materials/iron-fortified-wood/
Although lumber does show promise as a renewable alternative to structural materials such as steel and concrete, it still tends to be a bit weaker than those substances. Scientists have now set about addressing that shortcoming, by strengthening wood with added iron.

Led by Asst. Prof. Vivian Merk, a team of researchers at Florida Atlantic University (FAU) started out with cubes of untreated red oak hardwood. Red oak – along with hardwoods like oak, maple, cherry and walnut – is an example of what's known as ring-porous wood. In a nutshell, this means that it utilizes large ring-shaped internal vessels to draw water up from the tree's roots to its leaves.

The scientists proceeded to mix ferric nitrate with potassium hydroxide, creating a hard iron oxide mineral called nanocrystalline ferrihydrite, which occurs naturally in soil and water. Utilizing a vacuum impregnation process, nanoparticles of that ferrihydrite were drawn into the wood and deposited inside of its individual cell walls.

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Unlocking a new class of materials with origami
https://phys.org/news/2025-05-class-mat ... igami.html
by Georgia Institute of Technology

Origami—the Japanese art of folding paper—could be the next frontier in innovative materials. Practiced in Japan since the early 1600s, origami involves combining simple folding techniques to create intricate designs. Now, Georgia Tech researchers are leveraging the technique as the foundation for next-generation materials that can both act as a solid and predictably deform, "folding" under the right forces. The research could lead to innovations in everything from heart stents to airplane wings and running shoes.

Recently published in Nature Communications, the study, "Coarse-grained fundamental forms for characterizing isometries of trapezoid-based origami metamaterials," was led by first author James McInerney, who is now an NRC Research Associate at the Air Force Research Lab

oratory.

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Machine learning approach leads to discovery of high-performance infrared functional materials
https://phys.org/news/2025-05-machine-a ... rared.html
by LI Yali, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Infrared optoelectronic functional materials are essential for applications in lasers, photodetectors, and infrared imaging, forming the technological backbone of modern optoelectronics. Traditionally, the development of new infrared materials has relied heavily on trial-and-error experimental methods. However, these approaches can be inefficient within the extensive chemical landscape, as only a limited number of compounds can achieve a balance of several critical properties simultaneously.

To tackle this challenge, researchers from the Xinjiang Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have made significant strides in the machine learning (ML)-assisted discovery of infrared functional materials (IRFMs). The research team has developed a cohesive framework that integrates interpretable ML techniques to facilitate the targeted synthesis of these materials.

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New material made from fungi is biodegradable, edible... and alive
By Abhimanyu Ghoshal
May 16, 2025

https://newatlas.com/materials/material ... live-empa/
We've seen fungi being used to create useful new materials for construction, fire-retardant building insulation, and even 3D-printed batteries.

One of the researchers behind that last doozy, Dr. Gustav Nyström, and his colleague Ashutosh Sinha from the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (EMPA) have cracked a whole new way to leverage the strange and magical properties of fungal mycelium. They've developed a new material that incorporates living cells, so it's biodegradable and can help break down waste too. Oh, and you can eat it, if you're curious like that.


For this work, the researchers chose a particular strain of the split-gill mushroom – which typically grows on dead wood – and used the entire fungus rather than just the root-like mycelium. This strain produces two macromolecules with peculiar and useful properties: one collects at interfaces between liquids that don't mix, and the other is a nanofiber that's a thousand times longer than its sub-nanometer thickness.

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'Superwood' that's 50% stronger than steel is coming this year
By Michael Irving,
Abhimanyu Ghoshal
May 22, 2025

Maryland-based startup InventWood is set to mass-produce the first batches of 'Superwood,' a new material made of modified timber that's stronger than regular barky stems, and even stronger than steel. It's set to go on sale later this year.

Editor's note: Readers often ask us for follow-ups on memorable stories. This article was originally published way back in February 2018, and has been re-edited and updated with new information current as of May 2025. Enjoy!

University of Maryland materials scientist Liangbing Hu first devised the material with a 'densification process' back in 2018. TechCrunch noted that this gives it a strength-to-weight 10 times better than steel.

https://newatlas.com/materials/superwoo ... nventwood/