Engineering
For years, unrecycled plastic bottles have been dumped in landfills. Now, thanks to new research from UBC Okanagan, those bottles may have a second life in that landfill—stabilizing its earth walls.
Jul 20, 2023
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Other
The UK is losing a staggering 3 billion liters of water each day through leaky pipes. The issue is not limited to the UK alone. Globally, almost 90 billion liters of water are lost daily, accounting for up to half of all ...
Jul 18, 2023
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Computer Sciences
Uncovering the mechanisms of learning via synaptic plasticity is a critical step towards understanding how our brains function and building truly intelligent, adaptive machines. Researchers from the University of Bern propose ...
Nov 11, 2021
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Energy & Green Tech
What to do with the non-biodegradable plastics used in food packaging and agriculture? Researchers are turning their attention to microorganisms, enzymes, earthworms and insects to break down plastics.
Dec 2, 2021
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Consumer & Gadgets
A smartphone 3D printer? That idea may take some getting used to. Could it be possible that everyone can start printing 3D objects directly from their phone? OLO 3D in San Francisco has developed the idea to the max.
Machine learning & AI
Many computational properties are maximized when the dynamics of a network are at a 'critical point," a state where systems can quickly change their overall characteristics in fundamental ways, transitioning e.g. between ...
Jul 22, 2020
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Energy & Green Tech
Researchers have developed a system that can transform plastic waste and greenhouse gases into sustainable fuels and other valuable products—using just the energy from the sun.
Jan 9, 2023
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Energy & Green Tech
Back in May, Steven Shankland in CNET said that, for the lighting business, "the next technology is coming: OLED (organic light-emitting diode) lighting. It replaces the small, bright dots of LEDs with sheets of light that ...
Computer Sciences
The biological brain, especially the human brain, is a desirable computing system that consumes little energy and runs at high efficiency. To build a computing system just as good, many neuromorphic scientists focus on designing ...
Apr 8, 2024
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Engineering
(Tech Xplore)—MIT Rocket Team on April 21 successfully fired a rocket motor printed from plastic. They had project support from Markforged for their 3-D printed rocket motor. They put out a video to show it in action.
Plastic is the general common term for a wide range of synthetic or semisynthetic organic amorphous solid materials suitable for the manufacture of industrial products. Plastics are typically polymers of high molecular weight, and may contain other substances to improve performance and/or reduce costs.
The word derives from the Greek πλαστικός (plastikos) meaning fit for molding, and πλαστός (plastos) meaning molded. It refers to their malleability, or plasticity during manufacture, that allows them to be cast, pressed, or extruded into an enormous variety of shapes—such as films, fibers, plates, tubes, bottles, boxes, and much more.
The common word plastic should not be confused with the technical adjective plastic, which is applied to any material which undergoes a permanent change of shape (plastic deformation) when strained beyond a certain point. Aluminum, for instance, is plastic in this sense, but not a plastic in the common sense; while some plastics, in their finished forms, will break before deforming and therefore are not plastic in the technical sense.
There are two types of plastics: thermoplastics and thermosets. Thermoplastics, if exposed to enough heat, will melt. Thermosets will keep their shape until they are charred and burnt. Some examples of thermoplastics are grocery bags, piano keys and some automobile parts. Examples of thermosets are children's dinner sets and circuit boards.
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA
