Engineering
Researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed an upcycling approach that adds value to discarded plastics for reuse in additive manufacturing, or 3D printing. The readily adoptable, ...
Jun 13, 2022
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43
Engineering
Rice University chemists working with researchers at the Ford Motor Company are turning plastic parts from "end-of-life" vehicles into graphene via the university's flash Joule heating process.
May 26, 2022
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437
Computer Sciences
According to the Gun Violence Archive, there have been 296 mass shootings in the United States this year. Sadly, 2021 is on pace to be America's deadliest year of gun violence in the last two decades.
Dec 14, 2021
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111
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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165
Machine learning & AI
A joint research team led by Xu Bo from the Institute of Automation and Mu-Ming Poo from the Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, have discovered that self-backpropagation, ...
Oct 22, 2021
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328
Energy & Green Tech
Researchers in the BOTTLE Consortium, including from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the University of Portsmouth, have identified using enzymes as a more sustainable ...
Jul 20, 2021
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937
Engineering
With the ever-increasing worldwide mass production of plastic, the inefficiency of current plastic recycling strategies has raised several environmental, societal, and economic concerns. Magnetic density separation (MDS) ...
Feb 26, 2021
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322
Robotics
Japanese grocery chain FamilyMart has teamed up with Tokyo startup Telexistence to test the idea of using a remotely controlled shelf stocking robot named the Model-T to restock grocery shelves. On its website, Telexistence ...
Energy & Green Tech
What if you could solve two of Earth's biggest problems in one stroke? UC Riverside engineers have developed a way to recycle plastic waste, such as soda or water bottles, into a nanomaterial useful for energy storage.
Aug 12, 2020
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367
Machine learning & AI
Inspired by the functioning of the human brain and based on a biological mechanism called neuromodulation, it allows intelligent agents to adapt to unknown situations
Jan 28, 2020
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843
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
