MIT scientists have developed a new method to analyze the coatings made of tiny particles that changes the transparent plastic characteristics. PMMA (poly methyl methacrylate), a polymer, is used in the new method.
The material is generally called as acrylic and is traded under Lucite, Plexiglas and other names. PMMA is fragile and has less scratch-resistance property compared to glass.
A postdoc in MIT's Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Meng Qu has partnered with Krystyn Van Vliet, associate professor of Materials Science and Engineering and other scientists at DuPont Nanocomposite Technologies to carry out the analysis.
Researchers have added silica nano particles to PMMA and developed a very high strength polymer-particle nanocomposite material. The particles have been utilized for the coating as they are transparent. However, acrylic and silica are non-compatible, resulting in clumping of the tiny silica particles. To overcome this issue, the silica grains have been mixed with other ‘functional groups’ of molecules. This alters the surface chemistry and the silica gets evenly dispersed over the polymer surface.
Subsequently, the polymer was heated to make it little soft and the spreading of the silica particles on the surface were observed using an atomic force microscope. Thus, MIT researchers were able to observe how quick the particles sink into the polymer surface and analyze their interaction with PMMA.
The analysis results enabled MIT team to discover optimal coating materials that could help researchers to design lightweight and thinner windows with approximately the strength of glass. The approach could also support development of scratch-resistant coatings for use in various materials.