Scientists transform polyethylene into a heat-conducting material
Polymers are generally put to work as insulators, but a team of researchers at MIT has devised a way to turn polyethylene -- the most commonly used polymer -- into a conductor that transfers heat better than many pure metals. But the conversion of insulator to conductor is only half of the breakthrough; by coaxing all the polymer molecules into precise alignment, the researchers have created a polyethylene that conducts heat in only one direction. The plastic material remains an electrical insulator. Getting a bunch of polymer molecules to fall in line is no easy task -- left to their own devices, the molecules will settle into a chaotic arrangement that is resistant to heat transfer. But the MIT team found that by drawing polyethylene fibers slowly out of a solution they could get the molecules to line up facing the same way, creating a material that will let heat pass in one direction but not the other. This kind of one-way conductor is ripe for myriad applications in devices where heat must be drawn away
Scientists transform polyethylene into a heat-conducting material
Most polymers -- materials made of long, chain-like molecules -- are very good insulators for both heat and electricity. But an MIT team has found a way to transform the most widely used polymer, ...
Sun 7 Mar 10 from PhysOrg
Scientists transform polyethylene into a heat-conducting material, Fri 12 Mar 10 from ChemistryTimes
New Plastic Conducts Heat Better Than Metals, But Only in One Direction
Polymers are generally put to work as insulators, but a team of researchers at MIT has devised a way to turn polyethylene -- the most commonly used polymer -- into a conductor that transfers ...
Tue 9 Mar 10 from Popular Science
Widely used polymer conducts heat
An MIT team has found a way to transform the most widely used polymer, polyethylene, into a material that conducts heat just as well as most metals.
Tue 9 Mar 10 from The Engineer
Polymer Transforms Into Heat Conductor, Mon 8 Mar 10 from Laboratory Equipment
New heat-conducting material is developed
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., March 9 (UPI) -- A U.S. research team says it has discovered a way of transforming polyethylene into a material that conducts heat as well as most metals.
Tue 9 Mar 10 from UPI
New sensor array detects single molecules for the first time
MIT chemical engineers have built a sensor array that, for the first time, can detect single molecules of hydrogen peroxide emanating from a single living cell.
Thu 11 Mar 10 from ChemistryTimes
Chemicals that eased one environmental problem may worsen another
Chemicals that helped solve a global environmental crisis in the 1990s -- the hole in Earth's protective ozone layer -- may be making another problem -- acid rain -- worse, scientists are reporting. ...
Wed 10 Mar 10 from ChemistryTimes
Polyethylene that conducts heat, insulates from electricity
Wed 10 Mar 10 from The Hindu
Helping hydrogen: Student inventor tackles challenge of hydrogen storage
Determined to play a key role in solving global dependency on fossil fuels, Javad Rafiee, a doctoral student in the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering at Rensselaer ...
Tue 9 Mar 10 from ChemistryTimes
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