Nanopaper: The strongest paper in the world

by: trendlover June 14, 2008

Building paper houses may no longer be a figment of our imagination. Japanese and Swedish scientists have devised an incredibly strong paper using cellulose particles. The paper is claimed to resist breaking when pulled ‘almost as well as cast iron’. Cellulose, a substance found in plants, can be a very strong and light ingredient in composites found in many products. The only problem is, regardless of its strength, is that cellulose based composites usually cause products to snap or break easily. The solution to this is found in the creation of nanopaper: “exposing wood pulp to certain chemicals to produce cellulose nanopaper. Their study found that its tensile strength — a material’s ability to resist pull before snapping — exceeded that of cast iron. They also were able to adjust the paper’s strength by changing its internal structure.”

I suppose ‘paper-goods’ take on an entirely new meaning now.

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Trend Original: Marielle Henriksson, Lars A. Berglund, Per Isaksson, Tom Lindström, and Takashi Nishino

Trend Spotter: Science Daily

topics: science

tags: cellulose, nano-technology, paper