Email Print Share
February 2, 2009

Polycarbonate

Polycarbonate, a type of polymer glass, can be bent (sheet), mashed (cylinder) or twisted (rod) without breaking.

University of Wisconsin-Madison chemistry professor Mark Ediger studies the fundamental properties of polymer glasses that allow them to bend rather than break when put under stress. In a paper published in a major scientific journal, Ediger reported that a pulling force speeds up the movements of individual molecules within a polymer glass by more than a factor of 1,000. These fast molecular rearrangements allow the material to be shaped without cracking. [Research supported by National Science Foundation grants CTS 05-06840 and NIRT 05-06840.] (Date of Image: November 2008)

Credit: Hau-Nan Lee, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Chemistry


Images and other media in the National Science Foundation Multimedia Gallery are available for use in print and electronic material by NSF employees, members of the media, university staff, teachers and the general public. All media in the gallery are intended for personal, educational and nonprofit/non-commercial use only.

Images credited to the National Science Foundation, a federal agency, are in the public domain. The images were created by employees of the United States Government as part of their official duties or prepared by contractors as "works for hire" for NSF. You may freely use NSF-credited images and, at your discretion, credit NSF with a "Courtesy: National Science Foundation" notation.

Additional information about general usage can be found in Conditions.

Also Available:
Download the high-resolution JPG version of the image. (1.2 MB)

Use your mouse to right-click (Mac users may need to Ctrl-click) the link above and choose the option that will save the file or target to your computer.