A type of semi-transparent polymer that can be mended at room temperature | Hacker News Reader

A type of semi-transparent polymer that can be mended at room temperature

phys.org

73 pointsmjohnre11 comments

I'm thinking that if you can stick things that people commonly carry around together just by pressing them against each other that this opens up a whole new area of drunken antics

This is a better link IMO: https://phys.org/news/2017-12-semi-transparent-polymer-room-...

And here's the actual paper all the articles are about: http://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2017/12/13/scien...

Ok, we've changed to that first link from http://www.enca.com/technology/japanese-inventor-shatters-ex.... Thanks!

Somebody had fun with that headline.

> The organic glass, made of a substance called polyether thioureas, is closer to acrylic than mineral glass

Plastic is organic glass?

Yes think of something more in the lines of Plexiglas. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poly(methyl_methacrylate)

The video is down here, looks almost like a gooey liquid how it melts back together... http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201712150041.html

Plexiglas is a type of glass, it’s non silicate based but glass non the less.

If it’s non crystalline then yes, glass is defined as a non crystalline amorphous solid and there are more than a handful of plastics that fall into that category.

What is the distinction between amorphous and non-crystalline? Also, for instance, aren't all solid metals amorphous non crystalline solids?

Most metals are crystalline: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amorphous_metal

Someone has already answered, most metals are crystalline, the metallic alloys that aren't are actually called metallic glass, there aren't many of them and they were first produced in the 50's or 60's.

But for all intents and purposes nearly all commonly used metals and alloys are crystalline, metallography is pretty much the study of the different types of crystalline structures that any given metal or alloy can have.

Each metal can also have multiple crystalline structures this is how you give different properties to the same metal or alloy, this most usually achieved through heat treating, quenching and tempering, or alternatively metals that cannot be heat treated are often work hardened or "cold formed".

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