Model will enable development of plastics with specific uses

The breakthrough, based on new mathematical models, will allow experts to create plastics with specific uses and properties. The plastics will also be easier to recycle than current versions.

‘Normally, people make a plastic and then see if it works. We have come up with a model that predicts how the stiffening will turn out,’ Dr Chinmay Das, a researcher at the School of Physics and Astronomy at Leeds University, told The Engineer.

‘If you want a particular kind of behaviour, normally people use trial and error to see which polymer works best. This is costly and bad for the environment.’

Another researcher on the project, Dr Daniel Read, from the School of Mathematics at Leeds University, said: ‘Up until now, nobody has been able to make a continuous link from the chemistry of plastics to the flow properties they possess by considering the individual molecules involved.

‘This new method could save the manufacturing industry time, energy and money. Up until now, the industry has developed plastics and then found a use for them,’ he continued.