Thermomagnetic Processing Method Provides Path to New Materials
OAK RIDGE, TN - For much the same reason LCD televisions offer eye-popping performance, a thermomagnetic processing method developed at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) can advance the performance of polymers.
Polymers are used in cars, planes and hundreds of consumer products, and scientists have long been challenged to create polymers that are immune to shape-altering thermal expansion. One way to achieve this goal is to develop highly directional crystalline structures that mimic those of transparent liquid crystal diode, or LCD, films of television and computer screens. Unfortunately, polymers typically feature random microstructures rather than the perfectly aligned microstructure - and transparency - of the LCD film.