International. A team of international scientists, including Dr Stuart Prescott of the University of New South Wales (UNSW Australia), has discovered that there is something missing from the theory on polymers with which French physicist Pierre-Gilles de Gennes (pictured) won the 1991 Nobel Prize.
De Gennes proposed a theory that describes the properties of polymer brushes, the same chains but adapted to an interface that allows you to use them on large surfaces, either as an adhesive, as a lubricant or as an anti-fouling agent.
But The Presscott study has found that the potential lubricating effect of polymer brushes, as presented in De Gennes' theory, does not fit with the available evidence.
"There is a lot of experimental evidence to suggest that polymers are suitable as lubricants, however, based on the data we now know the current explanation for this is incorrect. The results are quite surprising. When we realized that we had discovered that there was a missing element in Gennes' theory," Prescott says.
The scientist added that "Before we can fully analyze the potential of polymer brushes as surface coatings in commercial products, we have to fully understand how they behave when handled."
Using a nuclear research reactor at the Laue-Langevin Institute in France, the research team measured what would happen to a polymer brush when it was crushed.
A polymer brush must withstand a pressure of about 100 times the atmospheric pressure before collapsing, however, the study showed that this occurred in only an atmosphere of applied pressure. "This tells us that there is a knowledge gap. Polymer brushes are suitable as a friction-reducing coating on a surface, but we don't know why," Prescott explained.
Finally, the scientist said that "Although there are still a lot of gaps in our knowledge, such as understanding exactly which polymers are suitable as lubricants, we can say that science finally caught up with polymer technology. This research is likely to lead to greater efficiency and performance of polymer products and change the shape of polymer-based surface coatings designed in the future."
Image: Wikipedia.
