Using cellulose from trees and a synthetic polymer, MIT researchers have created a material that “is stronger and tougher than some types of bone, and harder than typical aluminum alloys,” the university announced.
The researchers hope their compound could lead to better, more sustainable plastics in the future. Currently, the material shrinks while drying, making printing anything large out of it difficult.
“If you could avoid shrinkage, you could keep scaling up, maybe to the meter scale,” said MIT’s Abhinav Rao. “Then, if we were to dream big, we could replace a significant fraction of plastics with cellulose composites.”
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