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MIT Engineers Create New Material Stronger Than Steel and Light as Plastic

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31–40 of 70 posts

Re: MIT Engineers Create New Material Stronger Than Steel and Light as Plastic

#31
post #29

This looks very interesting, in particular that it can be made gas-tight: > "Another key feature of 2DPA-1 is that it is impermeable to gases. While other polymers are made from coiled chains with gaps that allow gases to seep through, the new material is made from monomers that lock together like LEGOs, and molecules cannot get between them." However, this is yet another example of how excessive corporatization of a…

> for free, as it was American taxpayers who financed this project. Just because something was financed by taxpayer money does not mean it should be free. It is definitely not a rule or how things work. Although I am curious what are the disadvantages of making it free, I bet there are some, even if lightweight.

If not entirely free, certainly a non-exclusive commercial licensing model with low fees makes more sense. This was how the system worked before Bayh-Dole Act was passed in the 1980s (one result was that corporations wanting to do strictly proprietary research were then incentivized to finance large private research institutions like Bell Labs).

Re: MIT Engineers Create New Material Stronger Than Steel and Light as Plastic

#34

This looks very interesting, in particular that it can be made gas-tight: > "Another key feature of 2DPA-1 is that it is impermeable to gases. While other polymers are made from coiled chains with gaps that allow gases to seep through, the new material is made from monomers that lock together like LEGOs, and molecules cannot get between them." However, this is yet another example of how excessive corporatization of a…

Bahy-Dole Act and DoD Federal Acquisition Regs. are the answer to your question about "who gets access to these patents" and should be the focus of reform if you find them inadequate. Outside my area of the law, but my understanding is prior to Bahy-Dole, it was common for the Gov. to take title to patents arising from Gov. funded research, and that this was seen as a disincentive to commercializing the technology. So Bahy-Dole adjusted the balance, with certain lesser rights (like march in rights and a license) going to the government to try to drive more commercialization of the technology that was invented under Gov. contracts.

Re: MIT Engineers Create New Material Stronger Than Steel and Light as Plastic

#36
Comparing with abstract steel is kind of useless as the strength of common steel varies by factor of 3. If one compare the cheapest steel and exotic alloys (that are often only produced in Sweden and may cost more than silver), then the difference is at least a factor of 20.

Re: MIT Engineers Create New Material Stronger Than Steel and Light as Plastic

#38

There is also the micro plastics issue to solve, before widening the scope of plastic applications.

THIS ^^^. My concerns are less and less about preserving my phone and more and more about preserving my planet. Show me a phone that can be completely recycled instead of giving me the illusion that it won't break because of x or y. Eventually it's going to be to sluggish for modern applications (because of its cpu or because of its battery). I have a growing pile of now useless phones even at my house that I never b…

My last phone was used for 6 years before the battery didn't last a day of light use. My new phone has a replaceable battery. I intend to use it for at least 10 years.

Processors in phones haven't been changing much over the last few years. CPU throttling to deal with battery degradation is where most of the slowdown comes from.

Re: MIT Engineers Create New Material Stronger Than Steel and Light as Plastic

#39
post #29

This looks very interesting, in particular that it can be made gas-tight: > "Another key feature of 2DPA-1 is that it is impermeable to gases. While other polymers are made from coiled chains with gaps that allow gases to seep through, the new material is made from monomers that lock together like LEGOs, and molecules cannot get between them." However, this is yet another example of how excessive corporatization of a…

> for free, as it was American taxpayers who financed this project. Just because something was financed by taxpayer money does not mean it should be free. It is definitely not a rule or how things work. Although I am curious what are the disadvantages of making it free, I bet there are some, even if lightweight.

From a nationalist standpoint. A country sets the playground right for this kind of development to happen though funding, freedom, support, whatever. I imagine that the people putting in this effort want to harvest the benefits within their own economy, and not just gift it away. Some roadblocks might be associated with this.

Re: MIT Engineers Create New Material Stronger Than Steel and Light as Plastic

#40

Title should be, "MIT Engineers Create New Material Stronger Than Steel, Light as Plastic, and More Expensive than Gold"

For now. It sounds like the process to manufacture it could scale pretty well though. This could be just the beginning of a new class of material
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