When designing products such as car bumpers, engineers often call for polymers that mix as poorly as vinegar and oil. Materials scientists can circumvent this problem by blending the ingredients so that one polymer forms droplets that disperse in the other.
In a polymer blend between two quartz disks, tiny droplets of one polymer (top) coalesce into strings (bottom) as the upper disk’s rotation slows.
Log in
Subscribers, enter your e-mail address for full access to the Science News archives and digital editions.