High elastic material developed for agricultural biomass utilization

HEFEI - Chinese researchers have developed a type of high elastic material made from castor oil derivative.

The researchers from Anhui Agricultural University of East China's Anhui province transformed the castor oil into polymer molecule, which imitates cobweb structures.

The cobweb has great mechanical tensile strength due to its nanocrystal structure inside protein.

The material has passed the high tensile strength test of over 200 MPa. Previous artificial elastic material was only dozens of MPa.

The development can boost the utilization of agricultural and forestry biomass.