Bulletproof Paper Is Stronger Than Kevlar

摘要

Bulletproof vests of the future may be constructed from an unlikely material: paper. In May a team of researchers announced a new "nanopaper" -made of tightly woven nanosize cellulose threads-proven in lab tests to be stronger and tougher than cast iron. Cellulose fibers are hardy strands of sugar found in the cell walls of plants and algae; they are the most abundant polymer on the planet. Cellulose fibers give wood hardness and cotton toughness. But the normal papermaking process destroys the inherent strength of cellulose fibers. The wood pulp used in making paper is so coarse that the individual strings of cellulose can't latch on tightly to their neighbors.