What applications is the new polymer intended for?
Zhang: We envisage a wide range of applications of the new polymer in the future and it should generally suit many scenarios where thermoplastic and thermosetting materials are applicable. In particular, our polymer materials as hydroplastics are promising to be used in scenarios where they do not need to have much contact with water, for example electrical and electronic goods, consumer and institutional products, and also for some industrial machineries. As specific examples, hydroplastics can be used for packaging that is currently a huge market for plastics, especially those products that usually stored in dry environments, such as clothes, papers, rice, cookies, tea, coffee, spices, dried fruits and nuts as well as oily or non-polar products. If used in multilayer design, it is also possible to use hydroplastics as packaging materials for liquids that contain water, such as juiceor even pure water. Moreover, hydroplastics together with elaborate product design can also be used for textiles, medical and healthcare, automotive, furniture and even aerospace, for example for armrests.
What makes the new manufacturing method sustainable?
Zhang: The hydrosetting method for the shaping of plastics can be applied with the usage of water, which do not need expensive and complex machine or harsh conditions such as high temperature, high pressure, or curing processes involving oxygen exclusion. Thus, the hydrosetting method is cost-efficient, energy-saving and sustainable. It can also be used repeatedly for the shaping of the hydroplastic polymer. Thus, the polymer can be shaped into diverse shapes for multiple times with this hydrosetting method. Therefore, hydrosetting is a sustainable manufacturing method for hydroplastics.