Stretchable nanocomposite

Engineers from MIT have developed a strong and stretchable novel type of nanocomposite that one day might make it into the human body via implantable devices and prosthesises: "If you look closely at the structure of spider silk, it is filled with a lot of very small crystals," says McKinley, a professor of mechanical engineering. "It's highly reinforced." The silk's strength and flexibility come from this nanoscale crystalline reinforcement and from the way these tiny crystals are oriented towards and strongly adhere to the stretchy protein that forms their surrounding polymeric matrix.

Source: medgadget.comAdded: 14 February 2007