Futuristic materials

The aim of this chapter is to discuss chemical reactivity and its application in the real world. Chemical reactivity is an established methodology within the realm of density functional theory (DFT). It is an activity index to propose intra- and intermolecular reactivities in materials using DFT within the domain of hard soft acid base (HS AB) principle. This chapter will address the key features of reactivity index, the definition, a short background followed by the aspects, which were developed within the reactivity domain. Finally, some examples mainly to design new materials related to key industrial issues using chemical reactivity index will be described. I wish to show that a simple theory can be state of the art to design new futuristic materials of interest to satisfy industrial needs. 

PHA are envisioned to be one of the most promising and futuristic materials which will be beneficial to mankind and the world. In this... 

Chinese chemists have reported the synthesis of pentacyclo[4.3.0.0 , 0 ]nonane-2,4-bis(trinitroethyl ester) (88). This compound may find potential use as an energetic plastisizer in futuristic explosive and propellant formulations. The synthesis of (88) uses widely available hydroquinone (81) as a starting material. Thus, bromination of (81), followed by oxidation, Diels-Alder cycloaddition with cyclopentadiene, and photochemical [2 - - 2] cycloaddition, yields the dione (85) as a mixture of diastereoisomers, (85a) and (85b). Favorskii rearrangement of this mixture yields the dicarboxylic acid as a mixture of isomers, (86a) and (86b), which on further reaction with thionyl chloride, followed by treating the resulting acid chlorides with 2,2,2-trinitroethanol, gives the energetic plastisizer (88) as a mixture of isomers, (88a) and (88b). Improvements in the synthesis of nitroform, and hence 2,2,2-trinitroethanol, makes the future application of this product attractive. 

How far can smart materials go Futuristic depictions such as in the 1991 film Terminator 2 have androids made of shape-changing metal that can quickly flow and set into any desired form. A more realistic vision for the future of smart materials and systems can be viewed by observing nature. Organisms move, adapt, and evolve, and they are made of materials that are complex but have been studied by biologists for decades. 

Current methodologies for the manufacture of energetic materials such as NHTPB, Poly(NiMMO) and Poly(GlyN) etc. use environmentally undesirable solvents such as dichloromethane. However, the adoption of the Montreal Protocol by most of the countries has limited the use of these halogenated hydrocarbons. To address current and futuristic legislations, DERA Scientists have developed various strategies to enable the manufacture of energetic materials in an environmentally friendly manner. Such an approach is to use Uquid or supercritical carbon dioxide as a solvent Carbon dioxide exhibits supercritical fluid behavior at a temperature >31.1 °C and a pressure >73.8 bar. 

Nanoparticles are rapidly gaining popularity in biomedical, optical and electronic areas. Zapping tumors with multi-walled carbon nanotubes, solar cells to light-attenuators and chip-to-chip optical interconnects in futuristic circuitry are some of the potential applications. Thus finding novel ways for the synthesis of these new age materials is of paramount interest where radiation chemistry is modesdy playing a role and the chapter on metal clusters and nanomaterials deals with these aspects. 

Gautam Sen received his PhD from Birla Institute of Technology, India, where he is now an Assistant Professor. His current research includes development of graft copolymer based smart materials and their futuristic applications. 

Modern artists—in particular, futurist and cubist painters—used new discoveries in physics to portray the material world as matter in motion. 

In the collective European imagination and especially that of the French, plastic materials today symbolize pollution, wastage of fossil fuels and toxicity. In reality, they contribute to sustainable development in various capacities. To better understand the difference between a dark vision and positive facts, we must bear in mind the view of the future such as that drawn by scientists, statisticians and futurists. 

A futuristic application for fibre-reinforced glass matrix composites is related to the use of lunar materials for future space constmction activities. Glass/glass composites in which both the fibre and the matrix are made of fused lunar soil have been proposed [28]. These materials, obtained so far on a laboratory scale, show great promise for providing large quantities of basic structural materials for cost-effective outer-space constmction. 

Blow molded parts demonstrate that, from technical and cost standpoints, BM offers a promising alternative to other processes, particularly injection molding (IM) and thermoforming. The technical evolution of BM, plus accompanying improvements and new developments in plastics, has led to new BM parts. With the coextrusion technology now established and the hardware in place, the variety of achievable properties can readily be extended by the correct combination of different materials (see Chapter 3). The potential for BM products includes much more than the simple bottles that have been made for many decades. Now the expertise and economics of the method are such that many ideas once deemed futuristic are much closer to realization (2, 96, 186-212). 

Although the chemical structure of bacterial cellulose is identical to that of any other vegetable-based counterpart, its fibrous morphology (Fig. 1.20), as obtained directly in its biotechnological production, is unique and consequently the properties associated with this original material are also peculiar and promise very interesting applications. Details about this futuristic biopolymer are given in Chapter 17. 

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