A NOVEL kind of plastic made by compressing a powdered mixture of two polymers has been produced at room temperature for the first time.
Plastic items such as cellphone casings are normally made by heating the material to 200 °C or more and then shaping it in a mould. Using pressure instead of heat will use less energy, and promises to slash costs.
Most importantly, the articles should also be easier to recycle than those made of conventional polymers, which are degraded a little each time they are heated for moulding and eventually become unusable. The new plastics can be…
