DuPont Physicist Reshapes Way Information Is Shared
by Adrienne Lallo/Lallo Communications
DuPont Research Fellow Graciela Blanchet, a 19-year company veteran, and her co-workers are shepherding the printing world’s transition from the analog to the digital era. The use of laser ablation to print on bendable surfaces using only organic components will literally reshape the way information is displayed, creating a world where information can be shared inexpensively, any time, anywhere.
Lightweight flexible polymeric displays have all sorts of potential uses. According to Graciela, these include radio frequency identification tags such as those used for automatically paying tolls; smart cards; and digital displays that can be rolled up for storage. In addition, other appealing opportunities are advertising – particularly in hard to reach locations — high-resolution proofs that can be easily corrected prior to printing on a press, product information on supermarket shelves and restaurant menus.
One of the more ambitious ideas is electronic paper, “a medium that displays a newspaper or book page and then instantaneously loads the next page when desired,” she suggests.
“Eventually, we envision this technology being printed as easily as newsprint from rolls, and being inexpensive enough that the electronic devices can be thrown away,” Graciela says. “A disposable electronic device is truly novel.” It’s a market expected to be worth billions.
The materials used for printing organic electronic devices have fairly simple structures, borrowing from Graciela’s own pioneering work in color proofing and color filter products. A multi-layer donor film, with ejection, heating and printable layers – i.e. a conductor, dielectric or semiconductor – is sandwiched against a plastic substrate. A laser beam is used to selectively transfer, say, a conducting layer from the donor film onto the plastic substrate.
Printing organic electronic devices is exciting because of its distinct advantages over silicon-based electronics. Stiff silicon requires scrupulously clean rooms and high temperatures. It can cost $3 billion to put a new chip manufacturing facility into production. In contrast, Graciela and her colleagues hope that organic materials may yield to a room temperature, dry and high-speed process at considerably less cost.
DuPont Scientist Works to Improve Automotive Air Bags
Jialin Sun, the DuPont Scientist of the Month, and her team are using their knowledge of Nylon fiber to develop products and solutions for safer airbags. Photo: Ed Lallo/Lallo Photography
by Adrienne Lallo/Lallo Communications
Air bags are quickly becoming just as important a safety asset in cars as seatbelts, and Jialin Sun, the DuPont Scientist of the Month, and her team are using their knowledge of Nylon fiber to develop products and solutions for safer airbags.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the combination of an air bag and a safety belt reduces the risk of serious head injury by 85 percent. In fact, air bag systems have saved more than 8,000 lives since their adoption in the U.S. alone. The air bag must deploy in less time than it takes for an eye blink (approximately 1/10 of a second), generally at a speed of more than 100 m.p.h. when an accident occurs. The resultant speed and pressure require the cushion material to be able to withstand extreme stress and temperature.
DuPont Space Saver Nylon 6,6 fiber can withstand the high mechanical stress and high temperatures. According to Sun, “We have become a leading supplier because of the uniqueness of Nylon 6,6 and our ability to innovate over the years.”
Introduced to the automotive airbag market in the mid-1970’s, Nylon 6,6 remains the preferred material for air bag applications worldwide. In addition to its resistance to stress and temperature, Nylon 6,6 fiber can be packed into small spaces, because it is soft, pliable and tough. DuPont is working to make airbags small enough to fit anywhere, even in a seatbelt.
Sun and her team have also worked closely with customers to develop advanced technologies for use in side curtain airbags, which protect vehicle passengers from side impacts. The side curtain air bag helps to reduce serious injury during SUV and other rollovers.
In addition to Nylon 6,6, many air bags also include DuPont™ Kevlar® brand fiber and DuPont™ Tyvek® protective material, which are used to strengthen and protect airbags, and DuPont™ Hytrel® elastomer, which is used in the deployment system. These are just a few of the more than 65 contributions DuPont has made to improve automotive safety.
According to Sun, safety has always been a priority for DuPont. “DuPont is a safety company because that is our way of doing business,” she notes. “We will never sacrifice safety.” Sun goes on to stress the essential importance of safety in air bags in particular. “DuPont only supplies the best materials for air bags because we know they are intended to save lives.”
Sun and her team are also helping to educate people about automobile safety by participating in the DuPont national auto safety tour called “Get Real Behind the Wheel.” The program, which is aimed at newly licensed drivers, kicked off in May of 2003. Sun and her team spent three weeks building a unit that demonstrates how side curtain air bags inflate.