A team of researchers from the University of Cambridge in the UK has developed a super jelly that is 80% water, but returns to its original shape even when struck by a car. This super jelly is expected to be used as an alternative to knee cartilage.
In the experiment, super jelly was placed on a stationary copper plate and then passed by a 1,200 kg vehicle. Super Jelly said that there is no problem even stepping on an elephant in terms of calculations, but they couldn’t use an elephant, so they used a car. Even if the vehicle is moved back and forth and dragged several times and then the copper plate is lifted, the Super Jelly shows the same appearance as before the experiment.
Super jelly is a hydrogel that exhibits high strength like ultra-hard shatterproof glass that is not deformed by compression even when pressure is applied. Hydrogel is a popular material for research because it has toughness and recovery, but it is basically a soft texture. Although it was considered difficult to have high strength against pressure, the University of Cambridge research team used a cross-linking agent called Cucurbituril to realize hydrogel with opposite properties of elasticity and compressibility. Hydrogels with a water content of 80% have succeeded in maintaining their shape even when an elephant steps on a place that normally ruptures like a balloon when pressure is applied.
Super jelly is promising in soft robotics, a research field that deals with soft robots, and is also expected to be a substitute for cartilage. Related information can be found here.