Scientists win Guinness World Record for the ‘finest woven fabric’
A team of scientists from The University of Manchester, UK, is being awarded the Guinness World Record for weaving threads of individual molecules together to create the ‘world’s finest fabric’.
The group of researchers has developed a way to weave molecular threads in two-dimensional layers. In doing so, they have produced a 2D-molecularly-woven fabric that has a thread count of 40-60 million.
The research team wanted to find a way of weaving polymer strands to make molecularly woven fabrics which could have exceptional strength and flexibility in the same way as linen sheets differ from individual threads of cotton.
At the moment the largest piece of fabric made is just 1 mm in length and 4nm thick.
‘Weaving molecular strands in this way leads to new and improved properties. The fabric is twice as strong as the unwoven strands and when pulled to breaking point it tears like a sheet rather than clumps of strands detaching,’ says Professor David Leigh.
‘The woven material also acts like a net, allowing small molecules to pass through it while trapping larger molecules in the tiny mesh. “This is the first example of a layered molecularly woven fabric. Weaving molecular strands offers a new way of altering the properties of plastics and other materials.’
