A team of researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Columbia Engineering have identified a new method for increasing the durability of materials, according to a NIST press release.

During their research, the scientists developed a new type of material composed of tiny ceramic particles interlaced with polymer strands that absorb energy from collisions faster than a material composed only of polymers.

“Mixing together plastics with some solid particles is like trying to mix oil and water," Sanat Kumar, a Columbia University professor of chemical engineering and co-author of the study, stated in the press release. "They want to separate. The realization we’ve made in my group is: One way to fix that is to chemically tether the plastics to the particles. It’s like they hate each other but they can’t get away.”

The researchers developed films from nanometer-scale ceramic particles coated with polymer strands that resemble fuzzy orbs and used them as targets in miniature impact tests to demonstrate the material's increased durability.

Additional research revealed that the films have a distinctive property not shared by conventional polymer-based materials, which enabled them to quickly absorb energy from impacts.

This new method has the potential to significantly enhance bulletproof materials and other ballistic equipment.

“Because this material doesn't follow traditional concepts of toughening that you see in classical polymers, it opens up new ways to design materials for impact mitigation,” Edwin Chan, a materials research engineer at NIST and study co-author, stated.

The results of this research also suggest the existence of an ideal length for polymers attached to the curved surface of particles that can be used to increase material toughness.