Science is imbuing ceramics with strange new qualities. Eurekite, a company based in Enschede, The Netherlands, has created “Flexiramics,” a material that has all the qualities of ceramics while being flexible, malleable and thin as paper. The material has been attracting investor interest.
The technology, initially developed at the MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology (University of Twente), has numerous benefits over current ceramics, in particular that it behaves like paper and can be shaped into any position, and that it is not brittle. Therefore it can be used in many harsh environments without the limitations of currently available to ceramics and also providing unique thermal, electrical, catalytic and filtering characteristics.
The video above, comparing Flexiramics’ creators to “the alchemists of old,” is an introduction to the material.
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Dear Inventor of Eurekite ‘Flexiramics’,
It would be useful to know a bit more about this material – for example is it completely water proof like glazed ceramics (bowls, plates etc) or semi-permeable like plant pots ?
Presumably this is a fired material and should therefore have very good thermal insulation properties once layered in sufficient quantities – possible use for firemen’s protective clothing, being light and flexible ?
Can it be made to stay brittle for a period of time and then ‘switched’ back to its flexible state or not ? THAT would be interesting …I’m thinking engine bearings or rockets [hot air balloons that can’t catch on fire – a zeppelin built entirely of this material would be super safe if the hydrogen or helium was kept in pockets (think duvets), each fuelled individually and separately from the rest !]. And its paper-like qualities sound also very promising for the print world where important documents could be preserved from fire and water destruction using this material ( maybe even tents for displaced people ?) or if there was a way of combining it with some kind of reactive ‘ink’ then you’d have a very light flexible ‘screen’ onto which words could form …
Hello, there is a lot of possible of making form or product with this material you have created. one of the possible that it can make light, light product where light will be able to shine through this Flexiramics. there is very high possible that hotel and many interior design are looking into ceramic light now day. but in the market there is not much ceramic light are able to shine through it. there is a few but many are fragile.
Very interesting! ! !