An expert contribution by a team of Maltese scientists and engineers will feature on Science, one of the world’s most prestigious scientific journals, today.
The team, which includes Joseph Grima, Daphne Attard, Ruben Gatt and co-workers from the Metamaterials Unit within the University of Malta’s Faculty of Science, have been working on structures and materials that exhibit some very unusual properties.
When materials are heated they are expected to expand and when stretched they are expected to shrink. The research team however insisted some materials and structures could react in unexpected ways, Prof. Grima said. They could get fatter rather than thinner when stretched in one direction, shrink when heated, or expand in at least one direction when compressed on all sides.
The team was asked to publish a “perspective” of their work in Science, which, according to Prof. Grima, is a first for Maltese scientists and the “most positive international feedback” they could get.
The theories proposed by the Maltese team have been verified through the work of a science team based in the UK. Researchers Andrew Domenic Fortes, from the University College London, and colleagues Emmanuelle Suard and Kevin Knight, performed tests on methanol monohydrate, which seemed to behave as predicted by the models studied by the research team.
“The University would certainly benefit financially from this research, especially as it’s now developing a ‘technology transfer’ office to commercialise its research findings,” said Prof. Grima enthusiastically.
“This unique research shows our population’s potential. Although the model demos seem simplistic at first glance the research has huge implications.”
The whole research process might seem complicated but the end result was very valuable and could end up in our own homes, he added. For example, the properties under study could be used in the manufacture of materials that could be designed to have a tailor-made response to temperature change. They could replace computer components with more efficient ones that react uniformly to temperature changes. This would reduce problems which arise when a part expands more than another as the computer heats up.
The materials could also be used in the manufacture of foam for more comfortable seats, especially useful to avoid bedsores for bedridden people or as aquarium filters which could be easily cleaned.
The work was supported by the University of Malta, which set up a unit within the Faculty of Science to host such research activities, some of which are financially supported by the Malta Council for Science and Technology through its National Research, Technological Development and Innovation programme.
This is not the first time the team attracted international attention. Work published by Prof. Grima, Elaine Manicaro and Ms Attard in Proceedings Of The Royal Society featured on the website that complements the print publication of Science.