Huang, Q, Madsen, J, Yu, L, Borger, A, Johannsen, S R, Mortensen, K & Hassager, O 2018, ' Highly Anisotropic Glassy Polystyrenes Are Flexible ', A C S Macro Letters, vol. 7, pp. 1126-1130 . https://doi.org/10.1021/acsmacrolett.8b00485
We show that stretching polystyrene melts at a rate faster than the inverse Rouse time, followed by rapid quenching below the glass transition temperature, results in a material that is flexible and remains so for at least six months. Oriented micro/nanofibers are observed in the flexible samples after the mechanical tests. The fibers are probably related to the highly aligned molecules in melt stretching. At room temperature, a tensile strength over 300 MPa has been achieved for the flexible polystyrenes.