The last post discussed a recent article in TIME magazine (“The Making of Genius, How History’s Greatest Thinkers Broke with Tradition and Solved Problems Nobody Else Could See” by Water Isaacson, November 27, 2017 edition). Unbounded curiosity was one of the characteristics that that was common in the people profiled (Einstein, da Vinci, Franklin, Jobs, Madame Curie).  These ... [Click to Continue...]

I was flying back from a client visit and somebody left a TIME magazine in the seat back pocket where I was sitting (TIME, November 27, 2017 edition).  The cover caught my attention; the 25 Best Inventions of 2017.   I pulled it out and started to browse.  The article that caught my attention was “The Making of Genius, How History’s Greatest Thinkers Broke with Tradition and ... [Click to Continue...]

A previous post described the tensile testing of polymers. The tensile test typically measures the load extension curve (stress-strain as seen above) until the sample breaks.  The toughness of the polymer can be estimated by the area under the stress strain curve.  The curves for the thermosets have a high modulus (steep slope in the initial linear region), but have little ... [Click to Continue...]