Felix bought a new set of gardening tools, but he was unable to open the toolbox.
“Help me, Scorch!” he said when Scorch walked into his garden to meet him.
“You can take some help from Virginia Tech University researchers,” said Scorch and sat on the ground next to Felix trying to help him. Felix raised his eyebrows and looked at Scorch.
“Researchers from this University devised a solution to get rid of tape problems. This University is located in the United States (US),” informed Scorch.
Felix immediately looked up and said, “Solution? Tell me quick!”.
“The solution is Kirigami. Kirigami is an old Japanese art of cutting paper into beautiful designs. The researchers used the same technique to make stronger tapes.
The University team, led by Professor Michael Bartlett, ensured that the sticky tape could be removed easily. If we look back, tapes came into existence in the 1920s. Initially, it was used for car painting. Since then, the usage of types has increased exponentially. Now we have different types of tape such as invisible, electrical, duct, scotch tapes and more,” explained Scorch.
“That’s amazing. But how do I use it to open this,” said Felix showing her the heavy toolbox, “You still didn’t tell me the solution, Scorch!”
“Patience, pixie,” replied Scorch, “The researchers put small U-shaped cuts on the tape. So, it was easy and strong to stick and, on the other side, very easy to remove without scratches. The tape’s strength increased by 60 times!
They tested the tape with a cool brick experiment. They took two cardboard boxes and wrapped them up. One was wrapped with normal wrapping tape, and the other with U-shaped cut tape.
They dropped a brick on top of the box to check its durability. The wrapping tape box got smashed with the brick. But the other one didn’t budge even after dropping a brick several times. It was a huge success!”
“Here! I opened it! Good for them and good for me!” Felix was happy with his little achievement.