The transition toward next generation bio-based materials, central to the WWSC mission, demands understanding how these materials behave at a fundamental level: how they flow, deform, and react to different environmental conditions. This film offers a glimpse into that research, conducted at Chalmers and MAX IV through the simultaneous combination of rheology, tribology, and X-ray scattering.

The core approach shown throughout is the coupling of mechanical instrumentation with synchrotron beamlines (CoSAXS and ForMAX), allowing structural and mechanical information to be collected at the same time. The film moves between the two beamlines and captures both a range of experimental setups and the materials themselves in motion: cellulose nanocrystals visualized under polarized light – orienting under flow or aligning under a magnetic field; Taylor-Couette vortices forming in a CNC suspension under shear; a polymer filament breaking into beads; tribological wear of a polymer surface; and a 3D printing nozzle mid-print.

And then there is a gummy bear – dancing, because who doesn’t like to see bears dance.

Marko & Kesavan & Roland