Feb 21, 2014 06:13 AM EST By Staff Reporter, UniversityHerald Reporter

An international team of researchers created strong artificial muscle fibers from an ordinary fishing line and sewing thread, making it a promising alternative to the synthetic muscles that are normally expensive and weak.

Researchers twisted and coiled a high-strength polymer fishing line and sewing thread to create powerful artificial muscles that could contract and relax.

These inexpensive new muscles can carry hundred times more weight and produce more mechanical power than human or animal muscles of the same length and weight. The power-to-weight ratio of the artificial muscle is similar to that of a jet engine. The new muscles can contract by about 50 percent of their length when compared to the 20 percent by natural fibers.

"In terms of the strength and power of the artificial muscle, we found that it can quickly lift weights 100 times heavier than a same-sized human muscle can, in a single contraction," University of British Columbia Electrical and Computer Engineering professor John Madden said in a statement. "It also has a higher power output for its weight than that of an automobile combustion engine."

The artificial muscles, considered an excellent replacement to their natural counterparts, could be employed where superhuman strength is required like medical devices that help those with impaired mobility, exoskeletons, humanoid robots, prosthetic limbs, or woven into fabrics among others.

"The application opportunities for these polymer muscles are vast," said corresponding author Dr. Ray Baughman in a statement. "Today's most advanced humanoid robots, prosthetic limbs and wearable exoskeletons are limited by motors and hydraulic systems, whose size and weight restrict dexterity, force generation and work capability."  Baughman is the Robert A. Welch Distinguished Chair in Chemistry at UT Dallas and director of the NanoTech Institute.

The discovery is published in the journal Science. Scientists at UT Dallas's Alan G. MacDiarmid NanoTech Institute collaborated with researchers from universities in Australia, South Korea, Canada, Turkey and China on the project.

Although artificial muscles have been successfully produced from other material including metal wires and carbon nanotubes, they are extremely costly to manufacture and difficult to control.

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