The human muscle is a marvelous thing. Scientists have been trying to engineer and develop artificial muscles. However, the challenge lies in synthetic materials being too delicate or costly for every day application.

Now, a team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has developed a new, inexpensive solution involving nylon fibers.

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This new study was led by MIT's Seyed Mirvakili and Ian Hunter. The researchers discovered that nylon filaments could apparently be used as artificial linear muscles when they are twisted into a coil. These twisted filaments may extend further than human muscle. However, nylon cannot bend and return to regular shape like the fingers can.

Nylon is such a unique material that when heated, it can shrink in length but expand in width. The MIT team selected only one side of the filament that can contract faster, resulting in the entire strand bending.

The team was faced with the task of manipulating the nylon into behaving in a specific manner by redesigning the fishing line shape, by pressing its round shape into a rectangle. Researchers say that fishing line nylon is easy to obtain, as nylon is not only cheap but also abundant.

When the scientists formed the nylon into this ideal shape for the artificial muscle, they tested this out on different kinds of heat sources and heating angles. The heated filament then transformed into complex shapes. Nylon is tough and very durable. The MIT team demonstrated in this new study how their special filament could perform well under 100,000 bending and heating cycles.

The researchers suggest that these new, artificial nylon muscles can have practical applications like biomedical purposes, robotics, toys and even clothing. Mirvakili noted that this new material could be used with just about anything that requires muscle based motion like bending and flexibility.

This new study was published in the journal Advanced Materials.