University of Rochester researchers, inspired by diving bell spiders and rafts of fire ants, have created a metallic structure that is so water repellent, it refuses to sink—no matter how often it is forced into water or how much it is damaged or punctured.
Could this lead to an unsinkable ship? A wearable flotation device that will still float after being punctured? Electronic monitoring devices that can survive in long term in the ocean?
All of the above, says Chunlei Guo, professor of optics and physics, whose lab describes the structure in ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces[$].
The structure uses a groundbreaking technique the lab developed for using femtosecond bursts of lasers to "etch" the surfaces of metals with intricate micro- and nanoscale patterns that trap air and make the surfaces superhydrophobic, or water repellent.
The researchers found, however, that after being immersed in water for long periods of time, the surfaces may start to lose their hydrophobic properties.
Enter the spiders and fire ants, which can survive long periods under or on the surface of water. How? By trapping air in an enclosed area. Argyroneta aquatic spiders, for example, create an underwater dome-shaped web—a so-called diving bell— that they fill with air carried from the surface between their super-hydrophobic legs and abdomens. Similarly, fire ants can form a raft by trapping air among their superhydrophobic bodies.
[YOUTUBE VIDEO]: Unsinkable Metal
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New research from the University of Rochester describes an innovative superhydrophobic (SH) metal array that is effectively unsinkable. The
metal array [...] won't sink, even after it's pierced.
"Regardless how much it's damaged or punctured, it will still be able to stay afloat," Chunlei Guo, the study's chief researcher, told Business Insider.
Video here
There are many applications, such as unsinkable ships and floating cities (a viable alternative to a hollowed out volcano), that are promised by superhydrophobic materials, but in practice these materials start losing their effectiveness over time once submerged or abraided.
we circumvent these two most-challenging obstacles and demonstrate a highly floating multi-faced SH metallic assembly inspired by the diving bell spiders and fire ant assemblies. We study and optimize, both theoretically and experimentally, the floating properties of the design. The assembly shows an unprecedented floating ability; it can float back to surface even after being forced submerging under water for months. More strikingly, the assembly maintains its floating ability even after severe damage and piercing in stark contrast to conventional watercrafts and aquatic devices. The potential use of the SH floating metallic assembly ranges from floating devices and electronic equipment protection, to highly floatable ships and vessels.
The research has been accepted for publication in Applied Materials and Interfaces.
Ed Note - This is a duplicate of https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=19/11/07/0836248. My apologies for not catching that and thanks to FatPhil for bringing it to our attention. - Fnord666]
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday November 07 2019, @09:59PM (2 children)
<sarcasm>I wonder how well it will work once all those intricate etchings are full of dirt.</sarcasm>
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Thursday November 07 2019, @10:18PM (1 child)
Most adhesion of dirt you see in nature is water-mediated. I'm genuinely curious as to the answer to your sarcastic question.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday November 08 2019, @12:39AM
You may very well be correct but dirt has been the unsolvable failing of pretty much every hydrophobic coating/material anyone's ever come up with.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 07 2019, @10:01PM (5 children)
The fire ants stay afloat because of surface tension. If you add something to the water to change that, such as a surfactant in a detergent, they can no longer stay afloat and whoops! Down the drain!
(Score: 2, Interesting) by ikanreed on Thursday November 07 2019, @10:16PM (4 children)
That's many water insects, but not fire ants. Fire ants exhibit a behavior known as rafting [nationalgeographic.com] during floods(they are, after all, coastal ants), where they gather most of their colony into a ball, and because of some of their unique chemical properties, water does not flow between them into the ball, leaving it full of air and bouyant.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 07 2019, @10:40PM
Their exoskeletons are hydrophobic, and when they combine into a raft, the water surface tension prevents the water from "squeezing" between their bodies.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 07 2019, @10:44PM (1 child)
Bullshit. They float for the same reason as hovercrafts do... their fire turns the water to steam, which lifts them above the water's surface.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 07 2019, @11:09PM
Cucaroches.
I catch 'em and put them in the toilet.
They crawl right back out.
Follow up with a squirt of hand soap on it's back, it will sink and drown, and on subsequent flush, gone forever.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Friday November 08 2019, @02:25PM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 07 2019, @10:43PM
NOT.
Gigantic battleships and aircraft carriers built out of steel float in the sea.
So they spun cotton candy out of metallic elements.
BIG. FUCKING. DEAL.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Immerman on Thursday November 07 2019, @11:22PM (1 child)
My favorite nonsense from the video "this could be used to make ships that stay afloat even when severely damaged"
No. It couldn't. Not unless the entire ship were made of similarly etched stacked wafers, with no room for cargo.
Ships don't sink because water sticks to the hull, they sink because water fllls the space inside the hull, displacing the air that kept the average density of the ship less than that of the water. Filling your ship with useless spaces that water won't flow into would keep you afloat, but it'd also make your ship useless as a ship.
There's also a relatively cheap and easy alternative - closed-cell foams. They keep the water out of the space they occupy, and the air in, maintaining buoyancy.
(Score: 2) by Common Joe on Friday November 08 2019, @03:51AM
I read the summary and had the same thought. As soon as I read "it won't sink no matter the damage", "apply it to ships", and "it traps air", I knew we had a science award winner. This couldn't even pass the basic sniff test.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Friday November 08 2019, @01:21AM (4 children)
What was the problem to which this is a solution?
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Friday November 08 2019, @03:27PM (3 children)
Eureka! All we need is warships built out of balsa wood and they will never sink!
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Friday November 08 2019, @04:00PM (2 children)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Friday November 08 2019, @04:14PM (1 child)
Nah, I was just making a joke. Apparently, a very bad one.
I'd be inclined to think, this might be somewhat helpful in keeping a ship afloat, but an unsinkable ship, it will not make.
I think Immerman's solution sounds a lot more practical.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Saturday November 09 2019, @12:20AM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves