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The world uses tens of millions of tons of lubricant every year, from the smallest part of a micro-precision instrument to the expansion rollers on the largest bridges. Most are oil based, though others use powders, and even metals, and it's been that way for decades.
That could be changing as the Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials (IWM), Nematel GmbH, and Dr. Tillwich GmbH have developed a new class of lubricants that are based on liquid crystals instead of oil. According to Fraunhofer, this is the first fundamentally new lubricant developed in twenty years. Liquid crystals are an oddity of the chemical world that most people know from digital displays and television sets, but are actually found in everything from cell membranes to soapy water. As the name implies, a liquid crystal is a substance that is neither entirely a liquid, nor a crystal, but possesses the properties of both, such as a liquid that retains the structure of a solid crystal.
(Score: 2) by Tork on Friday May 23 2014, @04:31PM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 1) by Alfred on Friday May 23 2014, @05:42PM
That's funny.
But on a more serious note it has the Fraunhofer name on it. I believe this is where MP3 compression got its start.
so...
there will likely be claims of piracy, profit loss and a push to remove it from the market by the old guard of traditional lubricants.
(Score: 2) by Yog-Yogguth on Thursday May 29 2014, @11:30PM
Fraunhofer [wikipedia.org] (click that link and read) is something like a superpower. Frauenhofer is part of how Germany (a comparatively small country) manages to stay competitive with much bigger countries like the US and China and some argue even out-competes them on technology and innovation.
I didn't know the extent of it myself (despite being a little bit more familiar with them).
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