Sorry I didn't get the joke, Rob, but I still think it's a valid question.
To my mind, the big question about so many of these new alternative materials is how sustainably they can be manufactured and whether they can be recycled in one fashion or another: whether that's biodegrading or being turned into fuel via a waste-to-energy process (and how bad or good those may be for the environment). Like you have often said, it's the whole lifecycle that must be considered.
Well, the boric acid was a joke -- and top of mind as I'm fighting a sugar ant infestation.
But to the point, the more I read your articles as well as articles about energy savings attempts in automotive and aerospace, over and over, it's the materials that matter. Plus, many of the newly develop materials are environmentally friendly in their own right.
Rob, that's an interesting chemistry question. Since this material only mimics an exoskeleton and is actually made of shrimp shells and silk, boric acid won't have the same effect on it. But it might also damage it.
And I agree with you, I think that one big method for reducing dependence on fossil fuels may be better materials.
Beth, that's the first thing I thought when I saw the comparison with aluminum--whether this material might have apps in aircraft, either wings or other components, instead of or in addition to composites. I'm wondering the same thing about this material as Chuck mentioned, just exactly how it compares with aluminum in strength and stiffness, as well as shear.
Impressive material. Just have to keep it away from boric acid (that's the insecticide that kills ants by harming the exoskeleton).
I could imagine an unlimited number of uses. From your articles, I'm beginning to think that one strategy for energy use reduction and sustainability is going to be advances in materials.
This story also puts me in mind of the upcoming Medical Design & Manufacturing conference in Feb. (Link is here.) Not intending this to be a promo for the show, but it's about medical devices and of course miniaturization is the big trend in that area, and anything enabling strong but small packaging will/could be a significant driver of new product development.
Ann, thanks for another interesting article. Beth, you are absolutely right about biomimickry ("biomimetics" is the fancy word for this).
As Ann's article points out, the key to getting the strength and toughness of insect cuticle was reproducing the lamellar structure, with hard (chitosan) and soft (fibroin) layers. Many biological materials are able to achieve amazing properties through the proper arrangement of hard and soft segments. Perhaps even more amazing, these materials are self-assembled at the molecular level!
There is a lot of fascinating work going on in materials engineering departments related to the structure and properties of biological materials. Dr. Marc Meyers and his group at UC-San Diego have done some very interesting work on clam shells, toucan beaks, and armadillo armor, among other materials.
There is also a lot of fasinating work attempting to create new materials based on principles found in nature. Dr. Robert Ritchie of UC-Berkley gave an interesting presentation at last year's Materials Science and Technology conference in Columbus about work he has been doing using ice templates to create polymer-ceramic composites with structures based on mother-of-pearl. These materials are incredibly tough, tougher than many aluminum alloys.
Molecular self-assembly of strong, tough, lightweight, nanostructured materials is something which we, as materials engineers, would love to be able to do. Our bodies, and the natural world around us, do it every day, yet we are only just beginning to learn how it's done.
I would think lots of applications in aerospace because afterall aircraft wings are in really no more than a biomimickry interpretation of bird's wings. Maybe this material, once it evolves and is commercialized, can give composites a run for the money!
Lightweight airplane wings are one of the possibilities I had in mind, too when I first saw this, and not only because the researchers started with the proposition of recreating an insect wing's material. It was the comparison with aluminum that caught my eye, since that comparison is so often made by composite manufacturers, especially in aerospace apps.
For 3D printing to make the jump from rapid prototyping to manufacturing, engineers will need to find easier ways to move products from their CAD screens to their printers.
Gigabit and PoE are two networking technologies moving ahead in tandem as industrial users power remote Ethernet devices such as IP security cameras at 1,000 Mbps over existing CAT5 cable.
New versions of BASF's Ecovio line are both compostable and designed for either injection molding or thermoforming. These combinations are becoming more common for the single-use bioplastics used in food service and food packaging applications, but are still not widely available.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 5
Early in my career, I worked as a draftsman and remember the days of drawing on vellum with numbered pencils and Mylar with plastic lead. This was a fun experience in the sense that I ...
I've been using workstations for more than 10 years and love finding ways to get more performance from my system. With demanding professional applications that require more power each ...
A lasting memory from my first job as an engineer in an auto assembly plant is standing on hard concrete at six in the morning, vending-machine coffee clutched in hand, listening to ...
For industrial control applications, or even a simple assembly line, that machine can go almost 24/7 without a break. But what happens when the task is a little more complex? That’s where the “smart” machine would come in. The smart machine is one that has some simple (or complex in some cases) processing capability to be able to adapt to changing conditions. Such machines are suited for a host of applications, including automotive, aerospace, defense, medical, computers and electronics, telecommunications, consumer goods, and so on. This radio show will show what’s possible with smart machines, and what tradeoffs need to be made to implement such a solution.
To save this item to your list of favorite Design News content so you can find it later in your Profile page, click the "Save It" button next to the item.
If you found this interesting or useful, please use the links to the services below to share it with other readers. You will need a free account with each service to share an item via that service.
Tweet This
0 
