About the plane wing applications... Wouldn't these micropatterns also have some kind of impact on aerodynamics? Not saying it's even a negative thing, but more research seems to be needed.
New metal is so hydrophobic it makes water bounce like magic
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Re: New metal is so hydrophobic it makes water bounce like magic
#12Durability? reaction to other biological substances? I'm thinking of artificial heart valves and the necessity of preventing anything sticking for upwards of 50 years of continuous use.
Regarding durability, the article says > Instead of using chemical coatings they used lasers to etch a nanostructure on the metal itself. It will not wear off, like current less effective methods.
Goodbye Teflon!
Re: New metal is so hydrophobic it makes water bounce like magic
#13How vulnerable would this nanoscale etching be to damage? Would a scratch or abrasion ruin its hydrophobic properties?
Almost certainly. I would also expect contamination (finger oils, for example) to be a big issue. (Source: I worked on and designed equipment for commercial scale-up of a nanoscale superhydrophobic coating process)
Would not water (or any other solvent's) movement cause a scouring action that would remove contaminates and keep the surface clean?
Re: New metal is so hydrophobic it makes water bounce like magic
#14Earlier quoted context omitted.
Almost certainly. I would also expect contamination (finger oils, for example) to be a big issue. (Source: I worked on and designed equipment for commercial scale-up of a nanoscale superhydrophobic coating process)
Would not water (or any other solvent's) movement cause a scouring action that would remove contaminates and keep the surface clean?
Depends on the behavior with oils I guess.
Water doesn't dissolve oil, although it could help mechanically remove it -- but if the material is actually olephilic or neutral it could be an issue.
Re: New metal is so hydrophobic it makes water bounce like magic
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
Dust, at least, is not an issue like you suspect. The researchers who developed this technique took the dust from a vacuum cleaner and dumped it on a treated piece of metal; water picks up the dust and then slides right off, so the surface is actually incredibly easy to clean.
Sure, but if you dump something on it which has a grain size that's similar to the voids in the material, all bets are off. If the average void is 1um and you put 0.1um dust all over it, I would suspect that it would embed itself in there pretty nicely.
Or a liquid that's not repelled by the surface. What would happen if you just dumped a lot of washing up liquid on this nanosurface? How would you rinse it off?
Watching the video I thought the thing with the teflon was a bit silly. After all if you wanted to think of something that won't hold water at an angle, wouldn't you think of ordinary glass rather than teflon?
Re: New metal is so hydrophobic it makes water bounce like magic
#16Since reading Dune, I have been waiting for mankind to get around to making this. It was just a matter of time.
Re: New metal is so hydrophobic it makes water bounce like magic
#17This will work really well. Some leaves use this same mechanism to 'self-clean', which means that now we will have the ability to add the 'lotus effect' to man-made objects.
Re: New metal is so hydrophobic it makes water bounce like magic
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
Almost certainly. I would also expect contamination (finger oils, for example) to be a big issue. (Source: I worked on and designed equipment for commercial scale-up of a nanoscale superhydrophobic coating process)
Would not water (or any other solvent's) movement cause a scouring action that would remove contaminates and keep the surface clean?
I was wondering what would happen if you turned on a firehose and just slammed it for a good length of time...how durable it would be? If they're planning to use it on the surface of an airplane wing -- curious how durable the surface is.
Re: New metal is so hydrophobic it makes water bounce like magic
#19Worst title ever, this is not a new metal any more than printed paper is new paper.
Re: New metal is so hydrophobic it makes water bounce like magic
#20How vulnerable would this nanoscale etching be to damage? Would a scratch or abrasion ruin its hydrophobic properties?
Almost certainly. I would also expect contamination (finger oils, for example) to be a big issue. (Source: I worked on and designed equipment for commercial scale-up of a nanoscale superhydrophobic coating process)
I just love that this website happens to have someone in this field to help us all understand this. Thank you for your comment!