There is no doubt that in the future, high technology will give us the opportunity to start using the so-called "smart" clothes. But the use of such clothing is not limited to embedding sensors and sensors for reading biometric information. For example, recently scientists from Cornell and Pennsylvania universities presented a new type of camouflage material that is able to change color, surface texture and even shape.
Changing the shape and texture of the surface depending on the specific needs is a very difficult task, which was accomplished thanks to the creation of a new type of material. He was named CCOARSE - Circumferentially Constrained and Radially Stretched Elastomer.
What is this fabric like? It is a polymorphic material created by incorporating a special form of fiber loops into silicone elastomer. The shape of all the loops is calculated taking into account any possible changes in the shape of the material in the future. In other words, the information about the form that will need to be taken into the fabric is “sewn”, and all that remains is to choose the necessary configuration.
At the moment, changing the shape of CCOARSE is done by changing the tension force of the fiber loops using a special algorithm created for this purpose. As numerous tests have shown, the error in the deviation of the form that the material takes from the given one does not exceed 10%, which is quite enough to ensure invisibility. By the way, scientists, as is often the case, were inspired by nature itself, and in this case the octopus served as a “prototype”, which mimics perfectly the objects of the seabed. So, the error in changing the shape of an octopus with respect to real objects is also in the region of 7-10%.
The US military (who sponsored this project) are planning to use a new camouflage system to disguise robots, reconnaissance vehicles and video surveillance systems in a variety of environments: from the depths of the sea to open spaces on land.
The article is based on materials .
Comments
Post a Comment