 |
Self-Repairing Aircraft Mimic Borg Cubes
Aircraft using fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites may be able to use a "self-healing" technique to repair cracks and small holes - even in flight.
(Fractured FRP with epoxy resin bleeding into damaged area (UV light))
Engineers at Bristol University, with funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) developed the technique. Here's how it works:
If a tiny hole/crack appears in the aircraft (e.g. due to wear and tear, fatigue, a stone striking the plane etc), epoxy resin would 'bleed' from embedded vessels near the hole/crack and quickly seal it up, restoring structural integrity.
The ingenious technique works by filling hollow glass fibers contained in FRP composites with special epoxy resin and hardener. If there is a break, the resin flows out, sealing the damaged area, and then hardens. The picture shown above illustrates how the epoxy resin bleeds into the damaged area.
"This approach can deal with small-scale damage that's not obvious to the naked eye but which might lead to serious failures in structural integrity if it escapes attention," says Dr Ian Bond, who has led the project. "It's intended to complement rather than replace conventional inspection and maintenance routines, which can readily pick up larger-scale damage, caused by a bird strike, for example."
I've written about this kind of technique before; see these articles on Nanotech Self-Healing Houses and Self-Healing Polymer Autonomous Material System for variations on self-healing materials. SF author JG Ballard wrote about a material with similar uses in self-healing houses; he called it plastex.
Update 28-Apr-2012: In his 1951 novel Asteroid of Fear, Raymond Z. Gallun wrote about self-sealing plastic that was used in space to protect against damage by micrometeorites.
It even had an inter-skin layer of gum that could seal the punctures that grain-of-sand-sized meteors might make.
End update.
As far as it's use in aircraft is concerned, this kind of material may remind readers of the self-healing Borg cubes; the process can be seen at about 2'40" into the following video:
(Borg cube repairs itself [starting at 2:40])
Via Self-repairing Aircraft Could Revolutionize Aviation Safety; thanks to Moira for the tip. (Note to Moira: thanks for the tip on Iron Man biological circuit fabrication. I did like the article - I wrote it! Xinhuanet stole the article verbatim from a version printed with permission on LiveScience.com.)
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 5/19/2008)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion (Back On) ( 0 )
Related News Stories - (" Vehicle ")
BMW Plans Fully Autonomous Cars By 2025
'She woke just before the signal from the car which would have called her... '- Robert Heinlein, 1941.
EU Parliament Requires Electric Cars To Make Noise
'...a sound tape to supply the noise of a soi-disant "[internal combustion]" engine...'- Robert Heinlein, 1985.
Pepper The Parrot's Bird Buggy
'Someone had put them on mobile platforms, the skrodes.'- Vernor Vinge, 1992.
Tesla Model S Declared Car Of The Year By Motor Trend
'They can therefore roam over the roads of the entire hemisphere [combining] the sensations of coasting with the interest of seeing the country well.'- John Jacob Astor IV, 1894.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Current News
German Firm Seeks To Recruit Autistics
Not a deficit, but a strength.
NASA Supports Pizza Printer
Is it extra with printed pepperoni?
Could Ground-Based Lasers De-Orbit Space Junk?
'Then their lasers vaporized the smaller satellites...'
'Hello, Computer!' Google Now Highlighted at IO13
'Hello, computer!'
MIT Robot Cheetah Video Shows Gait Transition
'The legs are long, curled way up to deliver power, like a cheetah's.'
TrackingPoint Smart Rifle
Not your typical 'smart bullet' approach.
Sky City's 220 Stories Are Go
'It rested among green parklands and... stood in total isolation, a glittering block of whites and flashing windows dotted with colors.'
CARMAT Bioprosthetic Total Human Heart Replacement
'George Walt's corporate existence proved the workability of wholly mechanical organs...'
Personal Sniffer Robots
'...The ticking combinations of the olfactory system of the hound.'
Physical Exam? We've Got Apps
See the future of handheld, personal medical devices.
The Interplanetary Internet, Vint Cerf Speaking
'This was the center of Interplanetary Communications.'
Drosophila Robotica, The Mechanical Fly
'... the Scarab [flying robot] buzzed into the great workroom as any intruding insect might...'
Robo-Raven Flapping Wing Robot Bird
'When he had first built them, they had been crude indeed, flying mechanisms with little more than a reflex-response unit.'
Japan's Nursing Home Robot Plan
Let's make the Roujin Z-0001 Robotic Bed!
Samsung Smart TVs With Gesture Control
'He waved his hand and the circuit switched abruptly.'
Swiss HCPVT Giant Photovoltaic 'Flower'
'...leaning against one of the slender stalks of a sunshade-photocell collector.'
