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Car panels made of silkworm cocoons, clothing that can camouflage the wearer at the flick of a switch and a ‘smart’ shirt with a phone and power source embedded in the fabric may soon become a reality.
Scientists, some with funding from the US Air Force, have made technological breakthroughs in recent months.
Research just published reveals advances in materials science that could transform industries struggling with the rising cost and scarcity of raw materials and save lives in post-conflict countries still clearing minefields.
In a study published in the Royal Society journal Interface, Oxford University researchers David Porter and Fujia Chen examine the structure of silkworm cocoons, which are extremely light and tough, with properties that could inspire advanced materials for use in protective helmets and light-weight armour.
“Silkworm cocoons have evolved a remarkable range of optimal structures and properties to protect moth pupae from natural threats,” Porter and Chen said in their paper. “These structures are lightweight, strong and porous and therefore ideal for the development of bio-inspired composite materials.”
The research, which was funded by a grant from the US Air Force, could point to a new material for fabricating car panels in some of the fastest-growing car markets - China and India.
Fritz Vollrath, who heads the Oxford research group, said supplies of cocoons are plentiful. “Present raw silk market production globally is half a million tonnes annually.
“Most of that is boiled and unravelled for textiles, but Vollrath says there are potential applications for the cocoons themselves, particularly in the developing world and potentially in car panels that are very tough and totally sustainable,” he said.
The researchers are working on carbon footprint calculations but Vollrath notes that the production process is probably carbon neutral, involving a mulberry bush and worms that, unlike cattle, don’t emit any methane.
There are plenty of precedents for the commercial exploitation of structures found in the natural world. One of the best known is the so-called ‘lotus effect’, the properties of the lotus leaf that keeps them extremely clear of dust and dirt.
It was this research that eventually led to the development of self-cleaning windows and advanced exterior paints.
Velcro was developed after Swiss engineer George de Mestral observed the way the flowers of the mountain thistle stuck to his trousers after a walk in the countryside.
Scientists have also created artificial muscles in the laboratory that mimic the colour-changing ability of squid and zebrafish and could eventually be used in camouflaging ‘smart clothes’.
Researchers at the University of Bristol in the UK created soft and stretchy artificial muscles based on specialist cells called chromatophores that are found in some fish and reptiles. They contain pigments which give these animals the ability to change colour.
“We have taken inspiration from nature’s designs and exploited the same methods to turn our artificial muscles into striking visual effects,” said Jonathan Rossiter, lead author of the study, which was published last week in the Institute of Physics journal Bioinspiration and Biomimetics.
The Bristol scientists say their camouflaging technology could also be used to regulate the temperature of the wearer at the flick of a switch.
Rossiter said his group will be looking for more potential applications, from artificial skins for human-interacting robots, to new electronic devices.
High-tech clothing is an area that researchers from the University of Exeter hope to exploit with findings unveiled in the last week in the journal Advanced Materials. They have made the ‘most transparent, lightweight and flexible material ever for conducting electricity’.
The material, which is based on the revolutionary substance graphene, a form of carbon just one atom thick but 100 times stronger than steel, could accelerate the creation of clothing with embedded devices like mobile phones and MP3 players.
The Exeter group, led by engineer Dr Monica Craciun, is now working on a spray-on version of the transparent material, which they have dubbed ‘GraphExeter’, that could be applied to ‘smart’ T-shirts, or windows to turn them into solar panels that are 30 per cent more efficient than those in use today.
