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"Insulation Material" Inspired By The Color Changing Skin Of Cuttlefish

2022/4/1 11:46:00 0

A team of engineers led by alon Gorodetsky of the University of California, Irvine, has developed a new infrared reflective metallized polymer film. It is reported that this inspiration comes from the color changing skin of squid. The composite's adjustable insulation enables it to function in everything from coffee cups to shipping containers, as well as recycling and economical mass production.

Squid is a strange marine inhabitant, it is easy to be mistaken for a creature from outer space. In addition to its dexterous tentacles, jet propulsion, high intelligence (for mollusks) and disturbing human eyes, squid, like other cephalopods, has the ability to change color instantaneously.

In order to avoid predators or prey or as a way of communication, the squid changes its color pattern. It does this very quickly, almost as if it had a built-in digital display. In fact, it achieves this feat through so-called "chromophores.". These are special cysts containing pigment particles in animal skin. By twisting the sacs with muscles, the squid can change its translucency, reflexivity, or opacity.

Using this as a model, the UC Irvine team came up with a composite material that regulates heat rather than transferring pigment. The material, made of polymers and metals, can be reconfigured to reflect more or less heat, depending on the amount of pressure applied to it.

"The metal islands in our composites are adjacent to each other when the material is relaxed, become separated as the material is stretched and allow control of the reflection and transmission or heat dissipation of infrared light. This mechanism is similar to the expansion and contraction of chromophores in squid skin, which changes the reflection and transmission of visible light," Gorodetsky said

But it's not just the material that's smart, but the team's efforts to make it work from a business and environmental perspective. By coating copper on an aluminum substrate and spraying a multilayer polymer, the new material can be produced in any roll size, with economies of scale reducing costs to about $0.1 per square meter, the researchers said.

In addition, the team says the film can be used for everything from coffee cups to handbags to shipping containers, with the advantage of adjustable insulation so that people can quickly bring their cocoa to a drinkable temperature. In addition, by removing metals and reusing the remaining polymers, these materials can be recycled using traditional commercial methods.

Up to now, this material has been tested in the form of coffee cup, which achieves 20 times of infrared radiation transmission modulation and 30 times of heat flow intensity regulation under standardized test conditions. In addition, the material can well withstand repeated mechanical cycles under compression.

Gorodetsky said: "This material has a lot of applications. Think about all the perishable items that were sent to people's homes during the pandemic. Any package that needs temperature control sent by Amazon or other companies can use lining made of our squid inspired adaptive composite. Now we can make large sheets of material at once, and we have many ways to make our lives It's something you can benefit from. "