Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Nanotech Clothing Fabric 'Never Gets Wet'

The new fabric strongly repels water thanks to nanoscale filaments with a spiky structure (Image: University of Zurich/Wiley Vch)

From New Scientist:

If you were to soak even your best raincoat underwater for two months it would be wet through at the end of the experience. But a new waterproof material developed by Swiss chemists would be as dry as the day it went in.

Lead researcher Stefan Seeger at the University of Zurich says the fabric, made from polyester fibres coated with millions of tiny silicone filaments, is the most water-repellent clothing-appropriate material ever created.

Drops of water stay as spherical balls on top of the fabric (see image, right) and a sheet of the material need only be tilted by 2 degrees from horizontal for them to roll off like marbles. A jet of water bounces off the fabric without leaving a trace (see second image).

Read more ....

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