Silkworms Inspire Smart Materials 10
nachiketas writes "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 many different 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.' Their research could lead to lightweight armour that dissipates rather than deflects the particular components of a blast that do the most damage to the human body — much like crumple zones in modern cars or sound-absorbing sonar tiles that make submarines harder to detect."
Jane Russell inspires structural engineering. (Score:2)
Inspiration is where you look for it.
whew! (Score:1)
First they inspire a Chinese missile, now this?!? Is there NOTHING silkworms cannot do?
Silk uniforms? (Score:4, Insightful)
With blast absorbing crumple zones. Can't wait to see those on the battlefield/runway.
Re: (Score:2)
Silk was replaced by nylon nearly a century ago.
They're also good stir fried (Score:2)
Graphene? (Score:2)
Something tells me graphene is substantially closer to primetime for the suggested use cases (10-20 years off I suppose). Outside that I could maybe see the patterns being used by an exotic loom for existing kevlar or similar.