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Nanotech Paints For Military
pmacwill wrote to us with a recent article on Pennet in regards to the U.S. military's proposed use of nanotech paints. Actually, it goes beyond proposal -- and beyond paint, as it would allow vehicles to change camo patterns very easily, and would also repair micro-cracks and fractures without the need for service.
Army researchers eye nanomachine-based 'smart' paints for combat vehicles
by John Keller
PICATINNY ARSENAL, N.J. -- U.S. Army experts are trying to embed microscopic electromechanical machines in paint that could detect and heal cracks and corrosion in the bodies of combat vehicles, as well as give vehicles the chameleon-like quality of rapidly altering camouflage to blend in with changing operating environments.
Officials of the Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command's Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center (TACOM-ARDEC) at Picatinny Arsenal, N.J., are working with scientists at the New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark, N.J., to develop nanotechnology-based "smart" coatings for Army vehicles and other materiel.
Unlike today's paint coatings on battlefield vehicles, Army experts seek to develop paints with the ability to self-correct because of changing circumstances and tell the user of potential anomalies such as corrosion or adhesion problems.
Today's conventional paints are labor intensive to apply, and potentially hazardous to the people working with them, Army officials say. In addition, most of these coatings need to be touched-up by hand, which can hide damage to the metal or other substrate material.
As a result, Army leaders estimate the total cost for U.S. Department of Defense corrosion-related problems at $10 billion per year -- $2 billion of which is related to painting and paint-scraping operations.
To rectify these problems experts from Picatinny and the New Jersey Institute of Technology plan to develop a prototype paint with nanomachine powders consisting of tiny machines that act as gears, motors, and electronic switches at the atomic level.
These "smart" paints should be able to alert maintenance technicians of potential problems with the coating, in addition to modifying their physical characteristics on command.
These future "smart" coatings will involve far more, however, than simply brushing on paint from a can, points out Joe Agento, program integration manager at the TACOM-ARDEC Industrial Ecology Center at Picatinny Arsenal.
"Rather than paints, we are talking about coatings, which could be electroplated, or put on with physical vapor deposition qualities. We are talking about more things than paints. They could be metallic or have other qualities," Agento says.
"We're trying to prototype a coating to replace the primers and top coats we use today, and develop a one-system coating that incorporates nanomachines within the coating itself," says Laura Battista, environmental engineer at the Industrial Ecology Center.
"Now we are looking at the first stage -- a coating with nanomachines," Battista says. "We want to determine what the nanomachines are that we need; we still have to determine what that nanomachine would be -- switches, motors, or gears -- to allow the coating to change on command."
Vehicle operators might quickly change the camouflage paint scheme on vehicles with "smart" coatings with an electrical impulse, Battista explains. "What we hope this coating can do is amazing. We're also looking at making it seem invisible."
Researchers will begin by determining what the properties of a "smart" coating would be. Later, researchers would develop a prototype, before applying the coating to a tank or other Army vehicle, Battista says.
A prototype "smart" coating may be developed as early as 2005, she says. "Once you already have the properties of the coating, such as the camouflage properties, we hope that changing the camouflage is as simple as changing pixels in the coating; it shouldn't be that difficult," she says.
Assuming that researchers receive the necessary funding, Battista speculates that "smart" coatings might be deployed with active combat forces sometime between 2005 and 2009.
Military & Aerospace Electronics October, 2002
Author(s) : John Keller
John
I'd be more interested in the medical uses ... fix cracks and clogs in the ole arteries, etc.
I'm waiting for nanotech tattoo ink. Illustrated Man, here we come.
Needless to say, I was rather befuddled on the benefits of really small pants to the Army.
But what about the automotive industry? Where planned obsolesence will no longer work if this technology is introduced? Sure it's military technology now, but in a few years, it'll trickle into the main stream... and then what? Are the cars of the future going to come with a monthly service fee? Cuz right now planned obsolesence is what keeps them in the black... If I could buy a car that would fix itself for years to come, I would. Why buy a new one every 3-5 years as we're required to now since all the damn parts break...
---
Programming is like sex... Make one mistake and support it the rest of your life.
He is on the executive board of this project at Rice University over in the United States.
They're working on similar studies and experiments, and have been doing so since the late 1990s. From what I hear, it's going quite well and the funding is just extraordinary these days now that Republicans are in control of U.S. government policies these days.
Department of Physics and Atmospheric Science, Dalhousie University, Halifax, N.S., Canada, B3H 3J5
Ok, pure speculation here. Wouldn't a military vehicle buzzing with nanomachines likely give off some sort of electroic signature that would be easy to detect? Just a question. I'm sure there are ways around it.
tcd004
What would you do with your own Oil company?
It's the dream of every geek and habitual speeder out there: car paint jobs that change at the tap of a button.
;-)
If the paint is active as well, I'd like to see how well it does combating rust 24/7.
Imagine...driving along and you decide you want a red car...or maybe a black car...or how about zebra stripes.
Or maybe a lot of huge rust spots, for when you're asking for money
...
Having been in the military and ground units on the R&D side of the house, its goes with out saying anything that is of an increased technical difficulty is more prone to failure and less likely to be repaired in a combat environment. Second what to say that this technology couldnt be easily detected over a regular paint job. We're assuming that sensors are dealing with the visible light spectrum, I'm sure these gems would send off thier own display of some sort. Given that maybe this is the answer to friendly fire?
If they're electrically powered, then, yes, there'd be EM radiation.
If they're chemically powered, the only people who could see them would be environmentalists.
What's this Submit thingy do?
Soon we will have transformer type vehicules that I have dreamed about
Of course, if these machines could be hacked, just imagine all the fun and mayhem that could be caused...
"Soldier, look at your tank, that's not camoflauge!"
soldier turns and reads on the now hot pink armour: "you've been H4x0red by Cowboy Neal"
"The large print giveth, and the small print taketh away" -Tom Waits
Heaven help the crew of the first tank to have its nano-tech coating go BSOD.
Of course...I believe the Army has the same motto...save for the global search and replace of Green for Gray
duct tape and cuddlefish
Okay...four but who's counting?
iastor
"Remember your weapon was made by the lowest bidder."
My God, people, *we* *have* *gone* *too* *far*.
Well, the Navy's current favourite paint-replacement is the applique, basically like a plastic wallpaper for planes and ships. Pretty easy to apply, very good weight advantages (paint can account for 800 lbs. on an average fighter because of all the repaints). 'Course, they haven't figured out how to get it off completely yet...the last I saw the scheme was to use lasers and dry ice to alternately heat and cool the applique until it basically flaked off.
Humph. Lasers and dry ice. Throw in a couple of dancers and you could sell tickets."What we hope this coating can do is amazing. We're also looking at making it seem invisible." . . . A prototype "smart" coating may be developed as early as 2005, she says.
I'm always unimpressed with this sort of "news". Of course what they hope it can do is amazing! And a lot of things "may" happen as early as 2005. But is there anything that indicates that they're making real progress? This is like a not-very-detailed grant proposal, in press release form.
To hear about cool things that one might do with nanotech, you're better off browsing the science fiction section of your local bookstore.
All of those operations are performed by 'lowly' soldiers. ;)
Actually, they aren't anymore. Army vehicles must be painted with CARC (Chemical Agent Resistant Coating) paint, which is very hazardous to apply and generally is only applied by contractors or at the depot (like the one where I work). Big, special sealed paint booths are required to CARC paint a vehicle. This is why painting stuff is so expensive.
Of course, this could mean labor problems at the depot and with contractors, but that only affects civilians.
Unless they work up a nanopaint formula that's meant to be applied to rocks in the company area, soldiers will have plenty of painting to do for the forseeable future.
I know this because Tyler knows this.
A long time ago (1986 or so) I worked for a summer at the Night Vision Electro-optics lab at Ft. Belvoir, Maryland. The topic of study was infrared camouflage.
Visual camouflage works by fooling your eye into thinking the object is part of the background. This is done by breaking up profile, matching background colors, and various other tricks.
The same problem exists in the infrared, except you have the additional wrinkle of controlling IR emission (just like carrying around a flashlight blows visual camouflage).
IR happens to be a useful wavelength for detection, because it readily propagates through the atmosphere without loss (over 99% transmission, with exception of two frequencies near 2500 and 25000 where water absorbs and another absorbion band for CO2), and because most objects radiate it (e.g., people, sunlight on the hood of a vehicle, engines, leading edges on wingtips. etc.).
In the 2500 - 25000 nanometer range, to match up with the forested/vegetation background in Maryland, we needed to duplicate the chlorophyl curve, which is the dominant background emission spectra. And, pretty much, they were able to do so, with some expensive nets and other mechanisms. They were trying for an integrated visual/IR/radar camouflage system (the radar folks worked in the same lab).
It's very interesting to read about these paints, since this appears to be the first reasonably viable mechanism for achieving this. They would need a chlorophyl pattern for vegetated regions, a desert pattern for deserts, etc. They would also still need to baffle and reduce IR exhaust, since paint won't help camouflage heated air or hot gun barrels.
The mechanisms previewed so far in the literature (electromechanical gears, electroptical properties) wouldn't likely generate much signature, if any. However, there might be some operation characteristic (e.g., power on) that could be detected with a SQUID (superconducting quantum interference device). However, the SQUID would pick up the spark plugs in the tank long before the electronic signals to the paint.
--Adam
"Invincibility is in oneself, vulnerability in the opponent." --Sun Tzu
See, therein lies the problem. The paradigm has changed, and the military needs to change with it.
Who cares if your chobham armour can shrug off 120 mm rounds, if the attack isn't coming from a T-80, but rather from a child who is willing to sacrifice their life to smuggle a small container of nerve gas into your bivouac?
Or, put another way, ask the Soviets how much help their tank armour was when they invaded Afghanistan.
Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
The sci-fi books have little bloodwork nanobots, star-trek-like replicators, and other, well, sci-fi uses. The only Real World application I've heard of before this was arrays of nanomirrors on microscopic rotors, and I don't know if that made it past the prototype stage.
This is real work. The army likes to throw money at a technology problem until it is solved. That probably means a real solution will come of this. And that's why this is News for Nerds, etc, and not just another sci-fi proposal.
John
Prototype by 2005? I doubt that. They admit to not even knowing what types of nanotech "gears and switches" they are going to need, let alone how to hook it all up to make the paint do what they want. How will they address individual pixels? How will they power it? Nanotech isn't magic, folks. As far as the military already having this technology, I doubt that too. Creating a coating with radar absorbing qualities is one thing, creating one that thinks and moves in a combat environment is entirely different.
Sounds like they've been smoking that "gotta spend our increased budget or lose it" crack.
One way to make color changing paint would be to create a grid of fins that could be moved closer together or farther apart. A butterflies wings are colored not with pigments, but with particles that have a gap sized to create interference cancelling out all but a specific wavelength of light. By adjusting the gap, maybe mechanically, maybe electrically, you could adjust the color.
Another way would be balls, with say 6 different spots of color on different sides. Rotate the ball to get different colors.
Another way would be pigment sacks, like a cuttlefish uses.
Now try to think about how to address all the pixels on, say, a tank, with any of those systems. Then think about how you would go about making a system like that self-repairing.
I would bet that by 2005 they have a prototype that looks bad, changes color slowly, fades quickly in sunlight, breaks down often, and doesn't self repair. They may have a working color changing paint by 2009, but I doubt they will get the self repairing bit down that soon.
Just thought about it a bit more. They may develop a self repairing undercoating which could fix small cracks in the metal or undercoating by reacting to oxidation and releasing a sealer or catalyst that would bond paint or metal It's making the color changing bit itself self repairing that sounds hard to me.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
John
Imagine connecting the nontech-based paint job to the vehicle's speedometer. As the vehicle moves, the camo pattern could scroll at the same speed in the opposite direction. In the proper environment, this could make the vehicle difficult to spot when moving, since the observer's eyes would be presented with data not normally present in nature.
Nothing for 6-digit uids?
No, in the Army we only salute people that we want snipers to hit. And it seems that people who want salutes are the ones we already want to salute...
I spent a year in Iraq looking for WMD and all I found was this lousy sig.