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New Coating Technology Promises Self-Cleaning Cars
Zothecula writes "Nissan's "Scratch Guard Coat" has been healing fine scratches on the company's cars for a few years now, and the technology has also made its way into an iPhone case. More recent developments have produced coatings to heal more substantial scratches and scrapes using nano-capsules. Now researchers at The Netherlands' Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) have developed a coating that is not only self-healing, but also promises to free car owners of the tiresome chore of washing the car ."
I just leave it out in the middle of a rain storm and it comes out shiny and clean!
...scientists at Nissan have discovered what they now call "Teflon". Updates to follow.
Teflon's a epic fail outdoors because it has zilch creep strength and dirt embeds itself into it, rapidly reducing its friction and electrical properties to that of dirt. Thats one reason (aside from cost) that no one uses teflon insulators for power line or antenna supports.
For obvious economic reasons, the "solution" to the surface filth is going to be deployed on HVDC power line insulators long before it'll be on cars, and even then what works for a mostly motionless insulator might not work on a car.
This is because the nano-sized molecular groups that provide these properties are easily and irreversibly damaged by minor contact with the surface on which they are applied.
Hmm not thinking road gravel at 75 mph is "minor contact". Even road salt and dust is pretty tough stuff. And windshield washer fluid. Heck just a frog-drowning rainstorm at 75 mph is pretty harsh.
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
You know, of course, that mankind's lazy desire for truly self-cleaning surfaces will be what leads us to destruction at the teeny, tiny, hands of the nanite plague...
Just a minor nanite-layer replication error and the next user to touch that self-cleaning toilet seat will be converted directly into a lemony-fresh slurry. It'll be all downhill from there.
What about self-cleaning teenager rooms?
2-cycle gas leafblower. House stank of engine oil for days. Boy did I get in trouble. Still hear about that one at family get togethers.
What happens when on the way to work, you tell a wanna be, engine revving teenage engineer he can't go out until the cat and dog fur tumbleweeds are vacuumed up? It actually worked pretty well other than blowing some pictures off the walls and pretty well terrifying the cats and dog.
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
One might say this could be offered as an upgrade, but wow, that would make selling the cars a nightmare (none would be on the lot and would have to come straight from the factory)
Why is that a problem? MINI already manufactures most cars to order, from color to different interior options. People do not mind waiting a month for a car if they can more fully customize it.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
It's the inside that's the problem!
It's the inside that's the problem!
It's the inside that's the problem!
Gosh! Money laying on the ground people.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
Just program it up to drive to the car wash, drive through it, and drive back home.
If Google adds functionality enabling it to pick up stuff at fast food drive-ins, we're all set for life.
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
That's why God gave us hand car wash places.
The one I got to has free wi-fi and vibrating recliners.
I did that only it was an electric leaf blower. It does work wonders on cleaning hardwood floors.
That ain't yellow. That's orange. The car beside the tractor trailer is yellow.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
This will never happen in the States.
The carwash political lobbyists and Unite Carwash Labor Employees of America Now! (UCLEAN) will bury this technology.
Look what happened to the 100mpg ICE engine.
Won't somebody think of the car wash towels dryers!!
I'm wondering if this technology might be used on my brother-in-law.
Or an old toyota.
We used to go a lot faster than that on the back roads when I was a kid. Not safe mind you, but lots of people do.
In the coming weeks lobbyists from the car wash industry, every organization that does a fund raiser car wash and probably from that guy on the street corner that will wash your entire car with Windex for $2 will be decrying this terrible innovation in auto paint. This stuff will lead to nano apocalypse, lost revenue and general dissatisfaction with life. Someone think of the children too!
also promises to free car owners of the tiresome chore of washing the car
Having children is also another way to accomplish this, albeit at much greater cost. Once I (and my siblings) turned 10, my parents never washed a vehicle again (until we left the house).
"Dad, can I watch TV?"
"No. Now go wash the car."
Better to just tell said teen that you've left a $100 check somewhere in there and they'll find it when they clean.
Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos
It may on your monitor, but for all the years it was on television the General Lee has always been orange, and never yellow. Vermillion I have no idea as it isn't a real color. (If it doesn't come in the 16 pack of Crayolas, it isn't a "real" color.)
"But this one goes to 11!"
It's been done.
In a libertarian utopia, this is the kind of vehicle you'd drive every day!
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
That market consists of men who want to watch girls in bikini's get lathered up and sprayed down.
Spray paint doesn't attract dust. Dust sticks to it before it dries. If you don't clear coat it afterwards, the rough texture will make dust stick to it a bit more easily as well.
And the paint matching problem is why a lot of off-road trucks are painted plain black with plain brush-on metal paint. To fix it, you just paint on more black and it all looks the same. It's a very practical coating but it looks dull and rough and won't attract the ladies.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
what about:
- dead bugs
- tree sap
- particles of hot patch
there is no possible way to keep these things from sticking. These things require physical scraping and nasty solvents to remove, even from a brand new shiny slick paint finish.
Cats always had self cleaning technology. Are they adopting it for car use? Would it mean the car could cough up dirt balls?
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
They coated the outside of the laptop with it, giving it a slightly rubbery/felt-like texture. Whereas regular plastic laptop lids picked up scratches from being slid in and out of cases, on the Thinkpad you could simply rub these scratches out. Dunno of Lenovo still uses it. I first learned of it when I complained to a friend that my Thinkpad had picked up a lot of scratches over the years. He told me about the coating, so I spent about 15 minutes rubbing and it looked nearly as good as new.
I mention this before the Apple fans start claiming Apple "pioneered" the use of such coatings in computers.
What I really want to know is will this technology work to keep the kid's car seats clean? And all other objects within 3 feet? And maybe the kids themselves? FYI, leaving the kids out in a rain storm does not leave them shiny and clean. Um, so I hear.
Also the article has no info on the UV/chemical resistance of this coating, or how often it would have to be reapplied. Where are the details?
It will kill the summer time tradition of girls having a "bikini car wash". Oh the humanity!
I live in a farm, I have to drive miles and miles of dirt road to get to the nearest tarmac pavement thoroughfare
The biggest "dirt" on my car are DIRT itself - that is, soil and mud, caking on the side and beneath of my car
As they dried, they got hard
Even if I stray them off, they still leave the reddish stain behind
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
I'm wondering why no one makes a 'dimpled' car, a la Mythbusters. Seem like a good idea for a fiberglass 'kit car' manufacturer.
I just let my car remain dirty. In addition to being easier, this leaves a protective layer of dirt covering the paint film. (I do remove bird droppings, however)
acid rain could help, maybe the dude lives in china.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
and ask how many people are employed in a carwash worldwide ?
Free speech was meant to be free for all... how can anyone grow up in a nanny state ?