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Post by plutronus on Apr 27, 2016 18:33:24 GMT -6
From: www.wirelessdesignmag.com/news/2016/04/drone-week-how-air-force-plans-develop-shape-shifting-uavsArchived: 04-27-2016 Drone of the Week Tue, 04/26/2016 - 11:17am by Sarah Goncalves, Associate Editor - EDN Mag The United States Air Force (USAF) is pursuing the development of a miniature drones that can transform from flying aircraft into underwater vehicles. A step in that direction, Cornell University researchers have created a new composite material consisting of both silicone and metal, resulting in a kind of “morphing” material that the USAF wants to integrate into the wings of small aircraft. See Movie & photos of nano-materials being developed... At low temperatures, the metallic properties of the composite prevail, making it rigid and strong. But when heated to 144 degrees Fahrenheit, the composite melts, causing the resulting foam to become soft and elastic. At this point, the composite can be molded into new shapes that will hold (without any loss in strength) once it cools back down. More photos... "[The drone] can fly through the air, then shorten its wings and dive into the water. Without this ability its wings would break,” Ilse Van Meerbeek, a Cornell graduate student, told Live Science. Researchers created the composite (with USAF funding) by dipping the silicone foam into the molten metal and then placing it into a vacuum, which filled the foam’s pores with the metal as the air was removed. In addition to shape-shifting, the composite can self-heal; if two pieces are heated next to each other, the metals will melt and fuse together with only a slight loss in mechanical strength.
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Post by patsbox7 on May 1, 2016 5:14:59 GMT -6
So they finally re-created that sheet of foil they found at roswell? Great... Just what we need, reverse engineered grey technology drones shape-shifting flying and swimming around everywhere. Of course they are releasing these things out right when my state legalized weed. The pilots will get a real kick out of stocking the stoners with morphing metallic bat mobiles that pop out of the lake.
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