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05-07-2015, 01:27 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-07-2015, 01:32 PM by JohnnyYesterday.)
I've made reference to
SLIPS in a couple of my recent EG updates, but I neglected to post it to here, where more people could see how cool it is.
Summed up, it's a durable, self-healing, hyper-slippery, transparent surface coating that repels virtually all contaminants. It's like something from science fiction.
The
commercial site has better videos of it in action than the Harvard pages. One of them shows
liquid asphalt falling off of a coated object like water off of a waterfowl's back.
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I'm thinking about writing an EG on this technology, but I should probably give it another name like OELLS (omniphobic entrained liquid lubricant surface), since it looks like they turned SLIPS into a trademark. Obviously the real deal would be linked to in the EG's footnotes.
Thoughts?
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Perhaps come at it in a more general way with an article on 'omniphobic materials' and then include mention of SLIPS as an early example and then going on to describe 'future' developments in the OA timeline, including the ability to turn the effect on an off.
Transapient transfer plane tech can do something like this in a controlled and adjustable fashion, changing the slipperiness of a surface from virtually zero (or even super sticky) to virtually frictionless and hyper slippery in a fraction of a second. But modo tech versions might be able to do similar things on a slower timescale or operate like SLIPS across an even wider array of environments or the like.
Just some thoughts,
Todd
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Certain types of utility liquid should be able to perform most of these functions and change shape as well. Utility liquid consists of specialised utiility fog immersed in a liquid; if this liquid has qualities comparable to the liquid in SLIPS, then a mass of utility liquid could have a frictionless surface. The utility fog could extrude geckotech manipulators to grip onto surfaces which need to be secured as necessary.
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Great idea, Steve.
This removes one of the limitations of the technology in its simplest form: it can't be used on hard, continuous floors, or the bottom of shoes/feet, because friction is required for terrestrial locomotion.
