IT House reported on December 22 that a professor at Zhejiang University was inspired by a polar bear's thick sweaterMimicking the "core-shell" structure of polar bear hair, ultra-warm man-made fibers have been created.
The project was led by Bai Hao, a professor at the School of Chemical Engineering and Biological Engineering, Zhejiang University, and Gao Weiwei, an associate professor from the Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, and the entire project development lasted 6 yearsThe results were published in the journal Science on December 22.
Research schematic diagram (**Bai Hao research group) This ultra-warm man-made fiber not only has the thermal insulation function of traditional thermal insulation materials, but also can "block" the infrared rays that the human body radiates outward, greatly improving the mechanical properties such as tensile resistance, and can be directly woven to truly realize the aerogel worn on the body.
The picture on the left shows the microstructure of polar bear hairThe microstructure of the bionic polar bear hair on the right is a polymer aerogel with long pores about 10-30 microns in diameter, arranged in the same direction, like a "warehouse" for storing airAt the same time, a TPU (thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer) shell encloses the aerogel inside.
A "challenge" for warmth in various clothing fabrics
The new fiber is washable, will not shrink after washing, and the warmth effect is still the same
Schematic diagram of the design of the bionic polar bear fur The researchers tested it in a constant temperature cold storage at minus 20 degrees Celsius in a school cafeteria, and after a few minutes, the surface of the cotton sweater rose to 108. The surface temperature of the down jacket rises to 38℃。
And the thickness is close to that of a wool sweater, and the surface of the "polar bear sweater", which is only about one-third to one-fifth of the down jacket, only rises to 35. The less the temperature rises, the less heat loss the human body, and this material beats other "opponents".
IT Home attaches ** Reference Address: Mingrui Wu et al,biomimetic, knittable aerogel fiber for thermal insulation textile.science382,1379-1383(2023).
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