Are you hot or cold? Sometimes it is very difficult to adjust the amount of warm clothing to our needs. If you go outside with little clothing, it will probably suddenly start to get cold. On the other hand, if you decide to dress warmly, the high temperatures will force you to spend the day with a jacket in hand. So the best option is usually the onion style: layered. The problem is that in certain environments this very uncomfortable. For example, when skiing, wearing too much clothing can make it difficult to move. In general, with all winter sports. One piece of clothing with fabric that adapts to temperature. And this can be possible thanks to squid.
These animals have ability to change your color depending on where they are. This may seem to have nothing to do with tissue adaptation to temperature. However, a group of scientists from University of California, Irvine, He saw a way to develop the first in order to obtain the second.
It’s all about physics and play with light The difference is that squid play with visible light, while temperature-adapting tissue plays with infrared radiation.
Squids as a source of inspiration for scientists
Scientists have long known that observing nature can be the best source of inspiration for new materials. White pigments inspired by the beetle, stiffer and stronger materials following the principles of the mantis shrimp, fiber-based web… Everything is there, right under our noses, we just need to be able to look with the right eyes.
One of the animals that has inspired scientists the most is the squid. just like octopuses and cuttlefish. Your skin is a pearl of physics. It consists of many layers and organs called chromatophores which expand or contract to manipulate the reflection of light. This means that whoever looks at them sees different colors depending on the circumstances in which they find themselves. For example, they may camouflage themselves to match their surroundings or display threatening colors to a predator.
To understand this, we must remember that colors do not exist as such. our eyes interpret colors depending on the light that reaches them. Surfaces absorb certain wavelengths of light and reflect others. The latter, those that are reflected, reach our eyes to be processed and turned into a signal is sent to the brain. This color signal depends on the photopigments present in the retina. They vary between species and even among individuals of the same species. This is why we don’t all see the same colors.
If an animal can change its surface, it makes sense that the light it absorbs and the light it reflects will be different. That’s what they do squid and octopus. That’s exactly what the inventors of thermo-adaptive fabric did.
Fabric that adapts to temperature and stops dressing like an onion.
When people get hot, some of this heat is released as infrared radiation. This is exactly what the famous thermal cameras are responsible for detecting the presence of people.
Knowing this, scientists asked themselves a question. What would happen if the amount of heat produced could be changed by changing this radiation, just as a squid changes visible radiation? Although the goal is radically different, the mechanism may be very similar.
They got to work and developed polymer coated with copper islands which compress or expand depending on the external temperature. This changes the way infrared radiation is reflected so that more or less heat is lost, depending on needs.
It is logical that a fabric that adapts to temperature should be breathing. Therefore, holes were made in the polymer. It also had to be able easy to wash. To do this, it was covered with a very thin and easily washable film. None of the modifications changed its adaptability once attached to the tissues tested.
There’s still more testing to be done, but it looks like we’re not too far away from wearing temperature-adaptive clothing. We already have thermal underwear or clothing with a cold effect, but it is suitable for both cold and hot weather. And all thanks to the squid.
Source: Hiper Textual
