Scratch Build – In Progress Project HELIOS - Mod or Materials Sciences Class - You Decide - 4.27.11

@Ang3l - Thank you for the very high praise man (and I'm loving your work these days BTW).


*I forgot to add the result:

RESULT - Each of the 6panels used to construct Helios contains 718,800,000 individual 42" long fibers - each approximately 1/50,000th the width of a human hair and each with a strength of about 48,000 kN·m·kg−1 (High carbon steel is rated about 154 kN·m·kg−1)

The panels are as close to the physical embodiment of indestructible that any man could ever hope to see.

 

Only question I can think of... after I came out of my brain lock from reading the panel construction. the part I raised an eyebrow to was how brittle the stuff is, the Aerogel. As shown in the vid. But considering the compression factor given. Just what in the hell are you up to with this stuf lol!

 

My favourite wood build to date!!! Great work!



edit: I've just been put straight by Mankz on the wood! either way it looks brilliant!

 

Yeah forgive me, I just went back and read the materials list!!!!!!!

 

I'm curious as to the texture and look in real life Langer

It looks like its almost got a wood like grain structure, is this quite obvious in real life? And is the finish out of the mould nice and smooth or are there notable fissures between the grain?

I also guess that milling of it would be similar to milling a block of lexan or polycarbonate or the like?

 

yeah i agree, this is AMAZING! :O

 

will this thing go into space or something? very interesting concept and really exotic material-wise...

 

@LooseNeutral - Secrets I'm afraid.

@Kojak - You've been told so I'll let it slide. Haha. Thanks for posting mate.

@Mankz - Thanks for looking out Mankz. Below you'll see a set of pictures which better illustrates the surface texture on the panels.

@Nitrixflare - Much obliged mate.

@Gtek - One can never be too certain. Thank you for posting.

I've been asked quite a bit about it, so I've uploaded some images of the surface of the panels.

It's very hard to capture... but the 'woodgrain' effect you see on pieces labeled "current" is still very much visible through the "final" texture, but the camera has a hard time picking it up.







That's all for now, I'll be back soon with progress updates.
Stay classy.

*j

 

SO it turns out making large aerogel monoliths is an incredible challenge in engineering, patience, and chemistry.

I can make little beads and small pieces all day long... I'd even go so far as to say I have the 'gel' making process down to an art. BUT, Manufacturing the large chunks I envision is proving somewhat unobtainable... but I'm getting through it.

The process of making Aerogel with any level of precision or clarity requires a pressure vessel (called a supercritical dryer) which can handle about 75bar, or about 1000psi. And if you know anything about pressure tanks, a 1000psi is one hell-of-a feat.

This has not phased me however... I've been endeavorering to acquire the necessary materials to build my own "supercritical dryer". My design features an internal area large enough to allow the creation of parts 26"x10"x2". Bare with me on that front as it needs extreme care and caution - else it will become a very impressive bomb.

Also, I've gone through about a grand worth of chemicals now, and I'm awaiting another delivery of the base elements which go-into creating this magnificent material.

=)

Since the Aerogel is taking longer than expected...

I'll let you in on the next step

...LEDs are so 2010.

I decree that 2011 be the year of radioactive isotope case lighting!


Various pieces of custom formed Tritium as well as off the shelf tritium inserts will be the illumination feature for Helios.

Tritium requires no "charging" and glows entirely passively without the need for power or electricity of any kind.

Gun buffs may have seen this stuff before in high-end tactical sights.


Read more on the stuff here: http://www.mbmicrotec.com

 

The DHS and the FBI are watching you. That last post had enough keywords to make a hippie nervous.

 

Quote " is proving somewhat unobtainable..." So you're building your case from Unobtanium?

 

I command you to stop being awesome, so that the rest of us can keep some dignity.

 

I'm thinking about doing Composite materials myself on my next build! Interesting Log to read so far, cant wait to see the manufacturing process of all the composite materials.

 

oooooooooooooooooo urghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh aaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh yessssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

that be sex wee arriving!

is that a horrid 75bar pneumatic pressure, please say its hydraulic because pneumatics over 10 bar get me a little twitchy since the accident at uni.....

lets just say some numpty near me read a pressure gauge wrong when using an airline on his bicycle, and i ended up with ear ache, brown trousers and bleeding from bits of rubber and rim. He on the other hand, broke fingers and took most of the impact as 147 PSI escaped from the tyre in a split second. Thank god it blew at 10bar, and didn't reach his target of '50' which would have been deadly.

 

wow, you sir are insane !

 

@stonesurd - Not a problem, I'm their go-to guy when it comes to applied UX innoovation.

@amagriva - I'll admit it's starting to feel more like and advanced chemistry class than it does a shop project.

@jrs77 - Haha, thanks... I think.

@Cleveland - If you have any questions, feel free to throw me an email.

@Burnout21 - I'll quote you my recipe so you can get a better idea of the process:

@Dark~3nergy - Thanks man, I've been getting that a lot these days.

Thanks to everyone for reading, posting, helping, and the general community support.
As always, I'm moved.

Tune in soon.

*j

 

I expect someone to ask why Im only building the tank for 75bar if the recipe calls for 100...

Because from a manufacturing stand point going from 75 to 100 is like Rush cranking it to 11.

SO I'm going to use a pipe wrapping technology to wrap the dryer with a Kevlar reinforcement tape used for pressure vessels on airplanes and the such. Luckily I know a guy who knows a guy.

I understand that this will be more than adequate... either way I don't plan on being anywhere near this whole process. I'm going to make the dryer Android powered and leave an N1 to run the system from afar.

Safety first... and as it happens I have a little robot remote presence -on sale soon, haha- which can check on things for me (yeah, I know... the geek factor has been ramped up lately).

*j

 

It would be safer to have this super critical dryer outside in a steel cage. so if it goes off the pressure can rapidly dissipate into an infinite volume of space with the steel cage trying to minimize the crap flying around. I would also have said assembly in a pit with the pit walls at a 30 degree incline, with a drop of 1 meter from ground height to the top of the assembly therefore in the event of pressure failure all energy is deflected upwards.


1 bar is one atmosphere as you know, so the size of the container verses the size of the room its in can rapidly become very dangerous.

case in point.

said container measures 1 Cubic metre in a room that is 20 cubic metres. The container is then pressurized to 100 bar.

Failure occurs spreading that pressure of 100 bar into the room 20 times bigger than the container, which in turn raises the atmospheric pressure of the room to ~5 bar until it finds the path of least resistance out of the room by means of taking out a window or door. If you are in the room then expect burst ear drums, and there is potential for lung injuries. I've even heard of people losing teeth.

 

Will be on the look out for this project...impressive amount of work ahead and the end result should be amazing. I see your in Canada where do you get your CF?