Friday, August 1, 2008

Nanotech finds a home in defense applications

By Brendan Lynch

Researchers at local universities are working on tiny technologies they hope will pay big dividends for soldiers in the field — including a smart uniform that could tell medical personnel if a soldier has been wounded and a device that could give soldiers the power of invisibility.

At MIT’s Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies, researchers are working on a fiber that detects light or heat. The fiber could be used to make a smart fabric capable of detecting the warmth of blood hitting it and relaying that information to medics to shorten the time it takes to treat a wounded soldier, according to John Joannopoulos, the institute’s director. The smart fabric would not only tell doctors if a soldier has been wounded, but how many times and where, Joannopoulos said.

“Our goal is to make the poor soldier more comfortable and live longer,” he said.

At the University of Massachusetts Lowell, researchers are working on developing metamaterials which refract light negatively — something no natural material can do. Such materials could be used to make higher-resolution microscopes that could image molecules, or to make a device that could render a soldier invisible to the naked eye, according to George Kachen, director of research and technology development at the school’s Center for High-Rate Nanomanufacturing.

Also in the works is a project involving structural integrity. If a structural material — bridge columns, soldier’s helmets, body armor plates — could be laced with nanosensors, those sensors could tell a remote handheld probe about otherwise undetectable weak points, Kachen said. The research involves adding nanocomponents to commercial plastics and extruding them into dog-bone-shaped pieces that get pulled, bent and heated in characterization tests, he said.

Back at MIT, Christine Ortiz studied the scales of the Polypterus senegalus, or dinosaur eel, an “armored” fish native to Senegal. Individual scales on the fish contain nanoscale layers arranged in such a way that the fish can withstand biting attacks from predators — attacks Ortiz’ team simulated in a lab on an individual fish scale. Ortiz said the research could apply anywhere multiple layers of material could be used to make a flexible, durable material, such as the automotive industry, construction and defense. Ortiz’ research will be shared with Army researchers who would use it to develop a practical — and classified — application. “I wouldn’t know if they use it or not,” she said.