Nanotech Paints For Military 370
pmacwill wrote to us with a recent article on Pennet in regards to the U.S. military's proposed use of nanotech paints. Actually, it goes beyond proposal -- and beyond paint, as it would allow vehicles to change camo patterns very easily, and would also repair micro-cracks and fractures without the need for service.
Because you know they're going to get slashdotted (Score:5, Informative)
by John Keller
PICATINNY ARSENAL, N.J. -- U.S. Army experts are trying to embed microscopic electromechanical machines in paint that could detect and heal cracks and corrosion in the bodies of combat vehicles, as well as give vehicles the chameleon-like quality of rapidly altering camouflage to blend in with changing operating environments.
Officials of the Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command's Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center (TACOM-ARDEC) at Picatinny Arsenal, N.J., are working with scientists at the New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark, N.J., to develop nanotechnology-based "smart" coatings for Army vehicles and other materiel.
Unlike today's paint coatings on battlefield vehicles, Army experts seek to develop paints with the ability to self-correct because of changing circumstances and tell the user of potential anomalies such as corrosion or adhesion problems.
Today's conventional paints are labor intensive to apply, and potentially hazardous to the people working with them, Army officials say. In addition, most of these coatings need to be touched-up by hand, which can hide damage to the metal or other substrate material.
As a result, Army leaders estimate the total cost for U.S. Department of Defense corrosion-related problems at $10 billion per year -- $2 billion of which is related to painting and paint-scraping operations.
To rectify these problems experts from Picatinny and the New Jersey Institute of Technology plan to develop a prototype paint with nanomachine powders consisting of tiny machines that act as gears, motors, and electronic switches at the atomic level.
These "smart" paints should be able to alert maintenance technicians of potential problems with the coating, in addition to modifying their physical characteristics on command.
These future "smart" coatings will involve far more, however, than simply brushing on paint from a can, points out Joe Agento, program integration manager at the TACOM-ARDEC Industrial Ecology Center at Picatinny Arsenal.
"Rather than paints, we are talking about coatings, which could be electroplated, or put on with physical vapor deposition qualities. We are talking about more things than paints. They could be metallic or have other qualities," Agento says.
"We're trying to prototype a coating to replace the primers and top coats we use today, and develop a one-system coating that incorporates nanomachines within the coating itself," says Laura Battista, environmental engineer at the Industrial Ecology Center.
"Now we are looking at the first stage -- a coating with nanomachines," Battista says. "We want to determine what the nanomachines are that we need; we still have to determine what that nanomachine would be -- switches, motors, or gears -- to allow the coating to change on command."
Vehicle operators might quickly change the camouflage paint scheme on vehicles with "smart" coatings with an electrical impulse, Battista explains. "What we hope this coating can do is amazing. We're also looking at making it seem invisible."
Researchers will begin by determining what the properties of a "smart" coating would be. Later, researchers would develop a prototype, before applying the coating to a tank or other Army vehicle, Battista says.
A prototype "smart" coating may be developed as early as 2005, she says. "Once you already have the properties of the coating, such as the camouflage properties, we hope that changing the camouflage is as simple as changing pixels in the coating; it shouldn't be that difficult," she says.
Assuming that researchers receive the necessary funding, Battista speculates that "smart" coatings might be deployed with active combat forces sometime between 2005 and 2009.
Military & Aerospace Electronics October, 2002
Author(s) : John Keller
Re:Because you know they're going to get slashdott (Score:5, Funny)
Of course...I believe the Army has the same motto...save for the global search and replace of Green for Gray
Re:Because you know they're going to get slashdott (Score:5, Funny)
No, in the Army we only salute people that we want snipers to hit. And it seems that people who want salutes are the ones we already want to salute...
Re:Because you know they're going to get slashdott (Score:3, Funny)
"[...] it shouldn't be that difficult," she says.
Famous last words.
Re:Because you know they're going to get slashdott (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm always unimpressed with this sort of "news". Of course what they hope it can do is amazing! And a lot of things "may" happen as early as 2005. But is there anything that indicates that they're making real progress? This is like a not-very-detailed grant proposal, in press release form.
To hear about cool things that one might do with nanotech, you're better off browsing the science fiction section of your local bookstore.
Re:Because you know they're going to get slashdott (Score:5, Interesting)
The sci-fi books have little bloodwork nanobots, star-trek-like replicators, and other, well, sci-fi uses. The only Real World application I've heard of before this was arrays of nanomirrors on microscopic rotors, and I don't know if that made it past the prototype stage.
This is real work. The army likes to throw money at a technology problem until it is solved. That probably means a real solution will come of this. And that's why this is News for Nerds, etc, and not just another sci-fi proposal.
Re:Because you know they're going to get slashdott (Score:3, Insightful)
Ever hear of DARPA? Ever use any of their inventions? (Hint: think Al Gore.)
DARPA (Score:3, Funny)
No, I never used Al Gore. They should have worked on him some more before releasing him.
Re:DARPA (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Because you know they're going to get slashdott (Score:5, Funny)
Well, the Navy's current favourite paint-replacement is the applique, basically like a plastic wallpaper for planes and ships. Pretty easy to apply, very good weight advantages (paint can account for 800 lbs. on an average fighter because of all the repaints). 'Course, they haven't figured out how to get it off completely yet...the last I saw the scheme was to use lasers and dry ice to alternately heat and cool the applique until it basically flaked off.
Humph. Lasers and dry ice. Throw in a couple of dancers and you could sell tickets.Re:Because you know they're going to get slashdott (Score:4, Informative)
Actually, they aren't anymore. Army vehicles must be painted with CARC (Chemical Agent Resistant Coating) paint, which is very hazardous to apply and generally is only applied by contractors or at the depot (like the one where I work). Big, special sealed paint booths are required to CARC paint a vehicle. This is why painting stuff is so expensive.
Of course, this could mean labor problems at the depot and with contractors, but that only affects civilians.
Unless they work up a nanopaint formula that's meant to be applied to rocks in the company area, soldiers will have plenty of painting to do for the forseeable future.
An Army Lives On Its Paperwork (Score:3, Interesting)
uses (Score:4, Interesting)
DURTA? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:uses (Score:4, Funny)
cool beans (Score:5, Funny)
Imagine a case mod of this (Score:3, Funny)
Re:cool beans (Score:5, Funny)
No more speeding tickets for me!!
Re:cool beans (Score:3, Informative)
Why?
Well, I'm definitely not speaking from experience, but wouldn't radar-sucking paint have a somewhat non-shiny appearance? I know with an 8 year old car, the paint is starting to show signs of age, and newer cars all look shinier. Somewhat better.
But I'll keep mine, and maybe suck up some radar along the way.
Re:cool beans (Score:3, Informative)
Re: cool beans (Score:3, Funny)
> actually, it's a combo of the paint, the material that the painted object is made out of and the angle of the object to the radar source that make it stealthy. Now a jammer, THERE's the ticket buster....
Just mount a coffee can on your fender, pack it full of shredded aluminum foil and gunpowder, wire your radar detector to set it off, and you can slip through the speed trap in a cloud of chaff.
Need to read slower... (Score:4, Funny)
Needless to say, I was rather befuddled on the benefits of really small pants to the Army.
Re:Need to read slower... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Need to read slower... (Score:4, Funny)
Whoa. Interesting. Just think of the advertisements for consumer products based on this:
Dockers Nanotech Pants: Because Women Want More From You
Re:Need to read slower... (Score:5, Funny)
Now I'll sit back and wait for somebody to spot the reference and correct any errors I made.
NOO!!! Nano paint (Score:2, Funny)
Magic structure-fixing paint? (Score:3, Insightful)
...? Does this sound... not right? I meen, yes, cosmeticly it would be repaired. But it would create structual week points. This could be a big danger to those inside under millitary conditions.
Re:Magic structure-fixing paint? (Score:2, Insightful)
In the article it sounds more like they want the 'paint' to alert the occupants and/or mechanics/technicians to structural problems rather than for it to make the repairs itself.
Re:Magic structure-fixing paint? (Score:3, Interesting)
Apparently, if struck by hard objects the paint "BLED". That is, the white paint turned blue under stress.
Tiny little blue dots on an airplane might just indicate that it had run into your average airborne items such as hailstones or birds, but larger blue splotches would be a visual clue that there was an impact to the plane that might warrent some attention.
I never heard if this paint went into full-time service or not, but this was many years ago that I heard about it.
Also reports it... (Score:2)
Invisibility cloak (Score:2, Insightful)
"Is that you or is it just a blurry lamppost?"
"What we hope this coating can do is amazing." (Score:2, Funny)
Sounds great (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Sounds great (Score:3, Insightful)
and also what cars are you driving that break down enough to warrant a new car every 3-5 years? I'm driving one of my families cars now, and the shortest we've had any car in my lifetime has been about 8 years--and most longer.
Re:Sounds great (Score:3, Funny)
In a few years? I bet we see spammers selling nanotech paint within a few weeks!
Legislation... (Score:2)
Environmentalists would like it, to reduce pollution. It would also force development of effecient recycling of complex devices, or development of easier-to-recycle devices.
Auto makers would like it, to gaurantee sales every so often.
Re:Sounds great (Score:5, Insightful)
Calm down, man, we're talking about paint that MIGHT be able to make repair cracks in the paint job. This is not going to keep your car working.
Sure it's military technology now, but in a few years, it'll trickle into the main stream... and then what?
No, it's not even military technology now... they are in the EARLY EARLY EARLY planning stages. You're looking at many years from now before this technology is available.
Cuz right now planned obsolesence is what keeps them in the black...
Strange, I thought selling cars for more than it cost to make them is what kept them in the black.
If I could buy a car that would fix itself for years to come, I would.
But you can't, so you won't.
Why buy a new one every 3-5 years as we're required to now since all the damn parts break...
fixing paint cracks != fixing cars
YIKES!
(I bet you don't even change your oil and oil filter every 3000 miles, do you? Then you wonder why your engine breaks down.)
Re:Sounds great (Score:3, Interesting)
Nope. Car manufacturers are in the business of selling parts. Give away the razor, sell the blades.
Many cars sell for less than what it costs to make them, Cavalier and Sunfire from the GM product line come to mind.
Re:Sounds great (Score:3, Insightful)
I know they are in the business of selling parts. They are also in the business of selling cars. They are also in the business of supplying car loans (most of the OEM's anyway).
Yet they stay in the black because they sell the cars for more than it costs to make them.
Many cars sell for less than what it costs to make them, Cavalier and Sunfire from the GM product line come to mind.
I don't doubt that some cars cost more than what they are sold for. My dad's got a Prius, which they are losing money on in the short term. But I seriously doubt "many" cars sell for less than what it costs to make them.
Re:Sounds great (Score:5, Informative)
Bottom line, the miliary wants lots of things, most of them would make a Sci-Fi author giggle.
- RustyTaco
Re:Sounds great (Score:3, Interesting)
As for destroying tanks, a far more deadly weapon would be small autonomous robots that swarm in by the hundreds...about the size of a baseball or so. They would be equipped with shaped charges.
Re:Sounds great (Score:2)
I hardly see that. I have an 8 year old Saturn that shows very few signs of slowing down as long as I keep up the maintenance on it. What seems to keep the car companies in the black from my perspective is people who can't stand to have anything that's out of date (gotta have the latest & greatest), or who think that 0% interest is reason enough to go in debt even though your car has another 5-10 years in it.
My brother is working on a similar project (Score:5, Interesting)
They're working on similar studies and experiments, and have been doing so since the late 1990s. From what I hear, it's going quite well and the funding is just extraordinary these days now that Republicans are in control of U.S. government policies these days.
electroic signture. (Score:5, Insightful)
tcd004
What would you do with your own Oil company? [lostbrain.com]
Depends on the construction of the device. (Score:4, Funny)
If they're chemically powered, the only people who could see them would be environmentalists.
Re:electroic signture. (Score:5, Interesting)
(I mean, it's not like they're going to have frequency-hopping strong crypto in the nano-paint. Right?
Re:electroic signture. (Score:3, Insightful)
What I'd be looking forward to is when they mount cameras on the bottom of the tank, then switch the nano paint on the roof to match. Voila! your vehical just became completely invisible from the air.
Re:electroic signture. (Score:3, Informative)
How is that even the tiniest bit different than what a video camera hooked up to a TV does?
It captures an image and reproduces it elsewhere in real-time. That certainly doesn't require massive processing power, and the resolution of this device doesn't even need to be as high as a video camera, since all you're trying to do is blend in. Camouflage works perfectly well for blending in, and it's hardly a high-resolution duplicate of the surroundings.
War applications (Score:3, Funny)
Re:War applications (Score:3, Informative)
Besides...I don't think they'll be able to change color that quickly, at least, not for a long time. (Though, looking at the acceleration of things, "long" might only mean ten to twenty years.)
Nanotech pants? (Score:3, Funny)
Apply with fiberoptics (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Apply with fiberoptics (Score:3, Insightful)
You wouldn't get Predator-style invisibility because the uniform would have no way of knowing what the viewer's vantage point is. Thus, the suit can't just paint what's "behind" you because it doesn't know where "in front of" is.
Can't wait for this to be demilitarized. (Score:5, Funny)
If the paint is active as well, I'd like to see how well it does combating rust 24/7.
Imagine...driving along and you decide you want a red car...or maybe a black car...or how about zebra stripes.
Or maybe a lot of huge rust spots, for when you're asking for money
Re:Can't wait for this to be demilitarized. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Can't wait for this to be demilitarized. (Score:2)
Re:Can't wait for this to be demilitarized. (Score:5, Interesting)
Remember the 1970's custom van craze, with elaborate Frazetta-looking airbrush murals? Now imagine the same kitschy artwork, only animated. Are you having flashbacks? No, the Greatful Dead skeleton on that guy's van really is waving at you.
Or instead of mere bumper stickers, SUVs could now sport political blogs that cover the entire side of the vehicle. Meme warfare on wheels!
Another application: imagine you break the posted speed limit, and not only does your onboard compliance-monitor signal the highway patrol, but your vehicle starts flashing bright ugly blue to let everyone else know what you did...
>;K
No. How would this product make your life easier? (Score:3, Funny)
I can't believe you'd think of cars... You've obviously never had your wife do any painting.
I'd love to just have all the woodwork looking like wood again at the touch of a button.
A Slight Alteration. (Score:2, Funny)
How about using OLEDs? (Score:2)
Roll up tank camo?
Combine it with cameras, get a cloaking device. (Score:3, Insightful)
Like have a rear facing camera which projects what it sees on the front end of the vehicle. It wouldn't be perfect, im sure there'd be quite a bit of distortion and the like, but surely better than just a mottled paint job.
Does this mean? (Score:2)
I call that one over there!
What a ridiculous application (Score:3, Insightful)
We will be more interested on how clouds of nanomites can liquify a human in seconds than a hairline crack repairing coat of paint.
And thus... (Score:2)
This isn't going to be a cool trend.
Re:What a ridiculous application (Score:2, Insightful)
Do you have any idea of the power requirements to liquify a human in seconds? Where exactly are these machines going to get that much energy in that amount of time?
Re:What a ridiculous application (Score:2)
Why?
In a civilized world, the only people who should be killed are those who have been tried and found guilty in a court of law - and even that question is a hot topic of political debate.
If war didn't involve killing, but instead the rapid transfer of power (which is war's ultimate goal) through non-violent means, it would be far less traumatic to human lives, and the earth in general. Perhaps nanotech could operate like insecticide, and get on the enemies' clothes, and send signals when the soldier returns back to base. At that time, a larger cloud could be enabled that would paralyze the forces, and they could be held as POW until the conflict ended.
Excellent.. (Score:2, Funny)
If it is as good at filling cracks as they say, Phyllis Diller [google.com] could certainly use some.
Something else to maintain... (Score:3, Interesting)
How long .... (Score:2)
Do you hear it? (Score:2)
Still... it sounds cool. But then Star Wars sounds pretty fly as well. Can't they just come up with something that kills everybody instantly and be done with it? Oh wait...
More information here: (Score:2)
Paint Wars (Score:3, Funny)
Of course, there's always the danger than an enemy might be able to "hack" the smart paints by zapping vehicles with electrical impulses of their own.
"What's going on, Sarge? The color of our tank just changed to hot pink! Mayday! Mayday!"
Counter Intellegence and Maint. (Score:4, Interesting)
Today's Creative Engineering assignment... (Score:2)
Any suggestions? I'm stumped.
Pentagon and $10m hammers (Score:2, Funny)
Thankfully, the research, development, and manufacturing of nanotech robots for the first deployment will only cost $40 billion, thus saving the DOD... uh, well, nevermind.
______________
Excellent (Score:5, Funny)
Soon we will have transformer type vehicules that I have dreamed about
Of course, if these machines could be hacked, just imagine all the fun and mayhem that could be caused...
"Soldier, look at your tank, that's not camoflauge!"
soldier turns and reads on the now hot pink armour: "you've been H4x0red by Cowboy Neal"
I wonder... (Score:2, Interesting)
Potentially bad situation (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Potentially bad situation (Score:3, Funny)
Yeah, riiiiiiight... (Score:2, Insightful)
They even ADMIT that it'll STILL be vaporware in a few years!
Change the color of my car? (Score:3, Interesting)
Or better yet....
I'll make a "license plate" that nano-tech changes to whatever I want. Then I can go to a parking lot and "steal" the plates off of some undercover cop car that matches the make and model of mine and never get pulled over!
Or better yet... advertise!
Oh wait... I got it... Bumpersticker of the Month/Day/Hour/Minute !!!!
Turn signals will be obsolete... I'll just flash a portion of my car!
Who needs brake lights? Just turn the whole back of your car into a giant stop sign!
I could go on...
Civilians will never see this... (Score:5, Funny)
Cop on CB "Car 54, Red Delorean, going 125 Request clearance for high speed pursuit"
Dispatcher "Car 54 you are cleared for high speed pursuit, can we have a status?"
Cop, "We're going southbound on i-5 approaching harris ranch, did I say red delorean? I meant green?"
Dispatcher "Copy that a green delorean"
Cop "No wait it's purple now!"
Dispatch "Frank have you been smoking too much of those pot busts? Which color is it?"
Cop "No wait it's turning blue.."
You get the picture.
It's already been done (Score:3, Funny)
Anyone know the number? (Score:2, Offtopic)
1. Find idea on
2. Google search
3. Profit!!!!
Two words (Score:4, Funny)
Okay...four but who's counting?
iastor
"Remember your weapon was made by the lowest bidder."
As the saying goes (Score:3, Funny)
Just what we need (Score:3, Interesting)
I was expecting this... (Score:2, Troll)
How about worrying about improving the 50% chance that the National Missile Defense program has of intercepting an incoming nuke? And even THAT's assuming that the missile follows a plain vanilla trajectory with no fancy moves.
Flame me if you want, but this is what you get when you put a kiddish idiot who likes to play with guns in the white house.
Potential for human rights abuses (Score:4, Funny)
My God, people, *we* *have* *gone* *too* *far*.
Can this really be true? (Score:3, Funny)
Could this possibly be true or just a hyper-inflated figure to help sell/make the idea of bleeding-edge tech coatings seem realistic and feasible?
I mean, come on... $2 billion a year just for painting and paint removal? What are they doing? Hiring only the most intelligent and beautiful virginal labourers to paint tanks with paint made from elements only found in asteroids, using fine, #10 ultra-sable brushes, gently scraping paint off with custom made, solid gold, diamond tipped scrapers?
jeez...
LCD + Photoreceptors (Score:3, Interesting)
There have been rumors milling around that during WWII the US military was playing around with under-wing/fuselage lighting to camoflage bombers during daytime. It was considered useless at the time, but recently (I think the 80's?) there was a project that combined lighting with photoreceptors (CCD's maybe) where they were able to make a drone virtually invisible above a certain altitude. Rumor is it was classified after a few tests. Anyone heard anything like this?
Paints and camouflage (Score:5, Informative)
Visual camouflage works by fooling your eye into thinking the object is part of the background. This is done by breaking up profile, matching background colors, and various other tricks.
The same problem exists in the infrared, except you have the additional wrinkle of controlling IR emission (just like carrying around a flashlight blows visual camouflage).
IR happens to be a useful wavelength for detection, because it readily propagates through the atmosphere without loss (over 99% transmission, with exception of two frequencies near 2500 and 25000 where water absorbs and another absorbion band for CO2), and because most objects radiate it (e.g., people, sunlight on the hood of a vehicle, engines, leading edges on wingtips. etc.).
In the 2500 - 25000 nanometer range, to match up with the forested/vegetation background in Maryland, we needed to duplicate the chlorophyl curve, which is the dominant background emission spectra. And, pretty much, they were able to do so, with some expensive nets and other mechanisms. They were trying for an integrated visual/IR/radar camouflage system (the radar folks worked in the same lab).
It's very interesting to read about these paints, since this appears to be the first reasonably viable mechanism for achieving this. They would need a chlorophyl pattern for vegetated regions, a desert pattern for deserts, etc. They would also still need to baffle and reduce IR exhaust, since paint won't help camouflage heated air or hot gun barrels.
The mechanisms previewed so far in the literature (electromechanical gears, electroptical properties) wouldn't likely generate much signature, if any. However, there might be some operation characteristic (e.g., power on) that could be detected with a SQUID (superconducting quantum interference device). However, the SQUID would pick up the spark plugs in the tank long before the electronic signals to the paint.
--Adam
Re:Paints and camouflage (Score:3, Funny)
Pie in the sky (Score:5, Interesting)
Sounds like they've been smoking that "gotta spend our increased budget or lose it" crack.
One way to make color changing paint would be to create a grid of fins that could be moved closer together or farther apart. A butterflies wings are colored not with pigments, but with particles that have a gap sized to create interference cancelling out all but a specific wavelength of light. By adjusting the gap, maybe mechanically, maybe electrically, you could adjust the color.
Another way would be balls, with say 6 different spots of color on different sides. Rotate the ball to get different colors.
Another way would be pigment sacks, like a cuttlefish uses.
Now try to think about how to address all the pixels on, say, a tank, with any of those systems. Then think about how you would go about making a system like that self-repairing.
I would bet that by 2005 they have a prototype that looks bad, changes color slowly, fades quickly in sunlight, breaks down often, and doesn't self repair. They may have a working color changing paint by 2009, but I doubt they will get the self repairing bit down that soon.
Just thought about it a bit more. They may develop a self repairing undercoating which could fix small cracks in the metal or undercoating by reacting to oxidation and releasing a sealer or catalyst that would bond paint or metal It's making the color changing bit itself self repairing that sounds hard to me.
Does this sound like skin to anyone else? (Score:3, Interesting)
How about dynamic camo? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:How about dynamic camo? (Score:3, Funny)
Screw that, make my car jet black and as i speed up, make all the leading edges start to glow like an SR71 plane (or shuttle on re-entry).....
How cool would that be????
Invisible Paint (Score:3, Funny)
Oooo. Invisible paint. For billions of dollars.
Can I sell anyone an $800 hammer before some dumb little kid says, "Look Mommy! That tank isn't wearing any paint!"
Re:Wow, that's so cool... (Score:3)
Homeless people don't have houses, so what's to repair? And even if you meant low-income areas, they couldn't afford the paint to begin with. I'm betting the cost to paint a tank with this stuff would be equal to the cost of providing aluminum siding for an entire block.
Re:As if the military wasn't ass kicking enough (Score:4, Insightful)
See, therein lies the problem. The paradigm has changed, and the military needs to change with it.
Who cares if your chobham armour can shrug off 120 mm rounds, if the attack isn't coming from a T-80, but rather from a child who is willing to sacrifice their life to smuggle a small container of nerve gas into your bivouac?
Or, put another way, ask the Soviets how much help their tank armour was when they invaded Afghanistan.