1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,040 The term stronger than steel used to be synonymous with great strength 2 00:00:04,040 --> 00:00:10,480 But today many manufacturers are using new lightweight materials called composite materials rather than steel 3 00:00:10,800 --> 00:00:17,640 This is because composite materials are generally stronger lighter and much more resistant to extreme temperatures than steel 4 00:00:18,120 --> 00:00:25,320 NASA is using composite materials to make new spacecraft and aircraft parts that are tougher and more efficient than conventional parts 5 00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:31,200 Derek Leonidoff takes us to the advanced materials and processing branch at NASA Langley to find out more 6 00:00:36,640 --> 00:00:39,160 Have you ever heard the term composite materials 7 00:00:39,680 --> 00:00:42,080 Even though most people don't know exactly what they are 8 00:00:42,080 --> 00:00:45,440 There is no doubt these materials are being used by most of us every day 9 00:00:45,760 --> 00:00:52,600 More and more the goods we use like tennis rackets golf clubs cars and even planes are made with these materials 10 00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:56,760 But do you know what a composite material is or how one is made? 11 00:00:57,280 --> 00:01:04,960 Well, I spoke with researchers at NASA who are developing new composite materials that are not only lighter and safer than existing materials 12 00:01:04,960 --> 00:01:06,960 Like steel, but also stronger 13 00:01:07,200 --> 00:01:14,480 These researchers are also working with radical new materials called nanotubes that are thousands of times smaller than a human hair 14 00:01:14,480 --> 00:01:18,240 but they may revolutionize the way future materials are made a 15 00:01:19,040 --> 00:01:26,720 Composite is really a generic term which describes a material that is composed of one or more parts and those parts are 16 00:01:26,880 --> 00:01:34,000 Combined together in a way that you end up with the final material that has better properties than any of the individual 17 00:01:34,200 --> 00:01:41,640 components an example of a composite that we see every day is a tree a tree is composed of cellulose fibers that are bound 18 00:01:41,640 --> 00:01:47,480 Together by a polymer called lignin and when you combine these two components together you end up with a tree 19 00:01:47,480 --> 00:01:49,240 which is very very strong a 20 00:01:49,240 --> 00:01:55,960 Composite material is made when a combination of two or more materials are combined together to make a new and different material 21 00:01:56,320 --> 00:01:59,080 researchers take individual materials one a 22 00:01:59,480 --> 00:02:07,600 Reinforcing material for strength and stiffness and one a glue or binding material such as a resin to surround and hold the reinforcement in place 23 00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:11,400 When the reinforcing material and the binding material are combined 24 00:02:11,400 --> 00:02:18,000 They make a new material this new material usually is not only strong and resistant to extreme temperatures 25 00:02:18,120 --> 00:02:24,320 But can be much lighter than the existing material similar to the tree an analogous synthetic material 26 00:02:24,320 --> 00:02:28,240 It's a graphite composite a graphite composite is composed of 27 00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:34,320 Carbon fibers which are very very strong and to make a structural material using these carbon fibers 28 00:02:34,320 --> 00:02:37,220 We consolidate it by combining it with this 29 00:02:37,580 --> 00:02:41,620 Polymer matrix resin this polymer matrix resin is kind of like a glue 30 00:02:41,620 --> 00:02:45,140 And this is a large part of the research that we do here at NASA 31 00:02:45,620 --> 00:02:47,620 Depending on the properties of this particular 32 00:02:47,940 --> 00:02:53,860 Polymer it will dictate the maximum temperature that you can use it at and also how strong this material is 33 00:02:54,500 --> 00:02:59,620 One of the ways that we can use the glue that Joyce Flynn talked about is to make it into little balls called 34 00:02:59,780 --> 00:03:01,940 Microspheres as you can see it's mostly air 35 00:03:02,460 --> 00:03:06,020 Since it's mostly air you have the combination of a strong material 36 00:03:06,020 --> 00:03:12,140 that's also lightweight what we do is we take the balls and we consolidate it into a foam piece and 37 00:03:12,660 --> 00:03:18,220 Because again the material is strong to begin with you now have a very tough 38 00:03:19,380 --> 00:03:22,500 Lightweight structure we then take this structure 39 00:03:23,100 --> 00:03:30,060 Combine it with carbon fiber what we have done now is to have a lightweight structure that improves fuel efficiency 40 00:03:30,620 --> 00:03:36,500 Therefore it reduces the cost of travel and we also have improved safety in aircraft travel so Mia 41 00:03:36,500 --> 00:03:38,940 What is the future of composite materials? 42 00:03:38,940 --> 00:03:43,420 I mean where do we go from here one of the things that we're looking into now is called nanotechnology 43 00:03:44,340 --> 00:03:51,500 Nanotechnology presumes that we're able to go in to the atomic level move atoms so that we can create materials in a very controlled manner 44 00:03:51,780 --> 00:03:55,980 That way we can design materials very precisely in the current technology 45 00:03:55,980 --> 00:04:00,020 We use wires embedded in structures to sense defects in aircraft parts 46 00:04:00,300 --> 00:04:03,900 We are trying now to reduce the size of these wires so that in effect 47 00:04:03,900 --> 00:04:10,580 We have nerves embedded in aircraft structures because carbon nanotubes are about 80,000 times smaller than human hair 48 00:04:10,620 --> 00:04:16,820 We can embed many of them in an aircraft wing for example where they can perform a function similar to the nerves in our body 49 00:04:17,460 --> 00:04:21,860 This technology will allow the wing to respond to changes in temperature and pressure in the atmosphere 50 00:04:22,460 --> 00:04:29,460 By changing their shape without using mechanical flaps because of this ability we can now design the aircraft of the future to be safer and 51 00:04:29,460 --> 00:04:30,660 much more efficient 52 00:04:30,660 --> 00:04:32,260 We think about 53 00:04:32,260 --> 00:04:39,780 Biological systems like us when we get cut our body heals itself those are cells that are forming and going and doing their job 54 00:04:39,940 --> 00:04:46,180 What we want to do is be able to get that kind of control over the types of materials that we make 55 00:04:46,500 --> 00:04:50,100 Although we know that we want to get to a smart plane using carbon nanotubes 56 00:04:50,100 --> 00:04:51,620 We don't know how to get there yet 57 00:04:51,620 --> 00:04:57,980 And as Einstein said if we knew what we were doing it wouldn't be research, so that's the excitement of the work that we do