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kathleenseiber · 6 years

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‘Cooking chemistry’ produces new, less toxic glue

A new soy-based adhesive made from food components is even stronger than Gorilla Glue on wood, researchers say. On aluminum, it’s about the same.

Jonathan Wilker of Purdue University studies how marine animals, such as oysters and mussels, create natural adhesives. Unlike most glues you’d find in a hardware store, these adhesives are non-toxic, and many hold up underwater. While trying to re-create a new glue in his lab one day, Wilker noticed something strange.

“Things were sticking when they shouldn’t have been,” he says. “We found that the components being used, proteins and sugar, were reacting and turning into an adhesive.”

Maillard chemistry

This is the essence of Maillard chemistry, or “cooking chemistry.” It happens when you grill a streak or bake bread in the oven; after a while, the edges start to brown and a savory smell fills the air. Chemically, sugars and proteins are combining to create aromatic compounds.

Usually, it takes heat to kick off this process, but Maillard chemistry is a whole class of messy reactions, and it can happen a few different ways. Products of each reaction get involved in their own reactions and can release chemicals that we experience as flavors. Describing the Maillard reaction in detail would take up an entire book alone, according to PBS.

“When foods brown, certain molecules are linking together. Proteins can connect to one another by reacting with sugars,” Wilker says. “When sea creatures make their adhesives, they are also cross-linking proteins together. They use totally different chemistry, but the idea is somewhat similar; cross-linking proteins can create an adhesive.”

Strength tests

This new soy-based adhesive doesn’t hold up well under water, so it probably isn’t a perfect replacement for the toxic glues used in plywood and chipboard (the fumes from which homeowners can breathe in for many years when they’re used to build houses). However, it may find use in packaging of organic-certified food products.

“Food packaging usually relies on typical petroleum-based adhesives, which can leach out toxins,” Wilker says.

To test the strength of the adhesive, Wilker’s team glued two pieces of wood or aluminum together. The far ends have a hole for a pin, and a machine pulls them in opposite directions to test their strength. The new adhesive was so strong on wood that the pin ripped through the hole.

Although the soy-based adhesive was pretty strong, the team achieved even better results with a different protein, bovine serum albumin (BSA). BSA is a generic protein often used in labs for experiments. It’s cheap for researchers, but not cheap enough to make a BSA-based adhesive affordable on a large commercial scale.

“If you want to break into the adhesive market, your product needs to be cheap, high-performance, and the material also has to be available on large scales,” Wilker says. “This new soy-based adhesive may be able to hit these requirements while also being grown renewably.”

The findings appear the Journal of the American Chemical Society. The National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research supported the work.

Source: Purdue University

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ramialkarmi · 7 years

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The Pentagon is getting better at stopping enemy drones — and testing its own for delivering gear to the battlefield

The US military and its partners are expanding their use of drones, turning to them for logistical purposes like resupply while expanding their abilities to defend against enemy drones.

The latest piece of drone-related equipment is a 5-pound radar-gun-like device used to jam drones in remote areas or during patrols.

In April, the US Army's Rapid Equipment Force purchased 50 of the "Dronebuster," as it's called, which starts at $30,000.

It's outfitted with five custom antennae and a "technique generator" that reduces the amount of battery power needed to produce a jamming signal, which in turns allows the device to be smaller and more portable.

Col. Lanier Ward, who leads the REF, told Army Times that his unit's goal was to get the Dronebuster to personnel in the field as soon as possible. He said the REF averages 140 days from requirement to delivery.

Iraqi forces have already deployed US-supplied "jammers" to frustrate ISIS' profligate use of commercial drones to attack Iraqi troops in and around Mosul.

"The Americans have brought in a very advanced machine to" western Mosul, Maj. Gen. Najim al-Jabbouri Jabouri told Defense Tech in early March. "It is like a big vehicle. ISIS can no longer send even one drone into the sky."

The commander of Iraq's elite Counter Terror Service told Defense Tech that his unit had recorded 72 ISIS drone flights on the first day of operations in western Mosul, which began on February 19.

With the deployment of US-provided anti-drone technology, he said, ISIS drone flights had dropped to zero over a five-day period at the start of March.

The US Army is experimenting with other mobile anti-drone weapons to counter the growing use of cheap, commercially available drones that have popped up in conflict zones.

Earlier this month, during the 10-day Maneuver Fires Integrated Experiment in Fort Sill, Oklahoma, the Mobile High-Energy Laser, or MEHEL — mounted on a Stryker combat vehicle — downed a drone without firing a shot or making a sound.

The laser was one of three anti-drone systems being evaluated during the exercise.

"We are working with Space and Missile Defense Command, using their MEHEL to engage various targets, to include low-flying" unmanned aircraft systems, said Lt. Col. Jeff Erts, chief of experimentation and wargaming at the Fires Battle Lab.

According to Erts, the MEHEL system had won over many of the troops tasked with testing it.

"They love the system and they are excited about not only what they can do with it in the air, but what they can do with it on the ground as well," he said.

US forces have also looked to unmanned aircraft for logistical support.

At the Sea Space 2017 trade show this month, the Tactical Air Delivery glider — a prototype being tested by the Marine Corps — was on display.

The final version of the drone glider will be made of readily available materials — like plywood and metal fasteners — and use a GPS system to glide to its target.

Its wings will fold, meaning they can be carted around in bunches to wherever they need to be deployed.

The glider will also be disposable, costing between $1,500 and $3,000.

The glider can "deliver food, water, batteries, fuel and other supplies at the same price and precision as existing aerial delivery systems while providing a much greater standoff capability and enhanced weather limitations," Lt. Morgan Grossman of the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory told IEEE Spectrum.

Across the Atlantic, the UK's Ministry of Defense is also experimenting with a drone-delivery system, building on Amazon's drone-delivery advancements.

Looking to capitalize on drone technology advances made in the commercial market, the Ministry of Defense is offering defense contractors millions in a competition to find ways to get supplies to remote personnel and hard-to-reach positions quickly and more safely.

"We're challenging industry and academia to work with us to design ground-breaking autonomous systems that will get supplies to the front line," Harriet Baldwin, minister for defense procurement, told The Telegraph.

SEE ALSO: An Army general says an ally used a $3 million Patriot missile to shoot down a $200 drone

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NOW WATCH: Marines can grab drones right out of the sky with this innovative 'Skyhook'

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