MIT engineers have developed a synthetic, sticky hydrogel – or “tough, bonding water,” as lead paper author Hyunwoo Yuk calls it – that could be used as an adhesive for boats, submarines and other underwater surfaces.
Hydrogel is tough, transparent, adheres to glass, silicon, aluminum, ceramics and titanium, and is made up mostly of water.
According to Phys.org, to create the stretchy, rubbery material that is hydrogel, Yuk mixed a solution of water with a dissipative ingredient, and placed it on surfaces modified with functional silanes to create chemical links between each surface and its hydrogel.
Hydrogel’s toughness is also comparable to tendons and cartilage on bone, based on the results of the research team measuring the force required to peel the hydrogel from each surface.
According to Yuk, the water adhesive has a “higher water content and a much stronger bonding ability” than natural hydrogel.
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