Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Transcribed Interview with Markus J Buehler (From 17/05/2011)

Do you think your spider silk research could eventually be strong enough to be used as a building material? Where is your research at right now?

Spider Silk is a very small material and anything that we do in making, testing or understanding materials is at an extremely small value so it’s nothing like on the scale of buildings. We’re really just trying to understand the material strengths of this material and we can make very small pieces but not much more. And of course we would take spider webs and we would sort of say you could take that natural material and use it for some kind of engineering. The threads of silk are extremely thin, they’re micrometers. You would have to assemble and do calculations on how many spider webs you would need or how many spiders you would need and you would quickly end up with millions of spiders you would need in order to actually make a real rope of the material. If you actually can make a material like this, like if you could make these quantities, it would be a very strong material and it has the potential strength of steel so you would get something that has a very high tensile strength and significantly less weight or density than steel. The ratio of strength versus density is much better in silk so you get a very light material that is as strong as steel and it is tougher to break. You can stretch silk quite a bit before it breaks and in order for it to break it requires a high amount of energy until it actually fractures. I think if you were to make something to walk on between buildings it would be potentially very shaky, like walking on a rubber band maybe.


What are other practical uses do you think could come out of your research?

I think technically we are interested in understanding in how you would make a strong material from very weak building blocks. Chemically, the silk has weak building blocks like hydrogen bonding and other silk. What we are mainly interested in is seeing how it is naturally and understand the principles of how biological organismic spiders can make material that is as strong as one of the strongest engineered materials that uses so much less energy and so much fewer resources and actually creating these materials. That’s our main understanding of the scientific impact. And then of course once we know how to do this we can say create a whole bunch of different materials; not necessarily exactly like silk but out of using the principles we see in silk so we could use plants to make very strong materials, you can use sand from the beaches to make materials but the materials that currently are considered to be weak structurally or mechanically or considered useless and somehow changing their structure at a specific scale to make them useful. And that’s really what the spider does, is it takes simple proteins and makes them into one of the strongest threads that has multiple paths with these many different dimensions. Last of all what we’re trying to do is we’re trying to translate this into something that is not exactly like spiders, we’re trying to take the principles behind that. And there’s another thing maybe in terms of what you might be interested in, structurally is there is some really interesting structures you can see at the nano scale. We have worked a lot on identifying the structure of silk and I can actually send you some images. We’ve done some rapid prototyping of silk nano structures and molecules to make them visible at larger scales. Using some of the inspiration you might see in silk, even not in the web, but really at the molecular scale to make some of the structures at the macroscopic scale. We haven’t done this, we basically study the biological, bi-chemically, material science side, but since you’re in architecture – one interesting aspect  would be if you could actually create a macroscopic structure that is really related or inspired by the nano scale structure of silk.


Would you be able to apply such principles to say plastics to make them stronger?

To other materials, yeah, exactly. One of the ideas is that we can actually well yeah, we can make much stronger materials than silk if we use the right building blocks. So we can use carbon nano tubes, graphine and other materials that we have at our disposal and then now we have all these different compounds and molecule structures. Carbon nano tubes and graphine, they are really one of the stronger nano structures we have out there. We can take that and utilise this and make something much stronger, that’s one of the things that we’re working on in the lab at the moment.


What kind of aesthetic qualities do you think it would have?

The kind of materials that we’re looking at here would be extremely strong like steel or alloys and other ceramics, but they would be potentially unbreakable and they could be designed for impact so you could have materials that could withstand a lot of kinetic energy coming in such as explosions. We’re also looking at materials that could be mutateable or change during its lifetime. The materials we are looking at here are changeable so they’re not static. So today if you create a material such as concrete or steel they have certain properties and remain this way in the building. With some of the other work we do we’re designing materials that are changeable so we can use electric fields or magnetic fields or we can use light as a way of changing the material significantly and we can do this because we can really tune the nano structure of the material and molecule arrangements of the basic building blocks in such a way that at the macro scale we’d have a varied thickness and different response. What I mean is that we could have something that behaves like concrete under normal operational conditions but when there’s an earthquake we can turn this into something like elastic or something extremely stretchy. Or if there’s an explosion the building could detect the impact and would change the material from being just strong to being very tough, very condensable so the building for that moment would mitigate the huge impact of kinetic energy. That is what we do and of course it has many other applications not only in architecture and buildings but also in armour and military applications, vehicles, aircrafts, you name it. There’s a whole range of different areas where the ability to change the mechanical properties of materials becomes extremely important.

In another area, silk by itself is quite interesting. It has medical applications. Silk is a biomaterial that is bio-compatible so you can use silk during operations, you can use it for stitches and it doesn’t conflict with the natural immune system. So we can use it as a very effective biomaterial. If somehow we could figure out making silk in large quantities we can use it as ways of stitching together organs and other systems, potentially using it for tissue engineering to grow new tissue to a certain degree. So those are some of the other angles that silk could take. Silk as materials have the same building blocks as other biological tissues - the proteins, which is a huge advantage in making biomaterials rather than creating biomaterials out of polymers, which are non natural, so the body would see these polymers as the enemy and they would try to eat it up or destroy it. The silk is sort of a natural way of making biomaterials. The issue again here is that we can’t make silk in huge quantities. That’s one of the main limitations, we can’t just go out there and just take a spider web because we need to have something more reliable in quality and quantity, but that’s another angle of what we do that we pursue.


I read that there are researchers that are finding ways to farm the spider silk proteins by genetically modifying goats to produce them...

Yes, that’s right, that’s very very true. The silk protein you can make in huge quantities and you don’t actually have to use goats, there are many other ways of doing it. The goats, I think, is one of the most interesting ways to make the proteins. But the issue that remains when using these proteins is making the material because they cannot produce the kind of silk that spiders can produce naturally. It’s one of the big challenges in the field. But it is one of the possible ways of going about this, making protein building blocks in animals, bacteria or goats’ milk. So that’s definitely a very exciting direction to go. But another issue is that you make the proteins, but how do you use the proteins at a macro scale. For example you can’t just put these proteins individually hand by hand and assemble them in a way you like. It’s all done by self assembly and the way spiders make the silk is a highly complex process which we’re still understanding at this point.


How long do you think it would take before such technology takes off and becomes a mainstream resource?

The whole area of actually making materials by controlling their molecular structure and then forming some larger scaled properties from the designing phase is something that’s emerging and there is a lot of activity right now. It could be five years. There are some materials out there already that include some nano structured elements, there are some bio materials that people have been made, so that’s an example but yeah, maybe in… it’s really hard for me to say. Putting a timeframe on that is really difficult. But I think it will be driven also by the need economically. So if there is a need for new ways of making materials from natural resources like plants or a protein then the timeframe will be much shorter. But it could remain much cheaper to produce materials from oil and other resources available and then the time frame could never be determined. But there are some anxiety questions such as energy constant resources that really make people in the industry think how they can really re-engineer their resources. For example in a bunch of research projects I have with companies, they’re extremely nervous about the ability to produce things in the timeframe of five, ten, fifteen years, at the same price because energy needed to produce materials like concrete, adhesives and all these other kinds of materials you need for buildings and other industries become very expensive so they’re always trying to find ways not to buy things. Can we use fewer materials, get the things done. Can we sell the thing for the same price but then of course you’d use less material. And I think that it will be driven by the market. If there’s a strong need. We are trying to provide solutions to ideas for unconventional ways of making things, making materials, making a functional structure. But I’m not in the position to really understand the economic implications, but it will be driven by that in the end.


On being eco-friendly:

Yeah, that’s one of the main driving points I think for this. I wouldn’t necessarily put that label on it but yeah, you could call it eco-friendly if you wish, but it’s really driven by the fact that there is a limitation in resources and there are limitations to how much energy we can produce using conventional forces so there are going to be driving forces that tell industry that they could produce things maybe cheaper by making them more eco-friendly which would transfer into using resources that we currently do not use, using them more effectively.


Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Look at Flying Bouncy Castle

UK children seriously injured by flying jumping castle

09:00 NZST Wed Jun 1 2011
MSN NZ
Three children in the UK were seriously injured after a jumping castle they were playing in was lifted off the ground by a wind gust before crashing into a telegraph pole.
Seven-year-old Koby Dakin, his brother Kyle Dakin, 10, and eight-year-old Imogen Wright were thrown into the air after winds exceeding 60 km/h ripped the castle from its supports during a christening party at the White House Hotel in Whitby, North Yorkshire, at the weekend.
"It just took off and flew up and spun around in the air," the father of the two injured boys, Damien Young, told Sky News.
"I saw my son laid on the floor and the other two holding their heads,"
Mr Young’s son Koby was airlifted to hospital suffering a broken leg, two arm fractures, a broken rib, punctured lung and head trauma, while his older brother was treated in hospital for a leg injury.
Imogen Wright was hospitalised with head injuries and a concussion.
Jumping castles were once a fixture at children's birthday parties, but a series of accidents in which they have become air-born have led many to question their safety.
Australia has not seen a jumping castle related death since 2001, but the number of incidents where strong winds have uprooted jumping castles are becoming more frequent, a representative from Kidsafe Victoria told the Nine Network’s A Current Affair earlier this month.
She said while flying jumping castles are a cause for concern the real danger is falls.
"Seventy per cent of all injuries on jumping castles occur from falls, most of these result in fractures… there can also be concussions," she said.




Monday, May 23, 2011

Tsunami Photos no 2












Photography: Jason
Experiment: Jamie, Jason, Rowan

Super bubble mix

Most people know that, bubble can be make by mixing dishwasher soup and water, after i saw this youtube video, i found that to make a giant bubble it has different ways to do this....the recipe found on the same youtube video....so Justin and Me tried to make this giant bubble... in this experiment i looked at how material or chemical reaction, also showing the people inside the bubble (personal protection) in the future.










Bubble creator: Justin

photogrphy: KEN



Tsunami wall mk2

2nd Attempt at a tsunami wall.

Using a sheet of pvc stapled to two wooden stakes to simulate a tsunami wall, me, jason and rowan went out to try capture imagery of what it may look like to be behind the inflatable tsunami wall when it hit. Although people would be safe and would look beautiful, it would also be a very intimidating experience.


Our Presentation

A link to our presentation from Monday May 23:

https://prezi.com/secure/ef793c4b8b0521695fb75faba43a18631efdf9a3/

Edited by Xanthe, Rowan, Jason, Cornelia

Brick drop test


In this experiment, it shows what happen when a hard object hits on the expandable foam and stocking balloons.....after the test on the expandable foam its didn't had any big damage on it , but i discover the stocking balloon had more flexibility than the foam, which when object fall down form top it can bounce off the object or the people jump off from high point it can keep the people safe and fun.

video of expandable foam

this footage it about an hour long and i fasten it 100times faster......looked at how it react




experiment: Jamie, Ken
video and video editing: Ken

Expandable foam

After meeting with Ross, he suggested to experiment with Gorilla foam (Expandable foam)....in this experiment i looked at the chemical reaction, also how much can the foam expanded....


I used a blue glove fill with plaster and put the foam surround it, the blue glove it to show the human form inside the bubble (personal protection) when it active.... I used half of the Gorilla can about= 400ml, after a day it expanded a lot, i think its about 5times bigger form the start...


First 3 photos show the before and after:




With this photo brought me an idea for the material, which is this can be eatable, because what will be happen if earthquake or tsunamis....the people may stuck in the building or floating on the flood or sea...if this event happened the people will stay in the bubble (personal protection) for days and days till to get rescue .....this material will give people energy to keep them alive.





Experiment: Jamie, Ken


photography: Ken



Video of bubble reflection and slow motion



Bubble creator: Justin

Video and video editing : Ken

Super bubble mix 2

While Justin experiment with the bubble's reflection.....and i looked at the form or shape on the bubble for the future bubble











bubble creator: Justin


photographic: Ken

Stocking Balloon

In this experiment i looked at matching with two material....the balloon is representing the inside of bubble (personal protection) and the stocking is a flexible material to representing the future material it may be inflatable, expandable and flexible... joining a few balloons into a stocking to representing the protection bubble join and marge together with other protection bubble...the last photo show what will be looks like when they bounce up in the air....






Sunday, May 22, 2011

Urban Gardens in Context.

Within the bubble structures that we are proposing, Urban Jungle (Gym) wants to create urban gardens that provide a natural space for people to relax in and enjoy. Although there are already a few existing parks around the city, none of them are directly within the CBD. By introducing these urban gardens into the CBD, it would bring people closer to nature. Community Gardens would also be implemented so that the public can grow and harvest fruit and vegetables within the city that would be shared amongst the people.

The purpose of the plant experiment was to show how over time, the plants would grow and become one with the bubble structures. The images from the experiment represent the aesthetic quality of what the urban gardens could become in an abstract way.

Photo by Rowan Harty

Plants (the re-shoot)

The quality of the images from the first shoot aren't quite up to presentation standard so we photographed the plants interacting with the bubble again with my (Rowan's) camera, which would eventually give its life for another experiment the next day.   









Photography and editing: Rowan Harty
Bubble creator and plant minder: Cornelia Tan
Lighting: Xanthe Flesch 

Tsunami wall experiment mk1

Rowan, Ken and I went to scorching bay with my "tsunami wall" to try and capture the visual qualities of a tsunami being held back by my inflatable wall.


Video of awesome bubble rising UP UP UP



I (Xanthe) edited the above footage together with help from Jason of what clips and how it should play out.

Cut it down to the first video shown above to go in the presentation at the end but decided the photos on their own were strong enough. This video is good to show the process though.

Fun! :D

Behind the scenes of our experiments.



Video edited by Cornelia.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Bubble building impression deformation (result of the Pink Blob experiments)


Pink Blobs Mark II

The BEV use to capture the images of the Mark I experiment didn't show the full extent of the deformation so another 4 hours of watching and and capturing images of pink blobs melting was done



Photography and experiment: Rowan Harty