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The Hard Stuff Is Pretty Slick
Posted: Wed Nov 26, 2008 5:38 pm
by MSimon
Posted: Wed Nov 26, 2008 10:31 pm
by scareduck
I wonder if you could make a paint for airplanes with that. If it really reduces drag all that much, the savings could be pretty substantial.
Posted: Wed Nov 26, 2008 11:47 pm
by Damon Hill
Aren't friction and drag essentially two different things? Here we're dealing with two solids, not a solid surface and a fluid.
Posted: Thu Nov 27, 2008 12:12 am
by Aero
One component of aerodynamic drag is viscous friction drag.
Aircraft are painted and waxed to reduce viscous friction.
A hard surface is not necessarily a smooth surface. Aircraft skin also flexes under aerodynamic forces so the coating must not fracture when flexed. I don't think the linked article gave enough detailed information to make any kind of judgment as to its applicability to aircraft coatings.
I was thinking about using it to coat the teeth of meshing gears, but of course gears are a specialty all their own.
Posted: Fri Nov 28, 2008 12:02 am
by 93143
It might be of use if it can improve resistance to icing and random dings. Otherwise, I suspect there isn't much advantage, particularly for large aircraft where basically the entire boundary layer is turbulent anyway. It's not like having a super smooth coating relaxes the no-slip condition...
No, coatings like this are more for reducing friction between mechanical parts, and increasing said parts' resistance to abrasion, and such.
Posted: Fri Nov 28, 2008 1:45 am
by JohnSmith
On the other hand, it might be very useful inside the engine. I wonder what the temperature effects are on the material?