A new material may one day keep mussels off piers and boat hulls. The bivalves can’t get a grip on this slippery silicone material

[rangerrebew]

A new material may one day keep mussels off piers and boat hulls
The bivalves can’t get a grip on this slippery silicone material
By
Laurel Hamers
1:00pm, October 24, 2017

Shellfish stowaways on boat hulls could become castaways, thanks to a superslippery material.

Crowds of mussels can grab onto ships, piers and other infrastructure. They slow down the boats they commandeer, and they’re expensive to remove. The hitchhikers can even travel to new places and become invasive species (SN: 3/18/17, p. 30). A new lubricant-infused material could one day help prevent mussels from getting a grip in the first place, scientists report in the Aug. 18 Science.

[thackney]

@rangerrebew

Do you have a link?

[Frank Cannon]

@rangerrebew

Do you have a link?

[thackney]

I ask a simple question and you call a Mod on me?  At least you didn't call the whole Squad.

[Suppressed]

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/new-material-may-one-day-keep-mussels-piers-and-boat-hulls

[thackney]

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/new-material-may-one-day-keep-mussels-piers-and-boat-hulls

Thanks!

Researchers modified a flexible silicone material to which Asian green mussels (Perna viridis) ordinarily stick liberally, suffusing it with a silicone lubricant. Some of the lubricant forms a thin, liquid layer and smooths out any microscopic roughness on the material’s surface; the rest creates a reservoir within the material’s pores. When the top layer wears off, the reservoir replenishes it.

I wonder if this is a noticeable change in the drag of a vessel, less fuel used?