Philosophy
Vince Offer and Billy Mays
We have all seen them from 60 second commercials to infomercials--the carny barkers, charlatans, hucksters, snake oil merchants. They always have some revolutionary product that we must have. Two of the biggies are Billy Mays and Vince Offer. They are selling miracle goods that will change our lives all for $19.95 plus shipping and handling and, if you call within the next ten minutes we will double the offer. These guys are masters of the conartist's game. Talk fast, make the goods look great, grab the money, and run. Usually, it is junk. Yesterday, I saw Billy Mays, in his obnoxious loud voice, selling a scratch remover which reminded me of a genuine science involving polymer chemistry--that polyurethane can be "repaired". [See article below]. Billy claims that furniture and automobile scratches can be easily removed. So, I checked the Internet to see what people were saying about this great product. Nearly every one commenting had nothing good to say: The product never did what it promised to do, it left undesirable results, and customer service was terrible. The lesson to be learned is that most of these products are worthless and that the consumer should be more savvy.
IMAGINE YOU ACCIDENTALLY scratch your car's paint when you leave your garage in the morning. Now picture that paint repairing itself with the help of sunshine during your commute to work. That sort of application is the long-term goal of research that's just been reported by polymer scientists Marek W. Urban and Biswajit Ghosh of the University of Southern Mississippi (Science 2009, 323, 1458).
The paper describes a new self-repair approach for a polyurethane coating, says Nancy R. Sottos, a materials scientist at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Several self-healing compounds already exist. For example, Sottos and others have designed materials that release embedded healing reactants when cracked. Other researchers have produced materials in which "the crack-mending process is initiated by an external thermal-, mechanical-, chemical-, or photo-induced stimulus," she says.
The first photochemical repair of a polymeric material was reported by a Korean team (Chem. Mater. 2004, 16, 3982). The researchers produced their polymeric film by irradiating cinnamate monomers with UV light to form cyclobutane cross-links. Any cross-links subsequently broken by cracking could be fixed with another dose of UV light.
Urban says his own work differs by incorporating a minimal amount of a self-healing additive into polyurethane. He believes his technique could be broadly applicable because the additive could be incorporated into many other types of coating materials.
The researchers synthesized the additive by linking chitosan, a polysaccharide derived from crab and shrimp shells, to oxetanes, which are four-membered rings containing three carbon atoms and an oxygen. The additive also covalently bonds to the urethane polymers. When a scratch damages the material, exposure to UV light initiates a free-radical process that cross-links broken chitosan and oxetane fragments, repairing the damage in less than an hour.
So far, Urban and Ghosh have demonstrated the technique with microscopic scratches that are about 10 µm wide. Further work will be needed to show the strength of the repaired material and whether the technique can handle macroscopic scratches.
Billy Mays
Vince Offer
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Philosophy
Repair your scratch?...Billy Mays can--NOT
Vince Offer and Billy MaysWe have all seen them from 60 second commercials to infomercials--the carny barkers, charlatans, hucksters, snake oil merchants. They always have some revolutionary product that we must have. Two of the biggies are Billy Mays and Vince Offer. They are selling miracle goods that will change our lives all for $19.95 plus shipping and handling and, if you call within the next ten minutes we will double the offer. These guys are masters of the conartist's game. Talk fast, make the goods look great, grab the money, and run. Usually, it is junk. Yesterday, I saw Billy Mays, in his obnoxious loud voice, selling a scratch remover which reminded me of a genuine science involving polymer chemistry--that polyurethane can be "repaired". [See article below]. Billy claims that furniture and automobile scratches can be easily removed. So, I checked the Internet to see what people were saying about this great product. Nearly every one commenting had nothing good to say: The product never did what it promised to do, it left undesirable results, and customer service was terrible. The lesson to be learned is that most of these products are worthless and that the consumer should be more savvy.
"Coating Fixes Its Own Scratches"
UV light helps replace broken cross-links in polyurethane
by
Sophie L. Rovner
March 16th, 2009
Chemical & Engineering News
UV light helps replace broken cross-links in polyurethane
by
Sophie L. Rovner
March 16th, 2009
Chemical & Engineering News
IMAGINE YOU ACCIDENTALLY scratch your car's paint when you leave your garage in the morning. Now picture that paint repairing itself with the help of sunshine during your commute to work. That sort of application is the long-term goal of research that's just been reported by polymer scientists Marek W. Urban and Biswajit Ghosh of the University of Southern Mississippi (Science 2009, 323, 1458).
The paper describes a new self-repair approach for a polyurethane coating, says Nancy R. Sottos, a materials scientist at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Several self-healing compounds already exist. For example, Sottos and others have designed materials that release embedded healing reactants when cracked. Other researchers have produced materials in which "the crack-mending process is initiated by an external thermal-, mechanical-, chemical-, or photo-induced stimulus," she says.
The first photochemical repair of a polymeric material was reported by a Korean team (Chem. Mater. 2004, 16, 3982). The researchers produced their polymeric film by irradiating cinnamate monomers with UV light to form cyclobutane cross-links. Any cross-links subsequently broken by cracking could be fixed with another dose of UV light.
Urban says his own work differs by incorporating a minimal amount of a self-healing additive into polyurethane. He believes his technique could be broadly applicable because the additive could be incorporated into many other types of coating materials.
The researchers synthesized the additive by linking chitosan, a polysaccharide derived from crab and shrimp shells, to oxetanes, which are four-membered rings containing three carbon atoms and an oxygen. The additive also covalently bonds to the urethane polymers. When a scratch damages the material, exposure to UV light initiates a free-radical process that cross-links broken chitosan and oxetane fragments, repairing the damage in less than an hour.
So far, Urban and Ghosh have demonstrated the technique with microscopic scratches that are about 10 µm wide. Further work will be needed to show the strength of the repaired material and whether the technique can handle macroscopic scratches.
Billy Mays
Vince Offer
- Paintable Battery...incredible Technology
Researchers at Rice University have developed a lithium-ion battery that can be painted on virtually any surface. The rechargeable battery consists of spray-painted layers, each representing the components in a traditional battery.In an experiment, nine...
- Bobbie Gentry Turns 66 Today
Bobbie Gentry July 27th, 1944 A laid back tale from the South. Sort of a one hit wonder but still a thoughtful tune. Ode to Billie Joe 1967 Ode to Billie Joe It was the third of June, another sleepy, dusty Delta day I was out choppin' cotton and...
- Argonne National Laboratory--the Art Of Physics
BUOYANCY-DRIVEN TURBULENT NUCLEAR COMBUSTION TOTAL VELOCITY (3RD) Computer simulations illustrate star explosions and shed light on concepts like dark matter. Brad Gallagher and Mike Papka, SM’02, PhD’09, show the thermonuclear-powered combustion...
- Gold, Silver--invest In...
Silver, gold--invest in brokers, smelters, mining facilities and not the physical product. New nanotecnologies and materials will open up a new demand for silver and gold. "Silver, Gold Makes for Cheap, Flexible Touch Screens" These new touch screens...
- "television Infomercials" Poll
A rare photo of the Oxford and Bruno preparing their stick in selling highly concentrated Acapulco catnip for "purrfect" mental "cattentment" on the Cat Channel...all for $19.95 plus $4.95 for shipping and handling. [The product is actually dried grass...