Engineering The Strongest Foam in the World

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As we race into the future of space travel, electric cars, and high impact sports, some of our biggest challenges are not actually how we design our future modes of transportation but what we actually build them with. It’s a brave new world, and with a new world, we need new materials. Unlike its soft padded equivalent, syntactic foam may be the material key to protecting ourselves in the future.
Read more about the future of material science on Motherboard: bit.ly/Shark-Dick
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[@t_c5266]

Fine! I'll FUCKING WATCH THIS. Stop suggesting it!

[@Rakesh37187]

Ron Jeremy ikr

[@kionera96]

Click on the 3 dots and select not interested, then it will stop suggesting similar videos

[@EnnTomi1]

same here wtf.

[@MrTributes]

cmon guys, it looks just like vice and that guy is totally casual and in our age group probly.. im way into foam now. being a kickass young person is awesome right other youthful consumers?

[@kyubbii2]

Don't lie to me Xplosio Lee, I've been clicking not interested on this shit every day for nearly a month now.

[@7orque]

lmfao the look on his face at 1:32

[@manspreader7854]

+Serenity rofl,yeah,that look screamed "Hey girls,imma science the SHIT out of dis foam"

[@Mr900Pro]

hahaha savage ;)

[@jm08a31]

Serenity he looks like mr bean

[@Monochromicornicopia]

Not very informative of the actual material

[@WoWkiddymage]

yeah this video is so dumb

[@mmmcake44]

Yea super uninformative

[@matthewchai614]

could be the choice of the facility to not show an experimental material due to it not being available for public use?

[@420KUSHWIN]

Idk if you didn't get it or what...but, he said Syntactic foam, look it up.. The video is how they engineer foam stronger than what we have now ..

[@matthewchai614]

***** I think it was informative on a technical level. Not necessarily a click bait video. It's in development, so it's not exactly a marketing video.

[@hendrikw4104]

I hate that these are so short... you just seem to tease us and get us really interested in a topic to just end it right there :(

[@WTF_BBQ]

It's okay, we probably won't see this technology for decades anyway. I remembered new technology on the show "Beyond 2000" which was a decade ago. I have yet to see those "new" technology today on the market.

[@ololh4xx]

gconol just looking at one episode of that series i can already see a few technologies which are already everywhere around you. Have you been living under a rock for the past 15 years, perhaps?

[@WTF_BBQ]

ololh4xx Been living under your mom. Waaat ? You can't get that with satellite !

[@ololh4xx]

gconol yeah that doesnt make any sense. Do your homework now, please

[@WTF_BBQ]

ololh4xx you know what doesn't make sense? You replying to a comment that you know didn't make sense in the first place..... Fail

[@SawyerKnight]

This is more important then whatever the hell it is the Kardashians are doing

[@WTF_BBQ]

90% of the population might disagree with you. Did you know that Kim spends over 1000$ a day for make-up ??

[@underfire131]

gconol haha, what a dumb bitch.

[@justblaze3417]

details of my bowel movement this morning are more important than what the kardashians are doing

[@WTF_BBQ]

Josh undigested carrots??

[@justblaze3417]

gconol spinach, actually.

[@DDG2023]

Sir Face of the Moon - new super hero name, I called it.

[@davaughnallen3324]

Great video... I just had a nerdgasm

[@silvermediastudio]

Terrible video. 5+ minutes to receive about 8 seconds worth of information.

[@eddiewilliams4532]

U need to find a job and stop looting stores gangster..

[@eddiewilliams4532]

Or should I say thug ..

[@alexzerk3495]

eddie williams really dude..?

[@EVZebra]

I took hollow glass bead and polystyrene balls and mixed it in with epoxy resin. First I mixed in the hollow glass bead until the epoxy was saturated and the hollow glass bead would no longer go into the mix. Then I poured off the excess hollow glass bead and then added (about 50% of the volume) the polystyrene bean bag balls. Once it set up it was so hard you could hit it with a hammer, and it didn't break as the epoxy has a compressive stress of about 100 MPa - steel is 280 MPa - and it floated on water, so you can make this stuff at home pretty easily and its very strong indeed.

[@dogodogo5891]

tell me more about that idont get why you put excess hollow beads pour them of and put polystyrene?

[@killercaos123]

that navy ship looked AWESOME! Super impressive.

[@reymon093]

The guys that take care of music in these videos is really good!! This thumb up is for you :)

[@XerosXIII]

good luck, we all need that to become half of batman

[@TheMANANATA]

The other half is dead parents.

[@XerosXIII]

preferably by super foam

[@luisportolebron5972]

Nate C lol

[@backseatslidepuzzle]

XerosXIII you want to become a part of batman?

[@BruceWayneReal]

XerosXIII I'm full batman

[@georgemassey2710]

0:36 don't be that guy in the white truck -_-

[@Darkstar_8473]

Of course he's an East Indian guy because Americans are too busy making bigger and better burgers ...

[@Halsfield]

***** You do realize "America" is one of the most diverse countries there is right? Even if it isnt many people consider the USA to be a fast track to a better life if they move there.He also pretty clearly has white kids that are research students working under him.

[@Stickmanvan2]

***** you realize he's in an American University, right?

[@Darkstar_8473]

Stickmanvan2 ... see what I mean ... no shit Sherlock ... HE is NOT American; the University IS but HE ISN'T.

[@antihero898]

blue123456ization "American Politicians". Like we have control over anything our shit government ever does.

[@blue123456ization]

And that guy is not "East Indian",he is just an "Indian"

[@ThaRealGecko]

I need a new motherboard... is this a good one? O.o

[@holownsu]

so what do you do for a job?.... I fill stuff with bubbles :D

[@neo69121]

holownsu youre a useless piece of pathetic shit

[@holownsu]

neo69121 i suppose you about sum up the internet eh?... i write some nice little comment about bubbles and you throw all your hatred and anger at me.......

[@edism]

holownsu Nah, I think he has seen all the retarded comments on this video and is having a breakdown lol

[@holownsu]

Edward Yeboah seems so 0_o

[@holownsu]

***** commenting about cute little bubbles is full of hate? lel

[@vecust]

People always make fun of Indians because of their accent. However, you can find a couple of those guys in any science firms and laboratories across the States. We may be using stuffs that they've created without knowing. Impressive!

[@weareallbeingwatched4602]

Don't worry, if you were to go live in India and speak Hindi, they'd find your accent equally comical.

[@incubus627]

It would have been nice to show more about the foam...

[@JNSNBTTN]

0:28 lightweight potatoes would be a great invention too

[@lcarthel]

I look forward to the future, and am grateful to be alive to see Moore's Law unfold at this point in technological history as we accelerate ever faster toward some sort of singularity.

[@dr.ofdubiouswisdom4189]

Seems to me this stuff is engineered volcanic rock - light, porous, & structurally extremely rigid.

[@MarcusAseth]

listen to this man talking somehow I feel like I have wiruses on my computer... :\

[@awsomewoodyful]

Marcus Aseth I think you mean a wirrrus

[@zaiux]

I think he means each and everything (but mostly everything)

[@noahimic9610]

Marcus Aseth lewis teckkk

[@hey8174]

Hedo. I am mary from microsoft, your pc seems to have a wirus.

[@RGun90]

"Have I answered your questions satisfactorily and offered GOOD CUSTOMER SERVICE?!"

[@marlenebean]

whoa wasn't expecting to see my school lol I always wondered what that lab was for...

[@DaedalEVE]

For those who are curious about a basic way of making this stuff: You put ceramic micro-spheres (which are hollow) and aluminum in a furnace under vacuum at around 700°c for a couple hours, then you flood the inside of the furnace with argon gas. The argon forces the aluminum down into the ceramic microspheres, basically creating an aluminum latice around the hollow ceramic microspheres. This creates an open cell metallic foam. After cooling, you clean the material, flushing out the remains of the ceramic microspheres (the cooling process should damage their structure). After cleaning the matrix, it is then reheated under controlled conditions and the open cells are allowed to close, creating a closed cell matrix. Consiquently, you can create a DIAMOND latice using a combination of microspheres and chemichal vapor deposition. No one has done this yet, that I know of, because I just thought of it. :P

[@tamarockstar09]

ok we just need you to stand there and pose for every shot.

[@JanDoggen]

As Neill remarked earlier, surprisingly little information about what kind of materials we are talking about. Now we know how this associate professor works, but hardly what he is working on. It's not a trade secret, some physics and chemistry would've been nice.

[@consultkeithyoung8982]

I wish this went more in depth. Any material properties? Is this used alone, or in composites? Do they expect this material to be manufactured in an affordable way?

[@johndoe-ou7cp]

anyone see that 1995 dell pc...top of the line i wonder where the 56k modem is ...

[@ethangilbertmedia]

Donald Keyes yeah lol with all the high tech stuff and they have an old pc with Windows XP lol

[@aaronedw77]

Many high frequency data acquisition cards use the older PCI bus and do not have updated drivers. I have even seen ISA cards still in use in some applications. These are not consumer products that get updated marketing every year. If you can find a better way to sample 8 - 128 channels of data between 20 and 150 million samples per second with sub-micosecond jitter and inter channel coherence, you should start looking for venture capital today.

[@afsanehrabiei5994]

This is just repeating our study on composite metal foams in a different name!!!

[@jeromepineau]

Yes I was just going to ask about that! :)

[@matthewm9949]

I really enjoy the presenter, he has the right amount of enthusiasm and excitement to make anyone interested in the topics he presents.

[@TheMANANATA]

They should hook this guy up with the engineer working on the geodesic spheres for fish farming. Ultra light, buoyant, strong materials would be perfect for that.

[@TitanicTruths]

we just got a sample of syntactic foam to begin testing for deep sea salvage.

[@lellowranger]

Great video, I don't know why people are complaining that it isn't informative.

[@Punishthefalse]

Because they only pay attention to the 'Strongest Foam in the World' part of the title and missed out on the 'Engineering' part.

[@ellielikeswater7979]

How about a wicking material foam for adsorbtion refrigeration ? Like a really good nano sponge for water or alcohol ?

[@DougsterCanada1]

Thanks for the insights in this video. It's always nice to see where research hopes to take us.

[@TheFrankieHoe]

When u put a link at bottom on the screen, that is this small, it is impossible to press caused by the standard youtube menu.

[@JashanKishore]

I wish he had talked a little more about the applications. It will definitely be interesting to see what kinds of uses people find for these interesting materials once they become more widely available for commercial use.

[@iant720]

Why can't my college have a professor like this, instead of some shmuck who just took physics class 20 years ago... we have no real lab, no materials... just read out of the fucking book.... I feel at a huge disadvantage to people who go to these schools. I'm taking ME btw at Baker. It's all I can afford.

[@richardwills3927]

After you finish college you have a chance to work with people like this. Only if you believe its possible. Keep moving forward live yore dream.

[@aslanburnley]

Maybe you should be an MET instead? Mechanical engineering technology is basically applied ME. ME is more theoretical. Ideally, you should probably double major as an ME and MET, or do what alot of people do, which is to double major in ME and EE.

[@iant720]

aslan burnley Actually I should've clarified I am taking the MET program, I figured I can always go back if I decide I want the full 4 year. I wanted to start working soon as possible in my field. And I have, I have a kickass job in production engineering. It's only up from here :)

[@willdog3]

Shit schools wont help you much. You can look in a book all day but no company is gonna hire you unless you have lab work, or some kind of hands on work that you can show them. Knowing everything is one thing, but knowing how to use that knowledge is something else completely. If someone asked me if they should go to college, I would say; only if you can afford a really good one. Because unless you are at a really good college, you can learn all of that stuff on your own and you wont be in huge debt for it. Instead, if you cant afford school, focus on finding internships and jobs, where you can learn how to apply knowledge, not just the knowledge itself. That will make you more money, faster, and keep you out of debt. I know self taught programmers who make as much as programmers who have their master's degree. Its not really about the degree, its more about the experience and your knowledge. College is just a very formal way of getting 4 years of good experience. 4 years at a very good company would teach you just as much or more.

[@willdog3]

MET stands for Mechanical Engineering Technician, but you are right, it's more hands on. Nobody should really do regular mechanical or electrical engineering unless they want to be teachers.

[@tired2sleep]

as a mechanical engineering student this gives me a really good insight into the field

[@xiexiethankyou2192]

New and incredible syntactic foam man, with syntactic foaming powers. Lighters than conventional building block materials on cars, planes and ships. Stronger than your average foam, than your average sponge even stronger than bubble wrap. Syntactic foam man, the lightest, fuel efficient, shock absorbing man in the world.

[@alexandero.4496]

How does one check stress fracture formation that form inside the syntactic foam? Is it even possible to check it...is it worth using in cycle stress machinery if you cannot check for fracture formations?

[@bnm5015]

Decent video, but the strength of the foam and even more so the use of this foam due to it's strength versus the use of other specific materials would have been nice to include so we, the viewers would have a better idea of what we're looking at. Yes, I realize we can go look up the information for ourselves, but this gives us little more than the name and microscopic view of the material. Again, not bad, but too short... much too short.

[@ph11p3540]

That's cute. The new USS Zumwalt destroyer is a foam boat. I heard of this weird engineered steel foam I just didn't know it was actually used in a practical application.

[@ThunderKat]

Is that Jason Koebler compatible with new upcoming Intel CPUs?

[@joshlambert8361]

hahaaha

[@travismechanic]

gotta love the c clamps all over the bar machine like it was half built and they just said well we dont use those clamps anyway and there as good as bolts! lol

[@michaelovitch]

You reduce the weight, you only reduce fuel consumption,not increase efficiency.....

[@o2Hayden]

Which a lower fuel consumption is more efficient.

[@michaelovitch]

+o2Hayden The technology isn't. If i load my car with 300 kgs of bricks,it will suck more fuel than empty. The efficiency is not better empty than full of bricks as i know. It's just less loaded. efficiency is the same work done with less.

[@o2Hayden]

michaelovitch He never claimed the technology is, he just said that its more efficient. Which it is.

[@meforsure]

+michaelovitch air drag is the biggest factor for fuel consumption in cars. weight is less important if u are moving at a steady speed

[@michaelovitch]

+meforsure it's not the bigger,and i agree about steady speed. the problem is acceleration.

[@asweproceed52]

1:30 Well that's not awkward at all....

[@joshuawangadi1710]

Where is the foam?

[@z1lla4]

Joshua Wangadi in his anus :^)

[@kev3010pl]

1:30 ooohh yeaaah

[@vishva8kumara]

"Occult Integer", that's the meaning of his name.. Very cool stuff they are doing. I was wondering.. Meteorites also have metals smelted in zero gravity are also formed like a sponge..

[@mustafakhalil007]

Prof Nikhil Gupta , where to find hollow metal particles?

[@daftrhetoric]

Very flat video. Didn't deliver on exploring the material either. It was mostly an interview with a very uninteresting man with a brief demonstration of a mundane piece of lab equipment.

[@bigb0ss282]

daftrhetoric indians, THAT'S WHY.

[@RumblerGaming]

I feel like Motherboard is the poorest channel from vice.

[@daftrhetoric]

I don't find him interesting, but I respect his vocation and his ethnicity. Choose not to be bigots.

[@kostaad]

Just show the foam you were talking about at least. "Here is a video about best chocolate in the world", showing an indian next to a cocoa tree speaking in a boring manner about irrigation.

[@supermegajaime]

daftrhetoric he is very smart. research is not interesting unless you love what you are investigating.

[@LennartDoering]

Whats that thing at 3:47 ?? Looks like some sort of soundsource

[@dameonfzanola]

Wish old Gupta a good one! Cool work ya are adding to there my friend. Thanks Gupta and all you scientists out there adding to the wealth of amazing thangs! Main!

[@MoY206]

Pretty kewl. I can see applications for motorcycle riders too.

[@TheRoomer5533]

1:17 You know he's a nerd when he compares something to the moon

[@Michael-im2gp]

So what's the name of this strongest foam in the world? What is it called? What are its properties?

[@slevinshafel9395]

0:55 How is made the "syntatic foam"? How you get hollow buble as see in 0:59 ? Because is not like airgel where all hollow rooms are conected with others and air flow can pass. this are closed bubble right? That make this interesded, this make thermal gap for better isolation and gain structural integrity at same time. Seeing your video only i think thic can be done by premade the hollow balls the size you want ant the same material you wil introduce it, and after somehow you turn the liquid metal to fill the gaps(dont know if this melt the hollow balls). But after this is how you bake hollow balls of a metal? is not the same make filled metal ball. Can be made as pingpong or tenis balls in 2 parts and unify after. How you make it?

[@therealdeadpen]

The world's strongest foam reminds me of the world's fastest midget.

[@oak9888]

thank you, come again

[@hiey7]

Oops I spilled some of my gasoline on my foam....

[@aluisious]

Interesting video. I always like to see people using an SEM, and material science interests me.

[@lesouder2222]

It would be so cool to meet him. He's so fucking smart!

[@Horesmi]

Nikhil Gupta? Now that's a surname with a legacy!

[@computername]

So they say engineering people are boring? Now look at this.. syntactic foam! How cool is that...

[@chumpalounka]

Motherboard and Vice how are they related?

[@DONTTRYPCHOCOLATECHIP]

that doctor is lit AF

[@momsspaghetti9970]

Is the idea to make multiple tiny crumple zones for the foam?

[@HyperSpeed84]

What kind of gas is interpreted in the internal spherical structure?

[@JJose-22]

i dont think there is any gas in there D:

[@akshaysinha2711]

Probably just air!

[@KiR_3d]

I've didn't noticed what are this syntactic foam's characteristics. It's a strange "demo".

[@turbothrottletrouble4217]

You didn't actually explain about the material itself in depth rather how it applies to cars and moving vehicles and how would it benefit society. Maybe, next time, talk about what you promised us to show, then talk about the applications

[@STEVENCARMANNEWELL]

Really like this guy!

[@Staminist-MMF-80]

*Thank you, come again!*

[@eliyahukinniburgh7978]

can syntactic foam absorb liquids or liquid metals?

[@eXe09]

Unless it has open pores, then no. And it looks like this has closed pores (sound logical - you don't want to sink the ship :))

[@TheRealFobican]

0:54 the syntactic foam somehow looks as a navel string.

[@amarrch100]

How does one design such material ?

[@strengthteam8535]

The strongest foam in the world

[@seyyednaqvi6760]

The strongest foam in the world

[@xznb]

So in my university. 1000 of us are Mechanical Engineering, 2 of them are material science.

[@StarCrusher.]

What the hell are you talking about, the host seems like a cool guy.

[@silvermediastudio]

You think douche-bags are cool guys?

[@StarCrusher.]

800lb Gorilla Please explain how he's a douchebag

[@silvermediastudio]

StarCrusher How much time do you have? He's completely unprepared for the interview, knows practically zero on the topic (if he does it doesn't show), asked no meaningful questions, provided nothing of value to the spot. He brought a moronic kid in a candy store attitude to what is likely some very interesting and important research. His description of what might be dangerous about the machine was idiotic at best and oh, the sample is "really really destroyed," thanks for that insight. Good night.

[@WhatIsFinance168]

800lb Gorilla He also probably didn't personally edit the video so maybe the editors cut out all of the parts he talked in to focus more on what the actual SCIENTIST was saying. Why don't you stop jumping to conclusions and judging someone you saw in a video for 5 minutes. He probably is a very cool person

[@huntzkush]

Had to turn on captions lol

[@brianthered]

Did this guy have clearance to talk about this foam? You guys realize that is a big part of the Stealth ability in dampening SONAR for submarines..

[@Tedminat0r]

Brian the Red Are you allowed to tell us this? *calls police*

[@TBullCajunbreadmaker]

Does anyone believe that under all of the rock,dust, and other materials that are covering the surface of the moon that a type of this engineered foam is what might make up the layer that is directly under the surface material? This is probably what these experiments are being directed toward. Can you imagine how easily that an underground chamber would be to create? This type of material could also be used to form habitat that would be on top of the surface of a celestial body as well. Hell, farther down the road lets bring a few cans and make the framework for a habitat in orbit. The possibilities are endless for being used in construction in space. Extremely strong, lightweight, radiation protective properties, impervious to strikes by cosmic debris, almost limitless ways to construct massive biologically self-sustaining forms of living spaces for large populations to live in while being safely transported to safety zones in case of world catastrophes.

[@ariesmight4141]

5:22 of B.S.

[@davidreruk3924]

3:20 isn't that classified?

[@Pushyhog]

5 years ago, not at home depot yet.

[@syhi7971]

nikhil gupta is high af!! 1:14

[@rkpetry]

1. What kind of "analogy"-texture? Strength? Density? Index of crushability? Granularity...? 2. Didn't even clue the school student as to Why hollow spheres do anything, {distribution of linear forces to compression-forces?}, Or, how it differs from foamed concrete... Maybe his "analogy" is a euphemism for 'pareidolia'....

[@Ali-bm4nh]

1:50 Is that blood on the metal???

[@L00NGB00W]

It's probably lubricant.

[@MisterRed6]

L00NGB00W Blood is the best lubricant.

[@L00NGB00W]

MisterRed6 Can't argue with you there. ;)

[@johnfranks]

Dykem (layout fluid). Used for laying out your cuts prior to manual milling. You can see the horizontal scribe mark made by the machinist. A smaller mark was likely made for the vertical intersect. That intersect is then center punched then drilled out on a mill or drill press.

[@silvermediastudio]

Ali Mohamud No it's layout fluid for marking the brackets prior to fabrication.

[@rachmatsukmana2099]

bring it on! massly we will need own planet

[@SimplyMyAccount]

This guy has no confidence. Moment he came on screen I was underwhelmed. Sorry m8, but the reporting in this video is r/cringe

[@christiandilly7039]

where can i buy these

[@tdawg719]

Thank god for Closed caption

[@Daffitt]

I also have something that is stiff, lightweight and hard simultaneously.

[@raydavis2904]

This was more about the Prof than the material.

[@zzyrtek]

Cool video until he talked about mining the moon at the end :/ ......

[@rilluma]

is that black mesa

[@MrKane101111]

Would have liked to hear more facts and numbers.

[@VerdeMorte]

This is the same stuff they used to restrain the Hulk...

[@ChristopherLazarusFunny]

i would'nt have guessed that the Indian docs name is Gupta :D

[@obese1konobe]

Try combing your hair ....hippy! :-)

[@n8neiTen8n]

Why does all the Indian males have exactly the same voice? :D

[@eddy-currents]

+n8neiTen8n They would if you only interact with Indians from India.

[@2531Prasad]

Indian food is the reason, it's too oily most of the time which makes them sound softer. But if you look at any Indian born in any foreign country they don't sound like this cause they adapt foreign food style unless they eat Indian at home.

[@eddy-currents]

+Prasad Bankar They have the same accents dude. So obvious to the external observer.