University of Missouri spokesman, Christian Basi, also points to the public grant process and adds that the research has been published in a publicly available peer review journal. It’s worth nothing that some of the co-authors of the cloaking study published in the journal of the American Physical Society are Chinese with at least one Chinese institution, the Dalian University of Technology, a public research university located in Dalian and Panjin in Liaoning province, China.Īs to whether that’s a concern, Army spokesman, Tom Moyer would only say, 'Army sponsored basic research grants, as public assistance instruments of the Federal government, are not presently subject to restrictions on foreign participation in the sponsored research.' The next phase will look at the structure’s efficacy against three-dimensional wave forms. The University of Missouri researchers have so far demonstrated their lattice-work structure’s effectiveness in protecting against two-dimensional mechanical waves (like those present in an earthquake). Lab equipment used by MU researchers to refine and study lattice-type metamaterial structures. “We can design the material to steer the wave, this mechanical energy, in a specific direction or position where we could then put damping material and the energy would be damped-out,” Huang offers. “If designers could incorporate this lightweight lattice structure you could potentially make a vehicle lighter,” Cole says.įor larger systems like airplanes or ships, it may be enough to cloak select substructures to make the whole more tolerant to fatigue or battle damage. It could yield ancillary benefits as well. His team has investigated both active and passive cloaking, the former a broadband solution that covers all mechanical waves and the latter a tailored solution wherein the metamaterial can be tuned to protect structures (like components) from specific mechanical wave frequencies.Ĭloaking smaller objects like components or pieces of soldier equipment - helmets, armor vests, boots, communications gear or weapons – would seem a logical early application for metamaterial once the science advances enough to get there. If you can develop that can shield or cloak mechanical vibration, even at particular frequencies, then you could potentially reduce fatigue damage to sensitive parts.”ĭr. “We spend a lot time replacing components within those structures. There, research discussions commonly centered on aerospace structures, on helicopters and fatigue life. We still have a lot of work to do.”ĭan Cole calls the Missouri metamaterial “potentially foundational.” He came to his current post from ARL’s Vehicle Technology Directorate at Aberdeen Proving Ground. So far, it’s theoretically possible but it’s difficult to fabricate. “If you want to cloak a submarine, then you need to cover its whole area. Getting bigger than that would be an effort, he admits. In fact the professor affirms that he could cloak a one meter-sized object right now.

Huang asserts that his team’s metamaterial design could be “a nearly perfect protective device.” In addition to its conformal character it is potentially scale-able.

of Missouri College of Engineering University of Missouriĭr. Guoliang Huang, Professor in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department at the University.

Military invisible blanket