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Starlite nuclear-blast resistant

Cassel

By Cassel
in Science & Spaceflight

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magnemoe

magnemoe

Posted
Posted

Material is real and was tested, now its almost sure the properties is blown up to be much better than it is in reality. 
it looks like it blow up into an foam and then work as an ablative carbon heat shield.
Now as the foam look fragile it might not work well for an heat shield compared existing materials. the puffed up surface is pretty uneven and its single use only. 
Probably work very well for fire protection as its just painted or sprayed n as an thick layer.


 

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p1t1o

p1t1o

Posted
Posted (edited)
32 minutes ago, Cassel said:

Is this real?

https://www.bbc.com/reel/playlist/searching-for-starlite?vpid=p06llpln

 

Unknown, but not outside the realm of possibility, given the massive lack of detail available (Does it ablate? Is it porous? Dense? What actually happens when exposed to extreme heat?).

It isnt actually all that unusual for things to have exciting properties but not really be well known. It isnt "suppression" or a conspiracy. For example, it may have excellent heat resistant properties, but if its mechanical strength is low or it wont adhere to anything, it may just be that it is not fit for purpose.

Most everything about Starlite seems to have been kept secret by its inventor, so cant really say much more than that.

Secrecy never fills me with confidence though, gotta say, although "NASA" seem to have been impressed by it.

 

NB: its not all that hard to resist the heat of a nuke, the thermal pulse only last for a few seconds, maximum. An ICBM silo is designed to resist all but a physical direct hit, and they do not require advanced heatproofing - concrete sufficient to resist the blast is more than sufficient to resist the heat, and if you are far enough away that blast is not an issue, then neither is the thermal pulse.

Edited by p1t1o
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MaverickSawyer

MaverickSawyer

Posted
Posted

Huh. Intriguing material with some truly amazing properties... but I'm curious as to how it would handle a more realistic scenario, such as being used to protect a structure from a wildfire. The carbon foam that it creates does appear to be remarkably fragile and easily delaminated, so I suspect that, in a high-wind environment, it wouldn't fare too well.

 

That said, in regards to the nuclear blast resistant question... as the MoD Science Officer said, it's thermal blast resistant. It appears that it would absolutely protect against the thermal pulse... but that's a fairly minor consideration for most of the area destroyed by a nuclear blast. The pressure wave that follows is what does the real damage.

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p1t1o

p1t1o

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To be honest, the amount of secrecy involved has to make me doubt all of the claims.

There are not samples, no manufacturing details, no compositional details. Literally all we have is some video footage, which cannot be quantified, and some soundbites from some important-sounding people.

I will file this away with those EM drive "thrusters" - pending significant further evidence.

 

We already have similar materials which can compete. Last I heard, space shuttle TPS tiles can withstand similar temperatures without charring.

 

And not for nothing but "thermal blast" is a weird term for a military scientist to use, it offers confusion on what effects are being resisted, especially in a nuclear context.

One article even uses the term "blast proof" - which is very misleading.

Makes me think that not many people who are talking about this material (in the media) know anything, they just know that some scientist from a while back made an interesting material once.

Edited by p1t1o
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magnemoe

magnemoe

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Posted
15 hours ago, p1t1o said:

To be honest, the amount of secrecy involved has to make me doubt all of the claims.

There are not samples, no manufacturing details, no compositional details. Literally all we have is some video footage, which cannot be quantified, and some soundbites from some important-sounding people.

I will file this away with those EM drive "thrusters" - pending significant further evidence.

 

We already have similar materials which can compete. Last I heard, space shuttle TPS tiles can withstand similar temperatures without charring.

 

And not for nothing but "thermal blast" is a weird term for a military scientist to use, it offers confusion on what effects are being resisted, especially in a nuclear context.

One article even uses the term "blast proof" - which is very misleading.

Makes me think that not many people who are talking about this material (in the media) know anything, they just know that some scientist from a while back made an interesting material once.

Stuff was tested multiple places so pretty sure some samples exist, however this is probably some polymer or other fairly complex organic, perhaps an mix of multiple even so not easy to reverse engineer. 
And frankly it probably had downsides so its not something you spend an billion trying to reverse engineer, both the space shuttle tiles and aerogel has similar properties but can not be painted on.
220px-Aerogelflower_filtered.jpg

Now add an paranoid inventor who was very afraid from other stealing his one trick pony invention rater than patent, license and get rich. Yes some might steal it but the major players would simply pay an licencing fee. 
Add the conspiracy theories who blow it out of water because the want drama. 
 

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NSEP

NSEP

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Posted

Baking powder, all purpose flour, cornstarch, water and plaster.

Mix all powders, then add water and mix.

(according to a random youtube comment)

I definitely think that Starlite is extremely simple and easy to make, even if the recipe above is not the actual recipe. If a person who runs a low-quality gaming channel (like the person in the video below) can do it, everyone can.

But considering it has the consistency of silly putty, it definitely can't withstand nuclear blasts.

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p1t1o

p1t1o

Posted
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20 hours ago, NSEP said:

Baking powder, all purpose flour, cornstarch, water and plaster.

Mix all powders, then add water and mix.

(according to a random youtube comment)

I definitely think that Starlite is extremely simple and easy to make, even if the recipe above is not the actual recipe. If a person who runs a low-quality gaming channel (like the person in the video below) can do it, everyone can.

But considering it has the consistency of silly putty, it definitely can't withstand nuclear blasts.

I dont know if anything about starlite is true, but if you take the most optimisitic interpretation - I dont think that that youtube video is any use.

Starlite allegedy withstood temperatures up to 10,000C whereas the kind of butane torch the guy uses in the video reaches a max of around 1500C, an enormous difference. Withstanding that kind of temperature for a short time is fairly trivial.

Im not even particularly impressed by the test shown in the video. Put almost any mass that size in between you and a flame and you will be "insulated". 

A steak for example, would react in almost exactly the same way and protect your hand from a torch for a good while.

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  • 2 weeks later...
qzgy

qzgy

Posted
Posted
On 10/15/2018 at 9:24 AM, Bill Phil said:

I mean, steel is technically nuclear blast resistant. Depending on distance from the epicenter.

By that logic so are humans.

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MaverickSawyer

MaverickSawyer

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2 hours ago, Bill Phil said:

Yes, but steel can be inside the fireball and survive. Humans obviously cannot.

Well... if treated properly, steel can survive that, yes. Look at the pusher plate for an Orion drive. If untreated, though, it'd be just as toast as a human.

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Bill Phil

Bill Phil

Posted
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9 hours ago, MaverickSawyer said:

Well... if treated properly, steel can survive that, yes. Look at the pusher plate for an Orion drive. If untreated, though, it'd be just as toast as a human.

Well the steel proper would probably survive but the actual structure is a different story. Of course steel is highly variable and no alloy is identical.

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