DIY Cooling Fibers Successfully Made!

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[Nighthawkinlight]

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This video ended up being quite a lengthy string of experiments that does finally land on success in the end. There are a number of things I'd like to try now that I've made cooling fibers, first of all to increase the scale of production so I can test various applications for clothing. Using PLA has some great advantages for its ability to biodegrade (under the right circumstances) and also an extremely favorable emission spectra in the infrared range for radiative cooling. The fibers made in this video I think could be suitable as is for certain semi rigid clothing items like hats, but possibly are too brittle for very flexible items like shirts. The brittleness might eventually be resolved by modifications on how the fibers are processed, or by mixing the PLA with plasticizers or another more stringy plastic. Of course I also have many more things to try to increase cooling performance further! Let me know what you'd like me to try next in this series. Check the video description for a link to the complete radiative cooling series to see my other videos on this topic.
- Ben

[PrivateLZG]

Him saying "I have a really good feeling about this" at minute 25 while the video is 1.5 hours long is never a good sign

[ojaimark]

I'm obsessed with this whole passive cooling saga. I think it's kind of a shame you didn't happen to have any fiber artists around to bounce ideas off of for this one. Seems like you got a bit focused on recreating fiberglass when in my opinion you're basically just rediscovering the process of how we figured out how to make yarn and faux wool from polymers like polyester and acrylic. They do it by cold extruding the polymer though thread sized holes relatively high up off the ground so that by the time it falls to the ground the solvent has sufficiently evaporated and the thread is cured. Then they take those threads and spin them into yarns. You were basically half way there with the fiberglass mat technique you landed on. By the looks of the final polymer mixture I'd bet you could have done a gravity fed extrusion by just elevating a foil pan with a few holes and letting it drip out. From there you can make mats of jumbled fibers or if you're feeling real adventurous you could try spinning it into yarn. If you did manage to do that I'd be happy to test it out and make some knit or woven samples to test the passive cooling with. Just saying.

[casey]

Despite your worry of people not liking the "extended" video format, I for one enjoyed seeing more of the process and would not mind seeing more of it.

[Knasen]

Not sure you're still seeing comments here but I'll give it a try. I'm writing this at the 1 hour mark, as you asked for suggestions. I work with research on fibre spinning processes, mainly "wet spinning". The cold process you're after is called "solution spinning", specifically. The idea is to extrude the solution straight into a coagulation bath, in your case water. This would also wash out the lubricant right away. But what you need is to draw, or stretch the fibres while extruding in order to orient the chains. The process you are replicating with the cotton candy machine would be "melt blowing", which is typically used for production of non-woven materials. Let me know if you have some questions regarding how to process this at a larger scale and I'll help you out.

[xanthirus]

fun fact, fiberglass insulation is made with basically a large heavy duty water cooled cotton candy machine, also pla pellets are significantly cheaper than the filament in bulk, and would be easier to feed

[IlusysSystems]

I was working a very boring job in a factory, so during free time I have accidentally created spiderweb shooting machine using compressed air and T pneumatic fitting. It was super simple:
I have dissolved PMMA in acetone, Then I got air gun for blowing air with 6mm nozzle. Connect T fitting to the nozzle and perpendicular to nozzle connect hose to plastic in solution. This makes vacuum by venturi effect and sucks the dissolved plastic. The effect is, that the solvent evaporates super quickly and you shoot out fibers.
Because the air is pressurized to about 7 bars, it shoots the fibers long distances, so this may not be best approach for your application.

[gordym]

This channel is definitely the most unique on YouTube, or anywhere. No drama, just genuine curiosity mixed with a willingness to fail for the sake of working towards a goal. Please keep going.

[claysparrows]

you call your process "semi scientific" but testing your hypotheses, failing, and trying again is as pure of science as it can get. just because you're not using fancy equipment with very fine control over experimental conditions in a lab doesn't mean you're not being scientifically rigorous. this channel has really reconnected me to my love of science, so thank you and please keep going!

[hiimmax]

I have two ideas. First, I saw a video from The Thought Emporium on making plastic fibre from milk. The fact that it’s milk is not important here, it’s the machine he used to make the fibers that’s important. I think you could use a similar setup to make some very long and thin fibers from your solution. Just use regular water and isopropyl instead of the chemicals he used to treat and clean the fibre since you don’t need it for the process you use. You could make a version of it that gives it a very long time for the fibre to dry out from the water bath if you start out by threading the machine with regular yarn/string first since the slime like nature of the solution gives me confidence that it would stick to the yarn and be able to get pulled into a fibre by it. This would allow you to thread a machine with a very long run time without having to guide the fibre through it as it grows. Second, I think you may be able to get a clump free solution if you dissolve the PEO in a solution first before mixing it in. I think it clumps up because it has difficulty dissolving into a solution that is already saturated. Also as a side note while PLA can decompose into safe chemicals, it has to be industrially composted in a specific way for that to happen. If you just throw your PLA clothes into nature they won’t decompose as you’re expecting. They’ll stick around for a very long time. I still think that PLA is a very viable option as it’s much more available than other plastics, including ones that do actually decompose on their own. But don’t give people the impression that it’ll just decompose if you throw it away like you did in the beginning of the video.

[render]

As someone who lives on the sweltering Gulf Coast, where the humidity is so high that sweat doesn't evaporate, I love, love, love your alternative cooling series! AND you're doing humanity a huge favor by making it freely public knowledge. Thank you so much, sir!

[jordanhause]

I love hearing the chuckle of a patient man when he faces a way NOT to accomplish his goals. I love how you don't pitch fits when something doesn't go right. Good job sticking with it.

[briansilvester]

Half a century ago I was a materials technologist in r. And d . This is what life was like on projects. Mostly just graft, with ups, downs, and occasionally wow, we made it !!

[NeilStansbury]

Some thoughts:
1) A magnetic stirring machine will save your sanity and time.
2a) Pour the "goo" mixture through a "pasta roller" to make large sheets rather than fibres
2b) Maybe a t-shirt "screen print" setup would allow you to layer thin sheets
3) Turn the "goo" mixture back into PLA strands and 3D print them.
4) Spin the fibres cold individually like nylon thread

[amdforever]

Hey Ben, and to anyone else that follows his example of paint spraying at the 41 minute mark; quick tip to fix your problem. With HVLP spray jets like that, and similar, the “tips” that protrude in front of the nozzle are directional air jets that shape the fan pattern of the spray. They should be parallel to the intended spray direction. In this example, you were spraying left-to-right-to-left; so you want those tips to be oriented left to right (or horizontal) of the nozzle - NOT up and down (or vertical). As you had the nozzle configured at the 41minute mark, the appropriate application direction would have been moving your spray pattern top-to-bottom-to-top for a much finer and even coating. Hope this helps ya Ben and anyone else that wants to follow along!

As always thanks for the great content!

[Meemoe_]

genuinely, thank you for showing us the whole process, including the messy bits and the screw ups and going over what you *think* went wrong, how you are changing your methods, and their results,
it is a much better representation of a scientific method, that more people need to see

[potatojz]

Long time 3d printer user here. That sweet candy smell and that brown "Carmel" you suspected was from the candy machine is exactly what burning PLA smells like and does when it's over heated.

[daemenoth]

I love that Ben always shows both the successes and failures like how real science is done. I also love his chuckle throughout the videos.

[miningbruno]

Yes, please do keep making long-form videos; I really don't like when Youtube scientists and engineers (I'm not using this expression derogatorily) cut out or greatly simplify the problems, mistakes, and dead ends of their journeys. Going through your reasonig is quite enlightening. Thank you!

[SloganPlay]

Man, I just love your videos. I've met many Phd's who aren't even half the scientist that you are. Your drive and enthusiasm while experimenting in your garage is what makes a good scientist. Not the frequency at which you can publish half arsed bread-crumb papers. Although sadly, academia would disagree with me there.

Anyways, congrats on your achievement!