How NASA Reinvented The Wheel
NASA have made a wheel capable of withstanding tough Martian terrain, but just how indestructible is it? Head to https://hensonshaving.com/veritasium and enter code ‘Veritasium’ for 100 free blades with the purchase of a razor. Make sure to add both the razor and the blades to your cart for the code to take effect.
▀▀▀
A huge thanks to everyone at NASA Glenn Research Center for having us at the SLOPE Lab, showing their work on this indestructible tire, and helping with the science and animation.
A huge thanks to everyone at Smart Tire Co for showing us around their facility, teaching us about nitinol, and letting us flatten their tires.
▀▀▀
References:
Steel Rod Footage – https://ve42.co/SteelRod
H. Föll. 8.4.1 – Martensite. University of Kiel, Faculty of Engineering – https://ve42.co/Foell
Bhattacharya, K. (1998). Theory of martensitic microstructure and the shape-memory effect – https://ve42.co/Bhattacharya1998
Bhattacharya, K. (2003). Microstructure of martensite: why it forms and how it gives rise to the shape-memory effect (Vol. 2). Oxford University Press. – https://ve42.co/MartensiteBook
Shaw, J. A. (2008). Tips and tricks for characterizing shape memory alloy wire: part 1—differential scanning calorimetry and basic phenomena. Experimental Techniques – https://ve42.co/Shaw2008
Buehler, W. J., Gilfrich, J. V., & Wiley, R. C. (1963). Effect of low‐temperature phase changes on the mechanical properties of alloys near composition TiNi. Journal of applied physics, 34(5), 1475-1477.
▀▀▀
Special thanks to our Patreon supporters:
Emil Abu Milad, Tj Steyn, meg noah, Bernard McGee, KeyWestr, Amadeo Bee, TTST, Balkrishna Heroor, John H. Austin, Jr., john kiehl, Anton Ragin, Benedikt Heinen, Diffbot, Gnare, Dave Kircher, Burt Humburg, Blake Byers, Evgeny Skvortsov, Meekay, Bill Linder, Paul Peijzel, Josh Hibschman, Mac Malkawi, Juan Benet, Ubiquity Ventures, Richard Sundvall, Lee Redden, Stephen Wilcox, Marinus Kuivenhoven, Michael Krugman, Cy ‘kkm’ K’Nelson, Sam Lutfi.
▀▀▀
Written by Derek Muller, Katie Barnshaw, & Emily Zhang
Edited by Trenton Oliver
Animated by Mike Radjabov & Ivy Tello
Coordinated by Emily Zhang
Filmed by Derek Muller, Emily Zhang & Raquel Nuno
Additional video/photos supplied by Getty Images & Pond5
Music from Epidemic Sound
Produced by Derek Muller, Petr Lebedev, & Emily Zhang
Thumbnail by Ignat Berbeci
As an engineer I’ve known of nitinol for a while, did some labs with it in college. But I never saw the example of bending the nitinol pipe in half and have it return to shape. Awesome material
We can help scientists by processing data from Boinc distributed computing software
doesn’t pebbles or sand accumulated inside such mesh tyres?😂
I saw it a while ago on YT. Someone showed joe the metal returns to memory. They were testing for military vehicles.
7:13 yyeah but check out the tyres kicking up that moon dust in “low” gravity
I love the excitement and positive energy from all those engineers! They’re really happy to show their work.
We genuinely love what we do and hope to have a major impact in the future!
As an engineer grad who had to work with material science this video was very facinating, and really gets you trying to think about other applications for such a material. I bet racecar companies are looking into this material for their tires. I wonder if you could use this material with appropriate heat controls to increase traction or decrease traction of the tire during the race. If so, I could easily see it being one of the biggest improvements to long-term race times as you could “deflate” the tire on harsh turns, and to slow down leading into them, and then “inflate” the tire on straights for speed.
On god
We can help scientists to develop better materials by processing data from Boinc distributed computing software
think about it the other way around. tire problems in racing come from the tires heating and the tire expands and pressures go up causing the tires to wear and contact patch to decrease. imagine a tire that was more inflated when its cold and less inflated as its heated. you would have a more stable tire that basically stays the same at any speed or load or turn. that would be good. but i feel like metal rubbing around inside rubber is going to kill what they use for a tire skin. just the metal mesh would be terrible for traction so something will be over it im sure.
maybe when pouring the rubber or silicone for the tire they could put the mesh in the mold and use this stuff like the belts in a tire so it wouldnt rub on the skin but be part of it and keep it in its shape like a skeleton.
@BigMitchy i dunno man. up to the engineers to figure it out. or just probably not suitable for that purpose
What i really like about this videos, is the fact that the people that work in these places are actually nice and kind and are willing to share the beauty of science to whoever is in front of them.
That’s passion right here guys
they are being paid
Well they do get to play around with $10000 hammers. That would make most people willing as you put it
@johnlucas6683 you don’t need a test to know a nail isn’t going to pop a tire that can’t be popped.
Ofc not, if it wasn’t a popular channel like Veritasium, they won’t even care
@GaLoS Well.. to show the difference. It is still called a tire after all. And seeing it getting shot by a bullet, not only not getting punctured but also not getting bent to unusable state, as a wheel, is kinda amazing.
I am preparing for a solids class test, and I will be asked about everything discussed here. This video not only improved my understanding of the topic but it went beyond discussing this new material for me, the applications, different scenarios and even the history. In short, you have made a goldmine of a video. Thank You so much, Veretasium Team. I really love your channel, and you never cease to amaze me.
Worst class of my life. It sucks but you’ll enjoy it and get through it.
that’s so awesome
I had NiTiNOL wires in my orthodontics as a teenager. They worked to slowly, continually push the teeth into their new positions, rather than needing painful tightening every couple of weeks. Quite an impressive material!
@Tee Anahera they worked to slowly and continually push to teeth into their new positions
@Tee Anahera
They worked to slowly, continually push the teeth
=
They worked to push the teeth
What do you mean “to” slowly? Surely not too slowly as that would be a criticism of them. You meant they worked slowly.
That’s cool! Do you remember if they cost more than regular wires?
The work NASA are doing is incredible!
What about it
Imagine what they could do with a great budget.
Coverup work? Swindling work? Top of their field, incredible
Absolutely gay
I wish I had this guy’s life, he does some fascinating things and explains them so simply
Well, why do you think you can’t?
It was mentioned that NiTiNOL is being used in multiple applications, which is super neat as I was able to use it for radio astronomy applications in my graduation thesis. Making large structures with NiTiNOL is way cheaper than launching and constructing them in space. The opportunities are almost endless!
I really wonder what’s the downside of this material? Is it just cost?
Cause all I’ve heard of it is super positive, if it is as good as it sounds we could have great developments in the near future
Yes, so many possibilities!
I’m a racer, trucks, motorcyles, sand dunes and I loved this video!
The spring interlay, layout reminds me of when I used snow chains in the sand dunes with a 1 wheel drive truck and tiny street tires, it worked.
Broken axle or just an open diff?