ONR Sponsors Antifouling Research to Support U.S. Navy Bunker Savings

ONR is sponsoring a MIT project aimed at developing an adhesive agent to keep antifouling hydrogels effective on vessel hulls.

The U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR) has announced that it is sponsoring a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) project aimed at developing an adhesive agent to keep antifouling hydrogels effective on vessel hulls, providing the U.S. Navy with fuel savings.

The project, led by MIT associate professor Dr. Xuanhe Zhao, is said to be specifically aimed at examining how to keep hydrogel coatings soft, wet, and securely fastened to metal hulls.

Using benzophenonem, a bonding agent, Zhao's team is said to have found a way to fuse hydrogels with elastomers - such as silicone and natural rubber - which are stretchy, durable, and impervious to water, resulting in a water-trapping barrier that enables a hull to withstand harsh conditions at sea.

"Our approach was inspired by human skin," said Zhao, explaing: "the skin has an outer epidermis that protects nerves, capillaries, muscles and organs—and keeps them from drying out, maintaining their compliance.

"However, we can actually stretch the hydrogel-elastomer hybrid to seven times its original length and the bond still holds. It's that strong and flexible."

Zhao notes that the project is largely intended to assist the U.S. Navy in dealing with biofouling.

"Biofouling is a major concern for the Navy, leading to hundreds of millions of dollars a year in fuel and maintenance costs," said Dr. Steve McElvany, a programme manager at ONR, who oversees Zhao's research.

"It's especially bad when the ship is docked in port. Barnacles like those environments and tend to accumulate rapidly, in large quantities."

In May, Ship & Bunker reported that Jotun and DNV GL had organised the inaugural HullPIC conference, said to have come in response to the industry's need for proven ways to measure hull and propeller performance.