Wet suit adapts to temperature.

• Author: Foster, Sharon
• Position: Tech Talk - Brief Article

Divers one day may have a wet suit that automatically adapts to prevailing water temperatures. Researchers at the U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center at Natick, Mass., are focusing on a new fabric--known as "SmartSkin"--that adjusts the permeability of a wet suit's inner layer through the action of a thermally-sensitive polymer hydrogel.

The gel transforms the suit into a thermally-activated flow-control system, which permits increased flow of water through the wet suit material when the diver is warm, but expands to cut off the water flow when the diver's skin temperature drops below a preset threshold. The effect is to regulate skin temperature in a wide range of diving conditions, according to Marco Serra, senior engineeer at Mide Technology Corporation, of Medford, Mass., one of the developers of SmartSkin.

The technology offers the opportunity "to improve the fundamental function of the ordinary wetsuit," Serra said. "If the rate at which water flushes through the suit can be controlled, the temperature of the diver can be regulated."

The...