Vantablack

version

version

Well-known member
I'd heard about this stuff a while back, but people keep naming tunes and records after it so I keep coming back to it - it's pretty fascinating.

en.wikipedia.org

Vantablack - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

Vantablack is a material developed by Surrey NanoSystems in the United Kingdom and is one of the darkest substances known, absorbing up to 99.96% of visible light (at 663 nm if the light is perpendicular to the material).

The name is a compound of the acronym VANTA (vertically aligned carbon nanotube arrays) and the color black.
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Being the darkest material, this substance has many potential applications, including preventing stray light from entering telescopes, and improving the performance of infrared cameras both on Earth and in space.

Vantablack may also increase the absorption of heat in materials used in concentrated solar power technology, as well as military applications such as thermal camouflage. Its emissivity and scalability support a wide range of applications.

In addition to directly growing aligned carbon nanotubes, Vantablack is made into two sprayable paints with randomly-oriented nanotubes, Vantablack S-VIS and Vantablack S-IR with better infrared absorption than the former. These paints require a special license, a temperature of 100–280 °C, and vacuum post-processing. Surrey NanoSystems also markets a line of non-nanotube sprayable paints known as Vantablack VBx that are even easier to apply.
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MS86dmK.jpg
 
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version

version

Well-known member
That photo alone is really strange. It's like there's a void in the centre. You can tell something's there, but it almost looks like it's been cut out or something.
 
Mr. Tea

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
I used to work with materials like this - not this exact one I think, there are various versions on the market. Although one of my then-colleagues was involved in developing this carbon nanotube technology.
 
version

version

Well-known member
Mr. Tea said:
I used to work with materials like this - not this exact one I think, there are various versions on the market. Although one of my then-colleagues was involved in developing this carbon nanotube technology.
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How dangerous would it be to wear a vantablack outfit on a hot day?
 
IdleRich

IdleRich

IdleRich
Saw things made out of it at Anish Kapoor's show a few years back.
You know that only he is allowed to use it for art or something? Some other artist claimed to have made a new shade of pink which was available to all artists except Kapoor... but Kapoor got his hands on it and did a blog post with a picture of him using it. Really childish stuff which I enjoy.
 
Mr. Tea

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
version said:
How dangerous would it be to wear a vantablack outfit on a hot day?
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Haha, good question. Probably depends whether you mean England-hot or Saudi-Arabia-hot. Although I imagine even the former would be pretty uncomfortable, especially if it was sunny as well.
 
version

version

Well-known member
There's that scene in A Field in England where the black sun/"ill planet" or whatever it is appears in the field and looks a bit like it.

8rSTXyr.jpg
 
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C

catalog

Well-known member
Down terrace on the 2nd viewing was not as good, but I really liked it when I first saw it on late night telly by accident.
 
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