ARLINGTON, Va. —
To protect Navy divers operating in freezing conditions, the Office of Naval Research here is sponsoring work to design a wetsuit mirroring the insulating properties of animal blubber — allowing divers to swim in frozen waters for longer periods of time.
The work is being conducted by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and George Mason University. They've developed a wetsuit infused with an artificial blubber layer that can triple the endurance time of divers in frozen lakes, rivers or oceans.
“This kind of research is especially important as more Arctic sea lanes open up and the Navy increases its readiness to operate in that part of the world,” said Maria Medeiros, a program officer in ONR's Sea Warfare and Weapons Department. “Whether it's special operations, search and rescue or ship repair, maintenance and salvage, finding ways to increase divers' time and effectiveness in the ice is a priority.”
The project is being led by two MIT professors — Dr. Michael Strano and Dr. Jacopo Buongiorno — and focuses on neoprene wetsuits. Neoprene is the most common material used to make wetsuits, and is a synthetic rubber resembling a thick foam with numerous air pockets.
These pockets slow the transfer of heat from the body into the surrounding water.
Strano and Buongiorno found…
