
Extreme steel 'Velcro' takes a 35-tonne load - MaysonL
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17739-extreme-steel-velcro-takes-a-35tonne-load.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news
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white_eskimo
Neat to see increased innovation being carried out in the steel industry.

The last innovative steel-related thing that caught my eye was ConXtech's
Portable Tower at Burning Man 2008 (see <http://www.theportabletower.com/> for
a video on how they built a 10-story tower in 3 days using compression joints)

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ryanwaggoner
So...how do you pull it apart? Is this effectively a permanent fastener? If
so, how is better than welding or something?

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californiaguy2
Like regular velcro, shear load capacity is probably much, much higher than
the force it takes to pull apart.

Think about the most common application of velcro - shoes - you're keeping the
two _sides_ of the shoe together. Velcro prevents the two surfaces from
sliding around, not from coming apart.

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KC8ZKF
"Metaklett can support maximum weight when pulled on in the plane of the
strips, and a square metre can hold a perpendicular load of 7 tonnes, says
Mair."

So you only need a 7.1 tonne weight.

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10ren
That's for the whole area. If you pull just a fraction of the area, the force
required is proportionately less (think of a strip of Velcro that you pull
apart from one end).

fun fact: the Firefox spell-checker knows that Velcro is a trademark, and must
be capitalized. Obey the spell-checker. ("Firefox" is also).

