Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/954267
Olympics feature world's darkest material NEWHAVEN, UK—Vantablack, the world's blackest material, has taken the stage at the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea, and was used in an archi- tectural design meant to emulate the night sky. Even though it was originally designed and intended for satellite- borne blackbody calibration systems, the manmade substance has fascinated the world over with its ability to seem- ingly render any 3D object 2D. The trick? Vantablack absorbs 99.96 per- cent of all light that hits it. British architect Asif Khan used the material on a building he designed, which greets visitors as they enter the Olympic park. The design itself in- cludes four curved walls, but from a distance it looks like a black slit. Each façade features thousands of tiny lights, meant to look like stars in the night- time sky. The architect hopes that, in contrast with the Olympic winter games' whiteness, the building will give visitors an impression of a "void of infi- nite depth and possibility." According to Surrey NanoSystems, the original developer of Vantablack, the composition of Vantablack makes the substance ideal for light-suppression and light-management problems. The manmade material is akin to a forest of millions of very small tubes made of car- bon, also known as carbon nanotubes. Each nanotube is around 20 nanome- ters in diameter, about 3,500 times smaller than the diameter of the average human hair. Each nanotube ranges from 14 to 50 microns long. Local artist creates Vegas Strong sculpture LAS VEGAS, Nev.—An amazing sculpture honoring the victims of the mass shooting on the Las Vegas Strip on October 1, 2017, is looking for a per- manent home. Jay Rockow began the project about two weeks after the tragedy. He wanted to create a perma- nent memorial to the victims where others could pay their respects. It took countless hours of welding and more than 20 hours of laser cutting on three POWDER COATING, March 2018 3 UPDATE:Industry