Scientists at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, China, have created a new type of toilet bowl that is extremely slippery, making it impossible for anything to stick to it. The new toilet bowl design could eventually replace porcelain and ceramic toilets if scaled.
Humans have relied on porcelain and ceramics for their toilets for centuries. Although it seems unlikely that we’ll see this material completely replaced anytime soon, if scientists’ super-slippery toilet bowl takes off, it could give us a new material to rely on.
The ultra-slippery toilet bowl was designed as a 3D printed item, and as a video was demonstrated by new world It shows that almost nothing can stick to the pot. Even more interestingly, the researchers found that the toilet bowl remained slippery, even after using it several times and scrubbing it with sandpaper.
One of the biggest advantages of having an ultra-slippery toilet bowl isn’t just its cleanliness. If nothing sticks to the bowl, this means we can also see a reduction in water usage for flushing the toilet when using this type of material.
Researchers call it the Abrasion-Resistant Ultra-Slip Flush Toilet (ARSFT), and it’s made using materials that easily flush out complex liquids and sticky solids. However, these types of materials are usually easily broken by mechanical wear, which the researchers noted in a paper published in 2018. Advanced engineering materials.
However, the material used to make the super-slippery toilet bowl can withstand sandpaper and remain as slippery as before, which is a major accomplishment. While we are unlikely to see this type of material replace our current toilets, it is fascinating to see what scientists are able to achieve in this particular field, and it will be interesting to see where they take this from here.
Perhaps we could see this material used in lunar toilets at some point in the future.
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