Steel ‘Velcro’ Made By Germans Supports 35 Tons, 800 Degree Heat

Man, that stuff looks like it could shred cheese with ease (when opened). Imagine what it would do to your skin if you brushed up against it wrong...

pharmboy

@switchblade saints: +1

TonyRockyHorror

@Ioncloud9: with a bloody torch.

kitsuneconundrum

@Nintenboy01: No, they take temperatures of ~1500 degrees, they take 800 liberal commie metric degrees.

@The Dude:
I don't have time to research it but it looks like you have to start at the right end and pull it out then up. pulling straight out will cause those hooks to grab but if you pull it out and away first they wouldnt grab hold.

Mike Wiltse

@The Dude: wd-40

@The Dude: that's exactly what I wanna know

walker2151

I thought the temperature guy's name was Celsius. Oh well... metric system be damned.

I've got a question... If it takes 7-35 tons to seperate the strips, then how the hell are you supposed to the what ever the fuck you velcro'd together apart?

And they're gonna put it to test in the new season of "The biggest loser"

This baby can take temperatures up to 800 degrees?!?

@lostinthe4th: Thank you. Upon reading, my awareness of Gizmodo's lack of physics experience rose sharply.

Cool stuff. WTF are you going to build with this? What's the price/benefit advantage?

AndrewJayPollack

@The Dude: OR, a couple of drunk buddies and a few bad ideas

Important note: It says that it takes a square meter to support 35 tons. Or 7 tons, I can't tell.

Also: those weights are downward force- held by the strip. It could be removed probably with twice the strength of regular velcro, I figure. Or not.

lostinthe4th

An odd habit of mine is to rub Velcro on my skin when I'm not doing anything with it. Would that be a good idea with this?

RJackson

@The Dude: I lol'd.

@The Dude: Velcro has amazing strength on horizontal and verticle pull. But at 45 degrees, it has barely any.

@PaddyDugan: just think of the velcro suits they make people to wear.... Yeah the possibilities

Darin Walker

Glue failure - never had a problem with the velcro holding it's bond. The bloody glue is the weak point. Get my point?

PaddyDugan

What part of cars are you talking about that get up to 80 C? The engine oil stays around 100 C if the radiator is working. I'm sure parts of the engine get hotter than that.

Jeff_McAwes0me

Well by the looks of it I guess it's not replacing zippers. That right, Jack?

put the spiky side on the bottom of Bolt's shoes and he'd be breaking 9 seconds.

100eyes

@Fenister: Cheap shot much?

@Zencyde: Other than getting the tonne-to-pounds conversion wrong (which is pretty common really, look around), what mistake did they make that raised your "awareness?"

@AEchinoderm: Looks like they edited it already, or you're pullin' stuff out of your butt. ;)

@Chris, look it's Chris!: Thats what I was thinking. I guess this is made to be permanent?

zjgz

@Jeff_McAwes0me: "which only gets up to 80 degrees Celsius in direct sunlight"

zjgz

@Chris, look it's Chris!: Horizontally, but if you pull it off at a 45 degree angle, like regular velcro, it should be somewhat easier.

i see prankters velcro-ing doors to their frames......

mocax

@Zencyde: Not to mention the lack of physics spelling. Celcius my fanny! All together now: "C-E-L-S-I-U-S"!

AEchinoderm

@PaddyDugan: Welding.

AEchinoderm

How hard is it to pull apart if it can withstand 35 tons of force?

"it can hold up to 7 tons" per square mile, millimeter, inch, kilometer, parsec?

notlikeacat

@lostinthe4th: I think it means it supports 35 tons, but takes over 7 tons to separate the two strips. I'm not entirely sure, though.

@AEchinoderm: Way to be a douche. Sorry that Jason is only human.

So this is how you keep really fat curly headed kids from jumping on the bed?

fragMasterFlash

@PanhandleJoe: More velcro. lol

What is the sticky side made of? Double-stick tape?

PanhandleJoe

@Mike: There's still no way it can be easy. The strands of velcro will straighten out when you pull. This is metal, though. Metal that will heat up to 800 degrees Celsius. I think once it gets attached, it's stuck until a machine can pull it apart or you work it like a puzzle.

EDIT: check out this pic of real velcro. Imagine that being metal and not bending at all when you pull. [img.qj.net]

@Chris: :P lol I did miss that part

notlikeacat

As has already been said, the glue that they put on the BACK of this amazing velcro will fail with about 2lbs on it. Also, this is totally unnecessary when all you need is two interlocked phonebooks.

davekaybsc

That would make for an epic game of Wall Buggers!

@notlikeacat: Square meter. If you were so fascinated with it, you could have just clicked on the source link and read it. You don't want the writers doing ALL the work, do you?

Maybe LindsayJoy's MBP can have a real kick out of these. ;)

(Starman) AnalysisDialysis

Germans, i love you.

devianaut

@Chris: The strips of this stuff bend, just like regular Velcro. So if you pull it apart that way, you're only trying to disengage one small row at a time. Depending on how big a strip they use for the 35 and 7 ton figures, it'd probably only take a few dozen pounds to pull each row apart.

@the name is dan: The Duke of Metric is very unamused by you disrespecting his system. When he awakens from his platinum sarcophagus he will exact exactly 800 KG of vengeance.

@AEchinoderm: It's sort of hilarious how many people on this site seem to think that someone would go to the trouble of inventing a multi-ton resistant metal velcro, then what.... epoxy it to a building and then try to hold a jeep up with it??

@Pope John Peeps II: Wow.

Identity≈Spontaneity

@AndrewJayPollack: Steel velcro is definitely going to be what we use to dock our starships to our space stations. Impulse engines can easily generate enough force to break the hold; when idle, we don't have to worry about drifting away! =)

@Chris: I don't think it's literally velcro in metal form. It sounds like a product that has similary capabilities as velcro, but operates in a different fashion.

The article says it's a hook-and-loop construction. I imagine it's like a dense strip of the hook-and-loops on a bra strap. Pull apart, and they won't budge. Push together, shimmy, and they separate.

@davekaybsc: Absolutely! We need to be spending all day interleaving phonebook pages and then figuring out how to fasten them to something useful...

Commonly available glues are > 5000 psi (that's 2.5 tons per square inch). Since this material is rated at about 7 tons per square meter, the glue is NOT a concern (but your fascination with Mythbusters may be ;)

I knew it!

The Germans do make good stuff.

Alternate

Jason... Do NOT pants this.

@davekaybsc: Looks like metal... perhaps they can weld.

Chameleon7

@devianaut: don't

yogibimbi

That's cool stuff, and I need a roll of it. I don't have the slightest what to do with it, but nonetheless I want a roll.

mikegriffin

Well, how do you un-velcro it?

Inception

Let's see Bruno get out of this one!

OPHICERMANGO

@Alternate: A Vincent reference?

Don't they use something like that to quickly bond two pieces of wood side by side for construction work? In that case the wood itself acts as the other side. Seems like a brilliant idea taken one step further.

@(Starman) AnalysisDialysis: AWESOME!

Grinning Kestrel

@Chameleon7: or screwed

twilight-arc

Pure genius, this is actually a very clever idea.

@StupidSimple: Sort of, that is more of a plate of tiny nails that is hammered into both pieces.

This is a really cool idea!

ospreyguy

Industrial-grade Ikea furniture, anyone?

Matthew Comer