Microbubble swimsuit to break records?

Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011

Sarah Zeim of University of Reutlingen and scientists at the Hohenstein Institute, Bönnigheim/Germany, have developed a innovative swimsuit fabric and construction that features a coating that implements the “microbubble effect”. The microbubble effect creates a layer between the textile and water by trapping air within the yarns and fibres of the suit making it extremely hydrophobic. This low frictional resistance design may help to create the World recording breaking performances seen in the past few years. Interestingly, the “microbubble” effect is used by aquatic animals; another biomimetic sports equipment design.

The other exciting thing about this innovation is that it passes current FINA rules and regulations. Time will tell whether this swimsuit fabric works, or is adopted by the elite athletes and major brands, but good luck Hohenstein!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011 at 10:50 pm and is filed under Bryan Roberts, Swimming. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.