To keep the submersible buoyant, engineers use syntactic foam, a matrix of billions of microscopic hollow glass spheres embedded in a hard epoxy resin. The resulting material is hard enough to resist crushing under extreme pressure, yet it is lighter than water and thus provides buoyancy to lift a 36,000-pound vehicle, said Rod Catanach, a WHOI engineer overseeing the foam’s development.
(Photo by Tom Kleindinst, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)[back]
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