New 'Velcro' like fastener can take as much as 35 tonnes of load

London, Sep 5 (ANI): Inspired by Velcro, German engineers have created a new fastener, called Metaklett, which is capable of supporting 35 tonnes at temperatures up to 800 degrees Celsius.

Created by Josef Mair and colleagues at the Technical University of Munich, Germany, Metaklett can be opened up without specialised tools and used again just like everyday Velcro.

Conventional hook-and-loop fasteners are used for everything from bandages to cable boots in aircraft and securing prosthetic limbs.

Mair said that his spring-steel fastener is tough enough to be used for building facades or car assembly.

"A car parked in direct sunlight can reach temperatures of 80 degrees Celsius, and temperatures of several hundred degrees Celsius can arise around the exhaust manifold," New Scientist quoted him as saying.

However, Metaklett should be able to shrug off such extremes as it is made from perforated steel strips 0.2 millimetres thick, one kind bristling with springy steel brushes and the other sporting jagged spikes.

Metaklett can support maximum weight when pulled on in the plane of the strips, and a square metre can hold a perpendicular load of 7 tonnes, said Mair. (ANI)