In aviation, self-sealing fuel tank is a fuel tank or fuel bladder technology in wide use since World War II that prevents fuel tanks (primarily on aircraft) from leaking fuel and igniting after being damaged by enemy fire.
Self-sealing tanks have multiple layers of rubber and reinforcing fabric, one of vulcanized rubber and one of untreated natural rubber that can absorb oil and expand when wet. When a fuel tank is punctured, the fuel will seep into the layers, causing the swelling of the untreated layer, thus sealing the puncture.
Read more about Self-sealing Fuel Tank: World War I, World War II, Modern Use
Famous quotes containing the word fuel:
“I had an old axe which nobody claimed, with which by spells in winter days, on the sunny side of the house, I played about the stumps which I had got out of my bean-field. As my driver prophesied when I was plowing, they warmed me twice,—once while I was splitting them, and again when they were on the fire, so that no fuel could give out more heat. As for the axe,... if it was dull, it was at least hung true.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)