Science & Tech

Hydraulic Press Meets Predator with Thermal Cam-View Crushing

by Matthew Hart
Apr 11 2017 • 10:00 PM

Just as there’s more than one way to skin the proverbial cat, there’s also more than one way to enjoy some nice, satisfying hydraulic crushing. One of those ways is with a thermal camera, which gives us a look at the thermodynamics that result from heavy machinery bending and heating up metal. Incidentally, this method also gives us some insight into how the Predator would experience hydraulic press crushing. (He has to watch something while he’s feasting on human skulls, right?)

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In the clip, the Hydraulic Press Channel’s host lines up a series of three metal objects, including a square tube, a round tube, and a small, tough, “no-cheating,” steel ball. Anybody who’s seen any of HPC’s videos before knows that the channel is quite good at delivering crush-thirst-quenching results, like those in this video of a watermelon getting smashed in a helmet, or this video of a billiard ball getting smashed by a 360-degree hydraulic press. But with this thermal camera, which is basically a sensor for infrared radiation (heat), we get a whole new way to enjoy smoosh smoosh pancake time.

As far as why the metal heats up as it’s crushed—at one point reaching 122 degrees Fahrenheit in the video—it’s because the hydraulic press forces the metal to grind against itself along dislocations, which are deformations in the metal’s crystalline structure. As the hydraulic press pushes down on the tubes and ball, it’s forcing the atoms in the metal to grind against each other and heat up. Then, before you know it, you have something in the room that’s warmer than body temperature, which can serve as a great distraction while you—

What do you think about this video? Did the thermal cam totally amp up your love of hydraulic crushing, or is it still just a primitive form of bending? Let us know below!

Images: YouTube / Hydraulic Press Channel