Material Science

A new carbon fiber material could bring cost and performance benefits to the wind industry if developed commercially, according to a study led by researchers at Sandia National Laboratories. Wind blades containing carbon fiber weigh 25% less than ones made from traditional fiberglass materials. That means carbon fiber blades could be longer than fiberglass ones…

The M2R2 CLLBC Multimode Radioisotope Identification Detector (RIID), from the Kromek Group, is the first product of its kind incorporating the dual-mode, gamma-neutron sensitive CLLBC crystal. This next-generation material, developed by RMD, previously won this award and this is the first instrument to move the technology from material to product. The M2R2 is an all-in-one,…

The animation depicts the controlled transport of a single molecule between two scanning tunneling microscope tips in an experiment at ORNL. Credit: Michelle Lehman/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, or CNMS, contributed to a groundbreaking experiment published in Science that tracks the real-time transport of individual molecules.…

Nicca Chemical Co.’s NEOSEED NR-8800, silicone-based water repellent (DWR) for textiles, provides breakthrough performance as a sustainable, durable water repellent option in the textile market, which is moving away from Perfluoro chemicals (PFC). It is the first product on the market which embraces silicone technology as a main component resulting in a fine performance balancing…

By Stephanie G Seay, ORNL In the quest for advanced vehicles with higher energy efficiency and ultra-low emissions, Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers are accelerating a research engine that gives scientists and engineers an unprecedented view inside the atomic-level workings of combustion engines in real time. The new capability is an engine built specifically to…

Group14 Technologies, a global provider of silicon-carbon composite materials for lithium-ion markets, today announced it has secured $17 million in Series B funding led by SK Materials, a manufacturer of special gases and industrial gases, with participation from returning investor OVP Venture Partners. Group14 will use this operating capital to scale production to meet the…

Wouldn’t it be nice to have resins that can be tough, resilient and flexible all at the same time? That’s exactly the type of characteristics that ENGAGE Polyolefin Elastomers (POEs), from Dow Packaging and Specialty Plastics, bring to the table. ENGAGE POEs serve as a bridge between rubber and plastic chemistries to inspire new design…

By Chris Cogswell, customer consultant and Kane Gu, product manager Elsevier When it comes to the materials we use in industry and daily life, we’re facing a range of new challenges — from shortages to environmental issues, to the need for new materials to support technology innovation. On top of this, consumer awareness is on…

401 Tech Bridge today announced Canapitsit Customs, Nautilus Defense and TxV Aerospace Composites as the winners of the Materials Innovation Challenge. 401 Tech Bridge will provide $105,000 ($35,000 per project) to the University of Rhode Island College of Engineering. Project funding will support collaboration with URI’s Dynamic Photomechanics Laboratory, led by Mechanical, Industrial and Systems…

In the ongoing quest to build a better battery, researchers used the Canadian Light Source (CLS) at the University of Saskatchewan to identify the potential of using polymer composites as electrode matrices to increase the capacity of rechargeable lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries. “The composition of the adhesive and conductive framework for batteries hasn’t changed in years,”…

Binary Solvent Diffusion (BSD) enables the production of new materials with better performance and structure control while reducing costs, enhancing properties and allowing direct integration of devices. It represents a new paradigm for producing functionally designed supercrystals with significant flexibility in control of materials architecture and property as well as direct integration of nanoelectronic devices…

Ordinary metallic conductors have electrical resistance, which dissipates electrical power as heat when a current flows through them. Although resistance reduces slightly as the temperature is lowered, even at close to absolute zero there is significant resistance. When a superconductor is cooled, an abrupt change occurs at its critical temperature whereby all resistance suddenly disappears.…

ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces Although most of the planet is covered by water, only a fraction of it is clean enough for humans to use. Therefore, it is important to recycle this resource whenever possible. Current purification techniques cannot adequately handle the very hot wastewater generated by some industries. But now, researchers reporting in…

By Julie Chao Understanding how matter interacts with light – its optical properties – is critical in a myriad of energy and biomedical technologies, such as targeted drug delivery, quantum dots, fuel combustion and cracking of biomass. But calculating these properties is computationally intensive, and the inverse problem – designing a structure with desired optical…

 By Theresa Duque We rely on water to quench our thirst and to irrigate bountiful farmland. But what do you do when that once pristine water is polluted with wastewater from abandoned copper mines? A promising solution relies on materials that capture heavy metal atoms, such as copper ions, from wastewater through a separation process…

Graphene is a flat hexagonal lattice of carbon atoms, just one atom thick. It is a form of carbon related to carbon nanotubes and buckyballs (C60). Although it has always occurred naturally, it is only recently that it has been isolated and it’s individual properties examined. It is now known that graphene has exceptional electrical,…

Non-destructive testing (NDT) is a general term for any method that determines material properties without damaging the object being tested. Most commonly it is used to measure cracks and pores in materials that may be subject to a brittle failure. Because these defects could act as crack initiation sites, the size and frequency of the…

By Kimberly A Askey From soda bottles to car bumpers to piping, electronics and packaging, plastics have become a ubiquitous part of our lives. Advancements in materials have made plastics low cost, flexible, hygienic, lightweight, durable and readily available. While some plastics are recyclable, only a fraction — about 8.4% nationally in 2017, according to…

Injuries to peripheral nerves — tissues that transmit bioelectrical signals from the brain to the rest of the body — often result in chronic pain, neurologic disorders, paralysis or disability. Now, researchers have developed a stretchable conductive hydrogel that could someday be used to repair these types of nerves when there’s damage. They report their…

Carbon nanotubes exhibit remarkable properties such as mechanical strength 100x that of steel at 1/6 the weight and could revolutionize numerous industries. Unfortunately, existing manufacturing approaches have not adequately lowered the production cost of this game-changing material, preventing mainstream adoption. SkyNano overcame this limitation by creating a manufacturing process that significantly reduces carbon nanotube production…

Dow (NYSE:DOW) announced the winners of the 2020 Packaging Innovation Awards recognizing breakthrough packaging achievements in design, technology, sustainability and user experience. The highest honor, the Diamond Award, went to Henkel’s  Social Plastic Ecosystem in collaboration with Plastic Bank. To create a new line of sustainable cosmetic packaging, Henkel conducted a pilot program that utilized recycled…

DuPont (NYSE: DD), a producer of silicone-based technology and innovations for healthcare, is making significant investments in both capital and resources to strengthen strategic capabilities of its Liveo brand healthcare silicone solutions. Underscoring its long-term commitment to the healthcare industry – and confidence in its growth potential – DuPont is investing in innovation, as well…

Argonne National Laboratory’s ElectroCorrosion Toolkit is the only testing protocol that predicts the corrosion behavior of materials under actual in-service conditions, thereby enabling manufacturers to accurately evaluate and qualify their materials and coatings. The Toolkit has a wide range of commercial, industrial, medical, defense, civil, nuclear and other applications. It includes the use of techniques…

Clear optical properties, reliable and durable protection, easy and robust processing are key characteristics for LED luminaire encapsulants in harsh environments. Lighting under harsh environments (outdoor, explosion-proof) particularly suffers from heavy and costly fixtures for protecting the electronic parts, and to penetrate this market, lightweight LED luminaires require sustainable and reliable protection. The luminaire market…

Superclean Glass has developed a new technology that has potential to reduce the cost of solar energy: New generation of electrostatic based self-cleaning technology for increasing energy yield from dusty solar panels. The original concept was used by NASA to prevent Martian dust deposition on solar panels of the Mars rovers, where the screen of…