Material Science

By Mark Jones I’ve discovered a new sport, one made possible by Erik Rintamaki. No, he’s not the inventor of pickleball — and the sport I found is not the fastest growing in the U.S. My new sport is a bit more scientific and, for R&Ders, it comes with a useful allegory. The sport I…

From Berkeley National Lab, By Alison Hatt Scientists have designed a new material system to overcome one of the biggest challenges in recycling consumer products: mixed-plastic recycling. Their achievement will help enable a much broader range of fully recyclable plastic products and brings into reach an efficient circular economy for durable goods like automobiles. We…

Dow is once again looking for the most innovative packages in the world. The entry period for the 2022 Packaging Innovation Awards is now open at www.dow.com/packagingawards. First launched over 30 years ago, the Packaging Innovation Awards honor the best, most innovative designs in the packaging industry. Past winners have redefined categories and challenged the…

Nanoparticles are engineered particles of between one and 100 nanometers in diameter, a size known as the nanoscale. To put this into context, a nanometer (nm) is one billionth of a meter, and the distance between individual atoms in a solid is between 0.1 nm and 0.4 nm. Nanoparticles therefore range in size from tens…

From Berkeley Lab,  By Rachel Berkowitz The silicon-based computer chips that power our modern devices require vast amounts of energy to operate. Despite ever-improving computing efficiency, information technology is projected to consume around 25% of all primary energy produced by 2030. Researchers in the microelectronics and materials sciences communities are seeking ways to sustainably manage…

AGC Chemicals Americas will feature Fluon+ mPLASTICS, AFLAS FFKM PM-3500 perfluorinated elastomer, AFLAS 400E or 600X FEPM fluoroelastomer grades and Fluon+ Compounds at the Oil and Gas Polymers Engineering event June 21-22, at the Hilton Houston Post Oak Hotel in Houston. These materials are widely used in equipment components that operate in severe oil and…

Taiwan Textile Research Institute (TTRI) has developed the world’s first Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) yarn, which makes it full of applicative possibilities. RFID Yarn passes five major durability tests: anti-laundry, anti-acid, anti-alkali, anti-high temperature and anti-roller pressure. TTRI initiated RFID Yarn Technology Industry Alliance, to set up testing standards for newcomers. To achieve RFID Yarn, the…

Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Autonomous self-healing sealants self-repair microcracks and cuts, recover mechanical properties and adhere well to dusty surfaces. They are formulated by mixing a low-cost additive into commercial sealants according to a process developed at ORNL. The treatment increases sealant lifetime and energy savings by lowering air and water leaks in buildings. Even…

By Mark Jones In a normal world, vodka, nickel, palladium, and neon would have nothing in common. In our current world, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, they do. All are currently experiencing supply chain disruptions due either directly to the fighting or to sanctions. Nickel and palladium come from mines. Russian mines produced about 10%…

From Brookhaven National Laboratory: From designing new biomaterials to novel photonic devices, new materials built through a process called bottom-up nanofabrication, or self-assembly, are opening up pathways to new technologies with properties tuned at the nanoscale. However, to fully unlock the potential of these new materials, researchers need to “see” into their tiny creations so…

Nano and Advanced Materials Institute (NAMI) has invented a toxin-free, anti-biofouling silicone for its biosafety and long-lasting germ-repellent efficacy with a permanent PEGylated repelling surface to impede bacterial growth. In contrast to conventional leachable germ-killing biocides, this novel material neither causes antimicrobial resistance nor disturbs microbiome balance by killing beneficial microorganisms. Sustained, toxin-free, anti-biofouling silicone…

The AgriTraxx AirCore, Superior Tire & Rubber Corp., is a high-performance polyurethane gauge wheel tire intended for No-till agriculture applications. No-till is a more efficient and sustainable farming method saving thousands of gallons of diesel fuel per farm, per year while producing greater crop yields over conventional till methods. The tire uses an innovative design…

By Mark Jones Last month, I got caught up in the Olympic mixed doubles curling. At the start of the competition, I think it is safe to say no one guessed a team would go undefeated on the way to a gold medal. The gold-medal winning Italians were young and from a country with very…

By Milad Abolhasani, NCSU and Matt Shipman, NCSU Researchers from North Carolina State University and the University at Buffalo have developed and demonstrated a ‘self-driving lab’ that uses artificial intelligence (AI) and fluidic systems to advance our understanding of metal halide perovskite (MHP) nanocrystals. This self-driving lab can also be used to investigate a broad…

From Sandia National Laboratories Scientists from Sandia National Laboratories have announced a tiny, electronic device that can shunt excess electricity within a few billionths of a second while operating at a record-breaking 6,400 volts — a significant step towards protecting the nation’s electric grid from an electromagnetic pulse. The team published the fabrication and testing…

Fiber arrays are used for constructing optical phased-array lasers, which are used in high-power industrial applications and beam steering for lidar. MIT has developed and built an all-glass, monolithic fiber array that is smaller and more robust than standard arrays. Fiber arrays are used for constructing optical phased-array lasers that can enable power scaling and…

The $30 billion-plus global Li-ion battery market is expected to double in the next five years. Improved cathode materials will enable Li-ion batteries to operate reliably at high capacity and high voltage over repeated cycles without sacrificing performance, safety or cost. However, existing options are hindered by material and performance degradation at high voltage, limiting…

By Karyn Hede, PNNL A research team probing the properties of a semiconductor combined with a novel thin oxide film have observed a surprising new source of conductivity from oxygen atoms trapped inside. Scott Chambers, a materials scientist at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, reported the team’s discovery at the Spring 2022…

Ultraconductive Cu-CNT composite, from Oak Ridge National Laboratory, is a new class of high-performance conductors in which carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are incorporated into a copper (Cu) matrix, demonstrate improved electrical conductivity, higher current-carrying capacity, and improved mechanical properties compared to pure Cu. Growing demand for electrical energy and increasing need for more energy-efficient power delivery…

Holographyx has recently been granted a U.S. patent for its Holo-Blister product along with a European Patent for the development of this cost-effective method to apply holograms to the back of blister packs using conventional heat-seal blister packaging equipment. Holo-Blister holograms have been designed so that they will only be visible behind each pill/capsule cavity…

From Sandia National Laboratories A machine-learning algorithm developed at Sandia National Laboratories could provide auto manufacturing, aerospace and other industries a faster and more cost-efficient way to test bulk materials. The technique was published recently in the scientific journal Materials Science and Engineering: A. Production stoppages are costly. So, manufacturers screen materials like sheet metal…

We have all seen crystals, whether a simple grain of salt or sugar, or an elaborate and beautiful amethyst. These crystals are made of atoms or molecules repeating in a symmetrical three-dimensional pattern called a lattice, in which atoms occupy specific points in space. By forming a periodic lattice, carbon atoms in a diamond, for…

Nano and Advanced Materials Institute (NAMI) and Severin Asia have developed amorphous metal coating (AMC) on stainless steel, the industry’s first application, for coffee grinding, which drastically increases the hardness and toughness of the blade, resulting in four times lifetime improvement and leading to 50% finer grounds for silkier and more intense, robust coffee. In…

Multi-functional Sorbent Technology (MUST), from Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), Somerset International and The Dow Chemical Company, is a game-changing suite of sorbents that remove cationic (positively charged) and oxygen-containing anionic (negatively charged) heavy metals from aqueous and nonaqueous sources. Such versatility and low cost make MUST highly effective to clean contaminated…

Infinitum Electric’s Air-Core Motors use lightweight materials and modular design to generate the same power in half the size and weight, at a fraction of the carbon footprint of conventional motors. Infinitum Electric motors offer a fully integrated system: motor, variable frequency drive (VFD) and embedded IoT in a single compact package. Infinitum Electric developed…