The automotive sector is changing at an unprecedented rate. This evolving landscape is being driven by legislation for reduced emissions, increasing urbanization, customer demand, and the need to reach price parity with internal combustion engine vehicles. With EV adoption expected to increase exponentially over the next few decades, OEM and tier suppliers are increasingly shifting…

  The R&D World Index (RDWI) for the week ending July 28, 2023, closed at 2,988.19 for the 25 companies in the RDWI. The Index was up 2.32% (or 30.57 basis points). Thirteen of the 25 RDWI members gained value last week from 2.03% (Apple Computer) to 11.99% (Stellantis NV). Twelve of the 25 RDWI…

With rapidly growing U.S. demand for polyurethane (PU) products, especially foam products, we will remain heavily dependent on imported oil and thus be affected by worldwide disruptions to oil supply. To reduce this dependence on oil, we must investigate domestic feedstocks such as coal for creating PU products. Battelle’s breakthrough Coal-to-PU Foam process addresses this…

This month, at the 2023 IEEE International Interconnect Technology Conference (2023 IEEE IITC), imec, a research and innovation hub in nanoelectronics and digital technologies, provides the first experimental evidence that the resistivity of a thin conductor film on a 300 mm Si wafer can be lower than that of Cu and Ru, which are currently…

Axalta Coating Systems’s Abcite 2060 is a breakthrough powder coating technology using innovative resin chemistry bringing unparalleled benefits. Foremost, Abcite 2060 powder coating offers sustainability benefits over incumbent liquid coating technology, containing no hazardous materials or VOCs. Abcite 2060 powder coating offers ease of application as it is applied in one layer on location without…

Bostik and Polytec PT have collarborated to launch a new range of thermal conductive adhesives (TCA) to address the challenge of thermal management in the latest Cell-to-Pack (CTP) battery design for e-mobility solutions. Thermal management is vital to ensuring the operating temperature of EV-battery systems remains between 20° C and 40° C for optimum battery…

Developer: Advanced Membrane Materials Research Center (AMMRC), National Taiwan University of Science and Technology Co-Developer: King Membrane Energy Technology Inc. The Black Magic Carpet for Water and Power Production is the first innovation that combines simultaneous steam and power generation using an intelligent membrane with dual capabilities. PVDF/graphene membrane is used in the application of…

PPG COPPER ARMOR is an antimicrobial paint that uses Corning Guardiant copper technology, a biocide comprised of copper glass ceramic particles, to continuously kill viruses and bacteria on the painted surface, including Staph, MRSA, E Coli, and COVID-19, within two hours of exposure for up to five years. The product is low-odor and has zero…

There is a strong environmental driver for metal coatings transition from SB to WB systems. Although WB coatings have been successful in many applications, the use of WB coatings in more demanding environments with “medium corrosivity” have encountered notable challenges. After years of careful innovation, Dow Inc.’s MAINCOTE HG-300 Emulsion was developed with a distinct…

From the Univerity of Missouri For more than 10 years, Guoliang Huang, the Huber and Helen Croft Chair in Engineering at the University of Missouri, has been investigating the unconventional properties of “metamaterials” — an artificial material that exhibits properties not commonly found in nature as defined by Newton’s laws of motion — in his…

Taiwan Textile Research Institute Co-developer: Sabrina Fashion Industrial Corp., Fu Hsun Fiber Industries Co., Ltd. Digital M is a polyol polyurethane resin material with the function of moisture swelling and shrinking. When this material encounters moisture, it will produce a moisture swelling shrinkage effect, to create an “airflow channel” on the fabric surface. The channel…

A spectrophotometer is an instrument used to determine the chemical composition of a sample by measuring how light at different frequencies passes through it. The spectrophotometer includes a light source to pass light through the sample, and a photodetector to measure the intensity of light passing through the sample. Most commonly the light is in…

Fluorescence spectroscopy is a method of determining the composition of a sample. It excites a sample with electromagnetic radiation, causing it to emit characteristic radiation. This is a non-destructive method of analysing sample composition. Instruments used to perform fluorescence spectroscopy are known as fluorometers. Most commonly the sample is excited using ultraviolet light and the…

An elemental analyzer is an instrument that can determine the elemental composition of a sample. The analyzer may simply determine which elements are present, or it may make a quantitative analysis to identify how much of each element is present. In some cases, isotopic composition may also be determined. Elemental analyzers are used in many…

DuPont’s Froth-Pak Spray Foam products are used to air seal and insulate various spaces within the building envelope. These products historically use hydrofluorocarbons as blowing agents which are being phased out of use in spray foam products because of their high global warming potential (GWP). Hydrofluoroolefin (HFO) blowing agents have been proposed as acceptable alternatives.…

Chemical company SABIC introduced LNP THERMOCOMP OFC08V compound, the world’s first laser direct structuring (LDS) material solution for 5G base station dipole antennas and adjacent electrical/electronic applications. This new compound triggered the adoption and acceleration of novel plastic-based design in the 5G infrastructure industry. Technically, LNP THERMOCOMP OFC08V compound solved the hard problems of robust…

The Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI), headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee, has announced it is receiving a funding renewal from the Department of Energy (DOE). IACMI becomes the first clean energy institute to be renewed by DOE. IACMI will be receiving federal funding across five fiscal years, with a first-year investment of $6 million…

Dow Packaging and Specialty Plastics, a business unit of Dow Inc. Co-developer: Polyrafia SA de CV Using its unique materials science capabilities and appropriately connecting two different technologies, REVOLOOP and DOWLEX GMAX01, Dow developed a secondary packaging with an enhanced sustainability approach, exceptional overall performance, and suitable shrinkage, making the mechanical properties of the packaging…

Argonne National Laboratory’s PGM-free OER catalysts derived from electrospun metal-organic framework demonstrated unprecedented activity and durability compared to other PGM-free materials, with the performance approaching that of commercial Ir. The new catalysts are operable in both acidic and alkaline media. It was incorporated into an operating proton exchange membrane electrolyzer and delivered a very high…

Elkem Silicones developed a new syntactic silicone foam that provides reliable thermal and electrical insulation in electric vehicle (EV) batteries. This low-density, room-temperature curing foam protects battery cells against propagation and thermal runaway to other cells, and thermal stability to protect against harsh chemical environments. Safety and reliability are critical parameters when designing EV battery…

By Chris Farrow, Vice President, Materials Science Solutions at Enthought As demand increases and competition becomes tighter for functional materials, such as electrolytes for batteries, consumables for semiconductor manufacturing, and functional plastics, materials and chemical companies are competing to continuously innovate and differentiate themselves in new and existing markets. Despite the urgency, 60-70% of scientists’…

By Jim Harper, Senior Product Manager, Elsevier  Safety and risk mitigation are high on the agenda for professionals in the energy, petrochemical, chemicals, and construction industries. Headlines such as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, the Fukushima nuclear disaster of 2011, or the Grenfell Tower fire of 2017, serve as bleak reminders of the…

From Purdue University,  Brian Huchel Purdue University engineers and entomologists are making some sweet discoveries about how honeybees build and structure their honeycombs, which could lead to new fabrication techniques taken from the buzzing builders. Nikhilesh Chawla, the Ransburg Professor of Materials Engineering at Purdue, is one of the first to use four-dimensional (4D) imaging…

Making vehicle structures out of a combination of metals and plastics could make them dramatically lighter, stronger, safer, and more environmentally friendly than the all-steel or all-aluminum approaches that dominate today. But how to join all those materials together quickly and cheaply has been a sticky problem. A University of Michigan lab is developing solutions.…

DuPont announces the launch of a new brand, Micromax, that will encompass the products formerly under the Microcircuit and Component Materials brand. Micromax products are used in a wide variety of electronics applications — from automotive, passive components, and 5G communications to healthcare and consumer goods. “Micromax aims to be the leading brand for electronic…