Processing
Enhanced pvT kit to improve design and processing of plastics
September 26, 2011 8:10 am | News | CommentsBased on more than nine years of research, a new pressure-volume-temperature (pvT) and thermal conductivity developed by engineers in the UK is intended to improve the design and processing of plastics, including the injection molding process used to make specialized polymers.
Answered: Exactly how diamonds emerge from graphite
September 21, 2011 6:04 am | News | CommentsDiamonds can be produced artificially only under difficult conditions, and past predictions of the phase transitions involved have been theoretical because of simulation complexity. Advances in computing have allowed researchers in Switzerland to now show exactly how graphite is converted into diamond.
Ten years after 9-11, engineers work toward safer steel
September 2, 2011 8:21 am | by Emil Venere | News | CommentsUsing a structural laboratory, researchers at Purdue University have designed an experimental method of studying the behavior of buildings on fire. Thermal panels and hydraulic force generators are used to simulate the extreme heat of a structural blaze, and has delivered insights on the fire’s effects.
Panda poop may be a treasure trove of biofuel microbes
August 29, 2011 12:49 pm | News | CommentsBecause they subsist on the tough, woody bamboo plant, it makes sense that panda waste, according to scientists, contains bacteria with potent effects in breaking down plant material in the way needed to tap biomass.
Bayer MaterialScience improves chlorine tech to reduce emissions, consumption
August 1, 2011 12:29 pm | News | CommentsWith the introduction of a new chlorine manufacturing process achieved by combining oxygen depolarized cathode technology and new electrolysis technology, Bayer MaterialScience is poised to save enough electricity to power a small city.
mPhase completes second battery prototype for automotive use
July 27, 2011 1:02 pm | News | CommentsWorking together with a European automobile manufacturer, mPhase has produced a refined product with increased functionality over prior examples and a 20% reduction in size, using MEMS processing and microfluidics technologies.
Giant solar telescope mirror takes shape
June 23, 2011 1:14 pm | by Daniel Stolte, University Communications | News | CommentsWhen finished, the 4.2-meter mirror being crafted by the Univ. of Arizona’s College of Optical Sciences for the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope in Hawaii will be the largest telescope mirror ever pointed at the sun. Complicating the task of polishing this mirror is the shape: the telescope’s design calls for a complex off-axis paraboloid surface.
Carnegie team searches for perfect glass
June 16, 2011 12:22 pm | News | CommentsUnlike crystals, glasses lack a strict organization of repeating patterns. But sometimes they demonstrate atomic-scale order. New research from Carnegie’s Geophysical Laboratory reveals the possibility of creating a metallic glass that is organized on a larger scale: the perfect glass.
Bayer to increase appeal of polycarbonate with scratch-resistant films
June 15, 2011 12:20 pm | News | CommentsBecause of its outstanding performance characteristics, polycarbonate resin is widely used to manufacture parts used in a myriad of industries. Now Bayer MaterialScience offering 2-D and 3-D solutions that offer greater scratch resistance for polycarbonate parts.
Google invests $280 million to spur home solar
June 14, 2011 5:40 pm | by JONATHAN FAHEY - AP Energy Writer - Associated Press | News | CommentsMaking its largest single investment yet in clean energy, Google has inked a deal with photovoltaic installer SolarCity in an effort to help private homeowners put solar panels on their rooftops. The agreement is just one of the many recent renewable energy investments Google has made.
Lighter, stronger steel, created in a flash
June 14, 2011 7:04 am | News | CommentsA Detroit entrepreneur surprised engineers at Ohio State University recently when he invented a heat-treatment that makes steel 7% stronger than any steel on record. An even bigger surprise was that his method, flash processing, takes less than 10 seconds.
Student strengthens concrete with nanosilica
June 14, 2011 6:54 am | News | CommentsThrough his study of chemical reactions within concrete at the nanoscale, Jon Belkowitz, a doctoral student at Stevens Institute of Technology, plans to put an end to the problem of alkali silica reactivity, a chemical reaction that causes fissures in concrete as it sets.
Aldrich Materials finds collaborator on hydrogen storage R & D
June 8, 2011 12:21 pm | News | CommentsAldrich Materials Science, a strategic technology initiative of Sigma-Aldrich Corp., today announced it has signed an agreement to collaborate on the scale-up and commercialization of next-generation boron hydride hydrogen-storage materials with Ilika, a UK-based advanced cleantech materials discovery company.
China plans restructure of rare earths industry
June 8, 2011 11:56 am | News | CommentsOne of China’s biggest, state-owned rare earths miners and producers has been given a monopoly over rare earth mining, processing, and trading in the northern part of the country. The move is an effort by the country’s government to bring the rare earths industry, which provides 97% of global supply, under tighter control.
Thomas Edison also invented the concrete house
June 2, 2011 6:16 am | News | CommentsLast month, a New Jersey Institute of Technology professor gave historians, who tend to think concrete architecture originated in Europe, some food for thought. According to Matt Burgermaster, Thomas Edison invented the single-pour system for building from concrete in 1917. Evidence remains in numerous examples of buildings in New Jersey, near where Edison’s factory was located.
World’s first large-scale OLED sphere installed in Japan
June 1, 2011 1:02 pm | News | CommentsThe Geo-Cosmos is to be unveiled June 11 at the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation in Tokyo, Japan. Built by Mitsubishi Electric using 10,362 organic light-emitting diode panels, the giant 6-m globe will project clouds and other meteorological information obtained from satellites.
Age-old scratch test buttered up to make it tough
May 26, 2011 12:30 pm | by Denise Brehm | News | CommentsThe “scratch test,” which tests a material’s resistance to deformation, might be the oldest known way to assess a material’s hardness and strength. Engineers at MIT decided to determine what exactly the scratch does assess. Using butter as a benchmark material, they found that the test does not actually measure material strength. But it does measure something else that is important.
Ceramic fracture resistance mechanisms provided by graphene
April 13, 2011 6:59 am | News | CommentsA team of researchers from the University of Arizona and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have increased the toughness of ceramic composites by more than 200% with the use of graphene reinforcements. The graphene additions arrest the formation of cracks in the ceramic, forcing them to change direction in three dimensions.
Sigma-Aldrich and Kraig Biocraft sign agreement to make spider silk
April 13, 2011 5:29 am | News | CommentsProprietary zinc finger technologies from biotechnology giant Sigma-Aldrich have been licensed by Kraig Biocraft Laboratories, which plans to back further R&D efforts and potentially commercialize the silk polymers in textile and biomedical fields.
Nanotechnology keeps the shine on silver
April 12, 2011 9:49 am | by Miles O'Brien, Science Nation Correspondent, and Ann Kellan, Science Nation Producer | News | CommentsKeeping silver’s tarnish at bay is a never-ending job, and every polish removes some of the precious metal. In an attempt to solve this millenia-old problem, researchers at the University of Maryland are testing a protective coating so thin it can’t be seen. Using atomic layer deposition, they apply nanometer-thick layers of aluminum oxide.
Materials science companies join to launch new conductive polymers
April 8, 2011 8:53 am | News | CommentsAldrich Materials Science, a technology offshoot of Sigma-Aldrich, this week announced the start of a collaboration with Agfa Materials to expand their offering of Orgacon conductive polymers for use in high technology applications. The material is geared toward use in applications requiring high conductivity, such as tandem junction solar cells.
3D imaging technology boosts the use of mill broke in paper industry
April 5, 2011 7:18 am | Product Releases | CommentsA measurement device developed by Finland’s Numcore Oy is based on impedance tomography and produces a 3-D image in real time from the inside of pipelines and tanks used by the process industries. According to the company, the pulp and paper industry could benefit from its use by optimizing its utilization of broke, the discard paper produced from breaks in a continuous mill process.
Harper to fill low-cost carbon fiber fab contract for Oak Ridge
March 29, 2011 6:11 am | News | CommentsValued at more than $12 million, the full pilot-scale carbon fiber process line from New York-based Harper International is part of the DOE’s effort to reduce the cost of carbon fiber and introduce as a high-strength component for a greater variety of products, such as automobiles. The new line at Oak Ridge National Lab will involve the use of low-cost, renewable lignin as a precursor.
Waste meat and bone converted to plastic
March 28, 2011 6:46 am | News | CommentsIn 1997, the U. S Food and Drug Administration banned the decades-old practice of feeding meat and bone meal to livestock. To find a use for the nine billion pounds of now-useless protein meal, researchers have come up with a new process that uses the waste to create bioplastic.
U.S. spent-fuel storage sites are packed
March 23, 2011 7:22 am | by Jonathan Fahey and Ray Henry, The Associated Press | News | CommentsThe nuclear crisis in Japan has laid bare an ever-growing problem for the United States — the enormous amounts of still-hot radioactive waste accumulating at commercial nuclear reactors in more than 30 states. A state-by-state study of numbers obtained by the Associated Press finds that the U.S. has almost 71,862 tons of radioactive waste, now stored at power-plant sites.
