Technical Insights plastics materials – Emerging technology and trends analysis
Economical, performance-focused plastics materials application development is dependent not only on leveraging traditional, well-defined ‘cost-performance’ parameters, but also on understanding the strategic nuances essential for sustaining long-term growth.
“Adherence to regulatory legislation – particularly in the areas of continuous improvement in size and weight reduction – is one of th
A carefully controlled animal study provides clear evidence that a low-glycemic-index (low-GI) diet – one whose carbohydrates are low in sugar or release sugar slowly – can lead to weight loss, reduced body fat, and reduction in risk factors for diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
“The study findings should give impetus to large-scale trials of low-GI diets in humans,” says senior author David Ludwig, MD, PhD, director of the Optimal Weight for Life (OWL) obesity program at Childre
University of California scientists working at Los Alamos National Laboratory have recently demonstrated a novel method for chemically modifying and enhancing silica-based aerogels without sacrificing the aerogels unique properties. Aerogels are low-density, transparent materials used in a wide range of applications, including thermal insulation, porous separation media, inertial confinement fusion experiments and cometary dust capture agents.
Made of silica, one of the Earth’
Engineers at Ohio State University have incorporated clay and other chemicals into a paint that keeps metal from corroding — and reveals when an airplane, boat, or bridge needs to be repainted.
Though the paint is still under development, early tests have shown that it prevents corrosion just as well as commercial paints that are less environmentally friendly.
The new paint is unique because its pigment contains tiny particles of clay that capture the chemicals that cause co
One of the most widely used plastics in the world — PVC — could be on the verge of becoming more fire retardant and environmentally friendly, thanks to the work of researchers at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va.
PVC is practically ubiquitous in our society, especially in many homes. Household products from water pipes to shower curtains and house siding to window shades and wall coverings are made from poly(vinyl chloride).
Polymer chemists developed
Automotive manufacturers may soon benefit from a new breed of metals – known as functionally gradient materials – that can withstand the high temperatures of die casting without cracking under pressure, according to a researcher at the University of Missouri-Rolla.
UMR researchers, led by Dr. Frank Liou, director of the manufacturing engineering program and professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, hope to build better die-casting molds by developing materials that are both
People are just as likely to be killed, or property damaged, by the shock wave from an exploding bomb as from flying debris or flames. The rush of gases emanating from a bomb can travel more than 10 times the speed of sound, destroying everything in its path.
Two University of Rhode Island engineers have constructed a “shock tube” to simulate this rush of gas so they can test the ability of various new composite materials to withstand these extreme forces.
“What we’re
Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have discovered that the addition of carbon nanotubes to a common commercial polymer, polypropylene, leads to dramatic changes in how the molten polymer flows. This process eliminates a widespread manufacturing headache known as “die-swell” in which polymers swell in undesirable directions when passing through the exit port of an extruder (a machine for producing more or less continuous lengths of plastic sections).
A major foresight project on materials technology has been launched to put Norway’s need for expertise in nano- and materials technology on the agenda.
Norway hasn’t had a general R&D strategy for materials technology or nanotechnology since the 1980’s and is far behind the USA and the rest of Europe. In 1999, Bill Clinton allocated 500 million US dollars to nano research through the Nanotech Initiative. The same year, the Norwegian White Paper on Research was presented without ment
Aluminium is a metal widely used in industry; therefore the more that is known about it, the more effectively it can be used. Researchers at Risø National Laboratory in Denmark and the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in France have filmed in 3D the changes in the bulk of deformed aluminium after annealing. Thanks to the uniqueness of the synchrotron light at the ESRF, this kind of experiment could take place for the first time ever. The results give a new insight into this metal and c
In automotive catalytic converters and industrial exhaust gas filters, porous materials play a crucial role: they filter and break down hot waste gases. It is now possible to process virtually all metal alloys into fibers which can be used to make open-pored sintered materials.
The requirements to be met by a coffee filter are simple: it must retain the powder and not be decomposed by the hot water. The conditions for dealing with exhaust gases in industrial processes are much tougher: tem
Scientists at the University of Virginia have announced the discovery of a non-magnetic amorphous material that is three times stronger than conventional steel and has superior anti-corrosion properties. A future variation of the new material, called DARVA-Glass 101, could be used for making ship hulls, lighter automobiles, tall buildings, corrosion-resistant coatings, surgical instruments and recreational equipment. The scientists say commercial use of the material could be available within three
High-temperature lab-on-a-chip can get hotter than surface of Venus Engineers have created a miniature hotplate that can reach temperatures above 1100°C (2012°F), self-contained within a “laboratory” no bigger than a child’s shoe. The micro-hotplates are only a few dozen microns across (roughly the width of a human hair), yet are capable of serving as substrates, heaters and conductors for thin-film experiments ranging from material analyses to the development of advance
CIDETEC have been working with EGOKI HANDLES on developing new anti-adhesive finishes for metal parts for a number of different applications.
The aim of the project has been to achieve product enhancement, specifically to add a transparent and anti-adhesive protective coating to the TIRADORES EGOKI (EGOKI HANDLES) company range of decorative finishes for their metal.
From a technical perspective, two alternatives were initially put forward for obtaining organic protective coatings for
Researchers Provide Boost For Nanotechnology Appplicatons
“Nanodumbells” – gold-tipped nanocrystals which can be used as highly-efficient building blocks for devices in the emerging nanotechnology revolution – have been developed by researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
The technology, developed by a research group headed by Prof. Uri Banin of the Department of Physical Chemistry and the Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology of the Hebrew University, is des
An experimental campaign has been conducted for investigating the response of anchorages in concrete, principally to dynamic loads. Normal high performance steel fiber reinforced concretes have been considered and the best test pieces included: plain concrete specimens, cast-in-place and post installed rebars and cast-in-place and post-installed anchors. Innovative, Hopkinson bar based experiments have been produced for strain rates from 10E-6/sec up to 20/sec. The satisfactory performance with resp
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