New Joining and Additive Production Processes Allow Adhesive-free Wood-Metal Joints. Using 3D printing technology and ultrasonic joining technique, researchers at Graz University of Technology succeeded in attaining an extremely strong joining of the renewable raw material wood with metal and polymer composite. In Ultrasonic Joining, wood and the base component are joined by frictional heat. (c) Oliver Wolf / TU Graz The renewable raw material wood is climate-neutral and at the same time light and strong, making it fundamentally attractive…
The advance shows promise for creating compact, inexpensive, and portable light sources, which are crucial for space-based applications, biological and geological field research, and military operations. In a groundbreaking advancement, researchers with the Advanced Science Research Center at the CUNY Graduate Center (CUNY ASRC) have experimentally demonstrated that metasurfaces (two-dimensional materials structured at the nanoscale) can precisely control the optical properties of thermal radiation generated within the metasurface itself. This pioneering work, published in Nature Nanotechnology, paves the way for…
As climate change creates hotter, drier conditions, we are seeing longer fire seasons with larger, more frequent wildfires. In recent years, catastrophic wildfires have destroyed homes and infrastructure, caused devastating losses in lives and livelihoods of people living in affected areas, and damaged wildland resources and the economy. We need new solutions to fight wildfires and protect areas from damage. Researchers at Stanford have developed a water-enhancing gel that could be sprayed on homes and critical infrastructure to help keep…
Robotic automation has become a game-changer in addressing labour shortages. While traditional rigid grippers have effectively automated various routine tasks, boosting efficiency and productivity in industries that deal with objects of well-defined specifications, they fall short in sectors like the food industry, where delicate objects of varying sizes and shapes need to be handled. In these cases, a more specialised type of gripper is required. “Bioinspired soft robotics seeks to develop technologies that draw inspiration from nature and leverage advanced…
Nylon, Teflon, Kevlar. These are just a few familiar polymers — large-molecule chemical compounds — that have changed the world. From Teflon-coated frying pans to 3D printing, polymers are vital to creating the systems that make the world function better. Finding the next groundbreaking polymer is always a challenge, but now Georgia Tech researchers are using artificial intelligence (AI) to shape and transform the future of the field. Rampi Ramprasad’s group develops and adapts AI algorithms to accelerate materials discovery. This summer,…
Version 3.0 of the material simulation software suite DAMASK released. Designing materials to meet high-tech criteria, safety, and sustainability standards is increasingly complex. To address this challenge, a team of materials scientists and software engineers lead by the Max Planck Institute for Sustainable Materials (MPI SusMat) has released an updated version of the Düsseldorf Advanced Material Simulation Kit (DAMASK). This free, unified multi-physics crystal plasticity simulation package, initiated at MPI SusMat, is now developed as open-source software by various research…
Viewing the Invisible with Advanced Microscopy. Scientists from the Department of Physical Chemistry at the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society have made a groundbreaking discovery in the field of nanotechnology, as detailed in their latest publication in Advanced Materials. Their paper, titled „Spectroscopic and Interferometric Sum-Frequency Imaging of Strongly Coupled Phonon Polaritons in SiC Metasurfaces,” introduces a novel microscopy method that allows for the unprecedented visualization of nanostructures and their optical properties. Tailoring light with Nanomaterials Metamaterials,…
… inspired by vintage toys. Contracting-cord design enables precise control of structural shape and flexibility. Common push puppet toys in the shapes of animals and popular figures can move or collapse with the push of a button at the bottom of the toys’ base. Now, a team of UCLA engineers has created a new class of tunable dynamic material that mimics the inner workings of push puppets, with applications for soft robotics, reconfigurable architectures and space engineering. Inside a push…
… by developing full-color fiber LEDs based on perovskite quantum wires. A research team led by the School of Engineering of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has developed full-color fiber light-emitting diodes utilizing perovskite quantum wires (PeQWs), paving the way for innovative wearable lighting and display devices. Fiber light-emitting diodes (Fi-LEDs) stand out as a key component in the realm of flexible LEDs because of their compatibility with textile fabrication and excellent spatial luminance uniformity. Metal…
PME researchers were carrying out basic research on a magnetic topological insulator when they realized it had the potential to build optical storage devices. Researchers at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (PME) have made unexpected progress toward developing a new optical memory that can quickly and energy-efficiently store and access computational data. While studying a complex material composed of manganese, bismuth and tellurium (MnBi2Te4), the researchers realized that the material’s magnetic properties changed quickly and easily…
A low-cost approach regulates heat with common building materials that absorb or radiate heat. With temperatures rising globally, the need for more sustainable cooling options is also growing. Researchers at UCLA and their colleagues have now found an affordable and scalable process to cool buildings in the summer and heat them in the winter. Led by Aaswath Raman, an associate professor of materials science and engineering at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering, the research team recently published a study in Cell Reports…
Heidelberg researchers successfully develop a new generation of biocompatible materials for additive manufacturing. Microalgae such as the diatom Odontella aurita and the green alga Tetraselmis striata are especially suitable as “biofactories” for the production of sustainable materials for 3D laser printing due to their high content in lipids and photoactive pigments. An international research team led by Prof. Dr Eva Blasco, a scientist at the Institute for Molecular Systems Engineering and Advanced Materials (IMSEAM) of Heidelberg University, has succeeded for…
Solid-state electrolytes have been explored for decades for use in energy storage systems and in the pursuit of solid-state batteries. These materials are safer alternatives to the traditional liquid electrolyte—a solution that allows ions to move within the cell—used in batteries today. However, new concepts are needed to push the performance of current solid polymer electrolytes to be viable for next generation materials. Materials science and engineering researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have explored the role of helical…
Researchers have demonstrated a technique for creating sensors that can function both in air and underwater. The approach paves the way for “amphibious” sensors with applications ranging from wildlife monitoring to biomedical applications. The new findings are focused on strain sensors, which measure deformation – meaning they can be used to measure how things stretch, bend and move. “For example, there is interest in creating strain sensors that can be used in biomedical applications – such as sensors that can…
Eco-friendly 3D concrete printing. A research team led by engineers at the University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science is the first to explore how an emerging plant-based material, cellulose nanofibrils, could amplify the benefits of 3D-printed concrete technology. “The improvements we saw on both printability and mechanical measures suggest that incorporating cellulose nanofibrils in commercial printable materials could lead to more resilient and eco-friendly construction practices sooner rather than later,” said Osman E. Ozbulut, a professor in the…
Polymer patch made from dynamic polymer networks. New class of fiber-reinforced polymers in the circular economy. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials IFAM have developed a new polymer patch that can significantly accelerate and simplify previously laborious, expensive, and time-consuming repair processes on damaged lightweight aircraft components. The thermoformable, recyclable repair patch is pressed onto the damaged area and fully sets in just 30 minutes. The innovative fiber-reinforced plastic is so versatile that it can…
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