To strengthen the position of natural rubber in relation to its synthetic rival, a CIRAD team has just used an innovative technique to identify a new indicator of the quality of this noble material.

Natural rubber has properties that are still unsurpassed, and many specific uses: aircraft and truck tyres, vehicle engine supports, high-speed train suspension parts, industrial glues and adhesive tapes, elastic yarns, gloves, condoms, etc. However, it is a product of biological ori

MIT researchers are trying to unleash the promise of an old idea by converting light into electricity more efficiently than ever before. The research is applying new materials, new technologies and new ideas to radically improve an old concept — thermophotovoltaic (TPV) conversion of light into electricity. Rather than using the engine to turn a generator or alternator in a car, for example, the new TPV system would burn a little fuel to create super-bright light. Efficient photo

A WORLDWIDE initiative led by Manchester Metropolitan University to assess problems and develop solutions for the global aviation industry has been launched with £5 million from the UK Government.

Announced on May 18, 2006 by Trade and Industry Secretary Alistair Darling, the funding is one of 11 competitive bid awards made under the Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF) to help build closer ties between business and higher education and turn ideas into enterprise.

A

Micronized silica for paint industry produced via fine grinding jet mill

In order to produce paint of the highest possible quality, the raw materials must be tightly controlled. This includes the mineral fillers that make up to 50% of the paint. Filler materials like calcium carbonate, talc, kaolin and silica largely govern paint properties like UV resistance, weatherability, abrasion resistance and sheen. Modern exterior latex paints typically use silica as a filler material, ho

Homogeneity in sintering of fine Ni-20Cr powder by PECS process

Pulsed Electric Current Sintering (PECS), also known as spark plasma sintering (SPS) or plasma activation sintering (PAS) is technique used for densifying power compacts or materials such as metals and ceramics and combination thereof. The attractive features of the process are that it allows compaction and sintering in a single stage and the process itself is quite rapid.

PECS also shows promise in being ab

Human Security and Institutions also Crucial

At the 14th Session of the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD-14) that took place in New York from 1 to 12 May 2006, the energy theme occupied the top position in the discussions. The pressing need for debate and action – with oil prices nearly tripling in the last two years – turned the spotlight on this UN event. Politicians and energy experts used this platform to address the energy challenge and accompanying security concerns

Wind generators are great for producing electricity But lack of wind isn’t an insurmountable problem, according to a group of UA Engineering students. They’ve been experimenting with a design that doesn’t depend on the vagaries of natural wind. Instead, their design produces its own airflow by trapping heat from the sun and then allowing the heated air to escape through a chimney-like tower to an area of lower pressure and cooler a

A team of researchers has achieved a long-sought scientific goal: using laser light to break specific molecular bonds. The process uses laser light, instead of heat, to strip hydrogen atoms from silicon surfaces. This is a key step in the manufacture of computer chips and solar cells, so the achievement could reduce the cost and improve the quality of a wide variety of semiconductor devices.

The technique was developed by Philip I. Cohen at the University of Minnesota, working with Vanderbi

Enables lower-temperature semiconductor processing

A team of researchers have achieved a long-sought scientific goal: using laser light to break specific molecular bonds. The process uses laser light, instead of heat, to strip hydrogen atoms from silicon surfaces, a key step in the manufacture of computer chips and solar cells.

The new technique was developed by Philip Cohen, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Minnesota, working with

Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have developed an inexpensive, reliable and easy-to-manufacture class of dielectric films that have the capability of enabling programmable antifuses on integrated circuits (IC) at less cost and using easier-to-manufacture methods.

The new Sandia films enable single-mask level sub 5 Volt write antifuses that are compatible with leading-edge IC specifications.

Antifuses are nonvolatile, one-time programmable memories fa

After the boom for new wind turbines in Germany in the past years, the repowering of these turbines gains more and more importance today. In the future, larger units will replace the smaller and older wind turbines, especially at sites with strong wind conditions. Siemens Power Generation (PG) is to supply a total of 17 wind energy turbines for three repowering projects in Germany. Of these, seven wind turbines will be for the Marienkoog project, and seven will be for the Norderhof Wind Park in t

Mechanical behaviour of hybrid SiO2-PMMA coatings measured by nanoindentation

Increasing the surface hardness of many materials opens them up for use in a wide variety of new applications. These new hybrid materials could be used in areas like anticorrosion coatings for metals, scratch and abrasion resistant coatings for plastics, antistatic films plus colour decorative coatings for glasses and plastics.

The sol-gel method of materials preparation is a suitable techniqu

With the threat of climate change and decreasing supplies of fossil fuels, the UK is going to have to find new ways to fuel our future to avoid an energy crisis. But with so much information out there, how can ordinary people find out more about what options there are? To help tackle this, the Institute of Physics today launches Potential Energy, a web log where three journalists will investigate the science of nuclear new-build for ten weeks.

The government white paper on the future possib

The Earth Institute at Columbia University — With oil prices reaching near near-record highs in recent weeks, calls have grown louder for the U.S. to develop new sources of affordable, domestic energy. Work by experts from The Earth Institute at Columbia University suggests that relatively low-cost alternatives already exist to meet the country’s’ growing energy demand that would at the same time reduce the need to rely on oil supplies from the Middle East and Latin America.

A report

Effect of base type on properties of NiO synthesised by Sol-Gel method

Nickel oxide is a very important chemical in modern industrial processes. It is commonly used as a catalyst within the petrochemical industry in areas like the synthesis of olefin gas and the reforming reaction of methane. The performance of the catalyst is closely related to particle properties of synthesised nickel oxide. Particle sizes, shapes and porosities are largely determined by various synthesis te

Bridging the gap between nanoscience and nanotechnology

A team of chemists from France, Italy, Spain, the UK, and the US are working together to bridge the gap between nanoscience and nanotechnology. They have now devised a method that could allow them to organize tiny molecular machines on a surface and so build devices that pack in thousands of times as many switching units, for instance, than is possible with a conventional silicon chip.

Chemist Fraser Stoddart, no