When Benjamin in “The Graduate” was told to go into plastics, computers were in their infancy and silicon technology ruled. Now, conducting organic polymers are infiltrating the electronics sphere and the watchword is once again plastics, according to Penn State researchers.

“For plastic circuits we cannot use the old processing,” says Dr. Qing Wang, assistant professor of materials science and engineering. “Photolithography and silicon technologies require harsh environments and plastics ca

Carbon-fiber reinforced polymer matrix composite materials are strong without being brittle and retain their integrity over a wide temperature range while being impervious to most environments. While the materials’ qualities make them important to the aerospace industry, present processing technology makes carbon fiber too expensive for broader use, such as in the automotive industry.

Chemistry and chemical engineering researchers at Virginia Tech and Clemson University have been worki

In an attempt to understand why ruthenium sulfide (RuS2) is so good at removing sulfur impurities from fuels, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory have succeeded in making a model of this catalyst — nanoparticles supported on an inert surface — which can be studied under laboratory conditions. “If we can understand why this catalyst is so active, we might be able to make it even better, or use what we learn to design other highly efficient catalysts,” sa

Death and taxes may be unavoidable, but road tolls and car insurance could be made fairer if satellite-assisted distance pricing is implemented.

The European Space Agency (ESA) is funding Irish provider of location technology products Mapflow to undertake a feasibility study to look into the possibility of implementing a pan-European road tolling system. The research aims to establish whether satellite technology can be used to calculate the cost of motoring.

A plan exists to

The rapidly increasing demands of today’s car buyers have placed a heavy burden on car manufacturers to constantly innovate. Building prototypes to test innovative car designs is a lengthy, not to mention expensive, process and one that companies keen to retain their competitive edge can ill afford. With contemporary simulation systems often falling short of R&D expectations, the eight-company-strong team of EUREKA project E! 1924 CARDS (Comprehensive Automobile Research and Development Simulator) s

Inventors at Oxford University have developed a new method to indirectly measure the surface tension of liquid by tracking reflected light intensity to assess the surface configuration. The procedure is reliable, repeatable, quick to set-up and use, contact-less and non-destructive.

Surface tension measurement is an important tool in the characterisation of surface-active liquids and mixtures. Although precise, traditional measuring methods suffer from several problems. With well-established

A new technique to detect localised corrosion in steel and other metals could help industry avoid major repair bills. In some cases, it could even help prevent serious safety problems in industrial plants and other building structures.

This technique differs from traditional methods as it is able to detect corrosion on a much smaller level. This means that preventative action can be taken earlier, saving money, time and possibly lives.

Funded by the Swindon-based Engineering and Ph

In this world of increasing worries over dependence on foreign oil, environmental degradation and the vulnerability of power networks, many people are calling for greater use of clean energy alternatives such as solar power. It is encouraging therefore to note the completion of the world´s largest factory for solar panels, built by MSK, Japan´s leading specialist solar manufacturer.

Tokyo-based MSK Corporation has opened the doors to its new production facility located in Nagano, Japan.

As scientists shrink materials down to the nanometer scale, creating nanodots, nanoparticles, nanorods and nanotubes a few tens of atoms across, they’ve found weird and puzzling behaviors that have fired their imaginations and promised many unforeseen applications.

Now University of California, Berkeley, scientists have found another unusual effect that could have both good and bad implications for semiconductor devices once they’ve been shrunk to the nanometer scale.

Th

Scientists have successfully produced the most efficient light bulb ever – but on the microscopic scale. Researchers at Trinity College, Dublin have discovered a technique which significantly improves the output of light from quantum dots, and also allows their light to be focussed and manipulated easily. Their findings are published today in the Institute of Physics journal Semiconductor Science and Technology.

Dr Yuri Rakovich and Dr John Donegan from Trinity College, Dublin working with

Australian scientists have produced a new high-speed welding technology that slashes hours from traditional joining of corrosion-resistant metals.

The Keyhole Welding process has been developed jointly by the Cooperative Research Centre for Welded Structures and CSIRO Elaborately Transformed Metals at Woodville in Adelaide, South Australia.

CSIRO’s Dr Ted Summerville says, ’This is a breakthrough, high-quality solution to the limited penetration of conventional TIG welding’.

Repairing our roads when and where it is needed was the goal for EUREKA project GEOSECMA-PMS. The project team created a complete software ’’toolbox’’ for municipalities and road authorities to assist them in the maintenance of roads and streets, thereby providing a safer, more comfortable ride for the public and savings for local government.

Hans-Goeran Wilhelmsson, chief executive of KORDAB, lead partner in the project, says the results have benefited citizens as well a

Technical Insights’ High Tech Materials Alert

Scientists have discovered that when lattice tungsten filaments are heated, they are capable of emitting greater energy than solid tungsten filaments.

“Because of this significant advance, lattice tungsten filaments will likely meet the increasing power requirements of high-tech electrical systems, such as those in hybrid electric cars, sophisticated boats, engines, and industrial waste heat-driven electrical generators,” sa

Major blackouts such as those that hit North America last week can result from combinations of relatively small problems, such as trees growing too close to powerlines, according to Kevin Cryan, Business Development Manager with CSIRO Mathematical and Information Sciences.

“There seem to have been a number of factors that led to the recent disastrous blackouts but it’s been reported that one incident involved an overheated powerline sagging and making contact with trees,” says Mr Cryan.

Surrounded by projection screens, a blue Saturn sits in a basement room in the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. If you look very closely, you can see several tiny video cameras inside the car, and a glance under the hood gives a whole new meaning to the term “souped-up.”

In the space where the engine normally resides sits an array of electronic instrumentation that turns this ordinary vehicle into a high-fidelity driving simulator known as SIREN (Simulator for Interdisciplinary Re

Electricity moves across miles in seconds to power manufacturing and utilities nationwide. But, for all its speed, the loss of just fractions of seconds of electric power is costing the U.S. economy $100 billion a year.

“The nation’s electric grid is operating so close to capacity that many of today’s electric load demands for fast and dynamic voltage support cannot be provided fast enough,” says Alex Huang, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Virginia Tech.