Technologies used to spin wool have been adapted to produce yarns made solely from carbon nanotubes (CNTs)
In a collaborative effort, scientists at CSIRO Textile and Fibre Technology (CTFT) have achieved a major technological breakthrough that should soon lead to the production of futuristic strong, light and flexible ’smart’ clothing materials. In partnership with the world-renowned NanoTech Institute at the University of Texas at Dallas, CTFT has adapted textile tech
Tools so tiny that they are difficult to see, are solving the problems of carving patterns in glass, ceramics and other brittle materials, according to a Penn State engineer.
“Even very brittle materials like glass will cut smoothly at a micron level,” says Dr. Eric R. Marsh, associate professor of mechanical engineering. “The tools we are making are small enough so that the brittle materials behave like a malleable material like aluminum, producing smooth curly chips of glass or
St. Petersburg physicists have developed a plant that allows to cut sapphire crystals into almost ideally smooth plates being fractions of millimeter thick. The approach suggested by the researchers fundamentally differs from the traditional one. They suggest that sapphire should not be sawn by a saw, but split by laser.
It is quite common that a title like “A plant for laser scribing of sapphire wafers” would surprise an ordinary person but it sounds like music for specialists
Heraeus at the plastics industry`s trade fair K in Düsseldorf – Infrared emitters for every application
In the plastics industry today, when extruding foil, forming PET bottles, riveting automotive interior panels, drying the print on yoghurt cups, or sealing tank containers, an increasingly important tool is the unique source of heat known as infrared radiation. Heraeus Noblelight is known for its innovative product development and application of infrared heat systems. The co
Following on from the success of EUREKA project E! 2534 THERMOPOLE, which developed thermoplastic lampposts that save lives by bending on impact, EUREKA project E! 2535 FACTORY PANELFORM has adapted the thermoplastic technology to produce sandwich section panels for a market worth over €20 million a year.
The recyclable panels can be produced in three-metre wide sections at a rate of four metres per minute, in a variety of colours and finishes. The new material is stronger and more
A team of University of Florida researchers has invented a way to rapidly detect traces of TNT or other hidden explosives simply by shining a light on any potentially contaminated object, from a speck of dust in the air to the surface of a suitcase. “We have to find explosives quickly, inexpensively and, particularly, reliably,” said Rolf Hummel, a UF professor emeritus of materials science and engineering who heads the lab where the method was invented.
The development provides in
ULIS SAS of France, a European leader in the field of low-cost infrared detectors for thermal imagery, has launched its latest, third-generation, uncooled 160×120 pixels microbolometer detector – the UL 02 05 1 – which operates at room temperature. The low cost of the device is one of its strongest selling points. By dividing the price of the system by three or even by four through the use of innovative microbolometers, ULIS has made infrared imagery available to markets such as industrial survei
Coatings used to protect the exposed wooden parts of buildings have to withstand all kinds of weather. To avoid over-frequent renovation, architects, builders and house-owners are advised to look for a reliable quality label. The relevant European standard is being revised.
A weather-beaten mountain chalet might look charming – but assaults by heat and cold, rain and sunshine, will eventually destroy even highly weather-resistant timber like larch. Outdoor paint or varnish is expecte
EUREKA project E! 2007 FACTORY PACK 2000 developed much more than a new packaging process for large items such as furniture and stone flooring. The system includes an advanced vision system, uses only one recyclable packaging material, offers additional environmental benefits by using less material and producing less waste – and is set to generate a 30% increase in turnover for the Italian lead partner, Aetna.
The project initially developed a new recyclable plastic packaging materi
Researchers master self-assembly of novel nanodots
Using pulsed lasers, researchers have coaxed the metal nickel to self-assemble into arrays of nanodots – each spot a mere seven nanometers (seven billionths of a meter) across – one-tenth the diameter of existing nanodots.
Because the method works with a variety of materials and may drastically reduce imperfections, the new procedure may also bolster research into extremely hard materials and efforts to develop ultra-dens
Want a tennis racket that propels balls faster than a race car or a sturdy ship hull that never rusts? Finding the recipes for such remarkable materials – called amorphous metals – should be easier using a new computational approach developed by Carnegie Mellon University physicist Michael Widom.
Described in an upcoming issue of Phys. Rev. B (September 1, 2004), this method already has been used to virtually generate recipes for more than 1,700 structures, many of which have never b
A new type of microfluidic device that can help industry to optimize paints, coatings for microelectronics and specialty polymers has been developed by National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) researchers. The device is made of a chemically durable plastic that is resistant to many common organic solvents. It was fabricated with a rapid prototyping method also developed at the agency.
Described in the Aug. 18 issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society,* such
NASA decides to send astronauts to Mars and farther out, one of the biggest technological hurdles it will face will be making sure they don’t get thirsty.
A $49,000 toilet at Purdue University may provide part of the answer. When NASA engineers first considered manned missions to Mars to follow the moon landings, they imagined that the astronauts would simply pack lots of water and food.
“We could go to Mars with Apollo technologies,” said Dr. Daniel J. Barta, deputy manag
Time is fast running out for the semiconductor industry as transistors become ever smaller and their insulating layers of silicon dioxide, already only atoms in thickness, reach maximum shrinkage. In addition, the thinner the silicon layer becomes, the greater the amount of chemical dopants that must be used to maintain electrical contact. And the limit here also is close to being reached.
But a Cornell University researcher has caused an information industry buzz with the discover
A new generation of high surface-area porous materials for removing atrazine from water supplies has been developed by researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The low-cost and wear-resistant fibers also can remove the hazardous contaminants chloroform and trichloroethylene, both byproducts of the commonly used chlorine disinfection process.
“We’ve shown that we can remove all these impurities to well below the maximum contaminant levels established by the Env
With hundreds of thousands of the nation’s bridges nearing the end of their design lives, cash-strapped states are searching for innovative solutions to repair and replace their decaying structures. One answer may lie in the same material that delivered the stealth aircraft, according to two researchers at the University of Missouri-Rolla.
Composite fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP), first developed for use in the aerospace and automotive industries, may be able to help nurse the rapi
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