Materials Sciences

Physicists from the St. Petersburg State Institute of Technology have invented an unusual method for improving concrete. The researchers believe that the concrete structure will become more uniform, and concrete products will obtain unprecedented durability and water-resistance if, while hardening, concrete is exposed to the influence of electromagnetic field of a strictly determined frequency.

The actual process is as follows: the concrete blocks while they are still in the mould ar

Technique could help bring efficiency of biology to man-made materials

A Princeton chemist has developed a general mathematical system for designing materials that perform two functions at once, even when the desired properties sometimes conflict with each other.

Salvatore Torquato and colleagues used computers to calculate the optimum structure for any material that is a composite of two substances with differing properties. The achievement is the first simple example of a

POLYMAT, the University of the Basque Country’s Institute of Polymer Materials, is helping to solve the problem of contamination of polymers obtained through polymerisation processes involving emulsions. With European funding obtained four years ago, the project on removing monomer residues from polymers was undertaken. POLYMAT has been working in this field with the collaboration of three other universities (from Germany, Greece and Switzerland) as well as three foreign companies.

Unfortun

Researchers at the University of Sheffield have transformed ordinary polyurethane packaging foam into a superfoam that not only refuses to be crushed but also actually increases in thickness when stretched. Under the same stresses conventional foam loses its resilience and its protective qualities, so the superfoam’s benefits for the packaging industry are obvious.

The secret lies in a new “cooking” technique and in the cooking oil, which has to be organic; olive oil, for example, will do ni

For several years, Caisa Andersson has been trying to create a better barrier against moisture and oxygen in our food packaging. On December 20, she will submit her doctoral dissertation at Karlstad University in Sweden.

Latex has long been used for various types of surface treatment of paper. In recent years, interest has been focused on the polymer’s characteristic of forming a protective coating on the surface of paper.

“Surface treatment is used to create a barrier against mois

Nanotechnology could make life easier for computer manufacturers and tougher for terrorists, reports a Purdue University research team.

A group led by Jillian Buriak has found a rapid and cost-effective method of forming tiny particles of high-purity metals on the surface of advanced semiconductor materials such as gallium arsenide. While the economic benefits alone of such a discovery would be good news to chip manufacturers, who face the problem of connecting increasingly tiny com