Manufacturing & Prototyping :: Nasa Tech Briefs

NASA Tech Briefs’ Manufacturing & Prototyping Web page spotlights advances in manufacturing and fabrication processes, rapid prototyping, and digital prototyping, as published in NASA Tech Briefs magazine. Many of the Tech Briefs below are correlated to a Technical Support Package (TSP) or White Paper that can be downloaded free of charge.

Feb 2010

Chemical Machining of Microscopic Holes and Grooves in Glass

This technique overcomes disadvantages of conventional macro- and micromachining.

A technique for making precise, microscopic holes and grooves in glass workpieces has been invented. The technique differs from both (1) traditional macroscopic mechanical drilling and milling and (2) conventional micromachining that involves etching through photolithographically patterned masks. The technique can ...
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Two Concepts for Deployable Trusses

Thermal-actuation and misalignment-tolerant double-pivot designs are proposed.

Two concepts that could be applied separately or together have been suggested to enhance the utility of deployable truss structures. The concepts were intended originally for application to a truss structure to be folded for compact stowage during transport and subsequently ...
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Use of Nanofibers to Strengthen Hydrogels of Silica, Other Oxides, and Aerogels

Research has shown that including up to 5 percent w/w carbon nanofibers in a silica backbone of polymer crosslinked aerogels improves its strength, tripling compressive modulus and increasing tensile stress-at-break fivefold with no increase in density or decrease in porosity. In addition, the initial silica hydrogels, which are produced as ...
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