Materials

Smart materials

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Briefs: Transportation
Applications include vehicle and aircraft tires, sports helmets, military equipment, and seals and couplings. Read on to learn more.
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Briefs: Medical
University of Waterloo Chemical Engineering Researcher Dr. Elisabeth Prince teamed up with researchers from the University of Toronto and Duke University to design the synthetic material made using cellulose nanocrystals, which are derived from wood pulp. The material is engineered to replicate the fibrous nanostructures and properties of human tissues. Read on to learn more.
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Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Researchers from NC State University have demonstrated mini soft hydraulic actuators that can be used to control the deformation and motion of soft robots that are less than a millimeter thick. The researchers also demonstrated that this technique works with shape memory materials.
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Briefs: Photonics/Optics
A new approach has allowed researchers at Aalto University to design a kind of metamaterial that has so far been beyond the reach of existing technologies. Unlike natural materials, metamaterials and metasurfaces can be tailored to have specific electromagnetic properties, which means scientists can create materials with features desirable for industrial applications.
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Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Researchers at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) have created software and hardware for a 4D printer with applications in the biomedical field.
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Technology & Society: Green Design & Manufacturing
A team at Drexel University has engineered a grid of BioFibers that can be embedded within a concrete structure to improve its durability, prevent cracks from growing, and even enable self-healing.
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Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Using a new type of dual-polymer material capable of responding dynamically to its environment, researchers have developed a set of modular hydrogel components that could be useful in a variety of soft robotic and biomedical applications.
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Briefs: Materials
Drawing inspiration from how spiders spin silk to make webs, a team of researchers has developed an innovative method of producing soft fibers that possess three key properties (strong, stretchable, and electrically conductive), and at the same time can be easily reused to produce new fibers.
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Briefs: Materials
A new smart material is activated by both heat and electricity, making it the first ever to respond to two different stimuli. The work paves the way for a wide variety of potential applications, including clothing that warms up while you walk.
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Briefs: Materials
There’s still more to explore with REFLEX, but this process could open new possibilities for new materials and microstructures across fields from electronics to optics to biomedical engineering.
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Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
The piezoelectric “meta-bot” is capable of propulsion, movement, sensing, and decision-making.
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5 Ws: Motion Control
A team of researchers at Cornell Engineering has developed a soft robot that can detect when and where it was damaged — and then heal itself on the spot.
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Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
Researchers produced a soft, mechanical metamaterial that can “think” about how forces are applied to it and respond via programmed reactions.
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Briefs: Materials
NASA has developed a new metal matrix composite (MMC) that can repair itself from large fatigue cracks that occur during the service life of a structure.
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Briefs: Green Design & Manufacturing
By incorporating a special type of plastic yarn and using heat to slightly melt it — a process called thermoforming — the researchers were able to greatly improve the precision of pressure sensors woven into multilayered knit textiles, which they call 3DKnITS.
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Briefs: Medical
Study confirms that hydrogels work in a similar way to how humans detect pressure, paving the way for more ionic devices.
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Briefs: Materials
Applications include a smart fabric for exoskeletons, an adaptive cast that adjusts its stiffness as an injury heals, or a deployable bridge that could be unrolled and stiffened.
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Briefs: Energy
The material remains effective as an energy harvester or sensor at temperatures to well above 572°F.
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Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
The piezoelectric “meta-bot” is capable of propulsion, movement, sensing, and decision-making.
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Briefs: Aerospace
A lightweight alternative to rudders for aircraft with spanwise adaptive wings.
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Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Engineers have created a highly effective way to paint complex 3D-printed objects, such as lightweight frames for aircraft and biomedical stents, that could save manufacturers time and money and provide new...
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Briefs: Imaging
A Penn State-led team of interdisciplinary researchers developed a polymer with robust piezoelectric effectiveness, resulting in 60 percent more efficient electricity...
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Briefs: Materials
A reversible polymer changes color when it senses a material is about to fail.
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Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
These materials can detect when they are damaged, take the necessary steps to temporarily heal themselves, and then resume work.
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Briefs: Materials
A new study challenges the conventional approach to designing soft robotics and metamaterials by utilizing the power of computer algorithms.
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Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Metamaterials that manipulate microwave energy can be fabricated using low-cost inkjet printing.
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
The nanothin material could advance self-powered electronics, wearable technologies, and even deliver pacemakers powered by heartbeats.
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Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
These “living machines” hold potential for applications from medical treatments to improving the environment.
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Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
Sensing is incorporated directly into an object’s material, with applications for assistive technology and “intelligent” furniture.
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