Materials

Composite materials

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Briefs: Materials
Inventors from NASA Langley and NASA Ames have created a new type of carbon fiber polymer composite that has a high thermal conductivity.
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Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Inventors at the NASA Langley Research Center have developed a novel method to model and ingest point-wise process data to evaluate an additive manufacturing build and its file for issues by highlighting potential anomalies or other areas where the build may have issues with fusion of the material.
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Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
NASA’s Langley Research Center has developed a simplified, tool-less automated tow/tape placement (ATP) system. This invention enables several benefits that mitigate limitations associated with conventional ATP systems. Read on to learn more.
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Briefs: Energy
Innovators at NASA Johnson Space Center have developed a carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) sleeve, that, when fitted over a cylindrical Li-ion battery cell, can prevent cell-to-cell propagation by containing a thermal runaway (TR) event to the originating cell.
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Application Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Manufacturing teams in multiple industries, from aerospace to oil and gas, are finding relief in the form of new collaborative robots (cobots), like Kane Robotics’ GRIT ST and GRIT XL, that can sand off coatings, grind welds, or polish metal finishes in half the time and more safely than humans.
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Briefs: Materials
Researchers from Japan and Singapore have developed a new 3D-printing process for the fabrication of 3D metal–plastic composite structures with complex shapes.
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Briefs: Aerospace
Inflatable and deployable beams and masts are often made of polymer composites and may be stored for one to two years in space before deployment.
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Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Industrial composite manufacturing is primarily accomplished through three methods: co-cure, co-bond, and secondary bond processes.
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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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Q&A: Materials
Jason Patrick, assistant professor of civil, construction, and environmental engineering at North Carolina State University, and his team have developed a new composite material for applications like airplane wings and wind turbine blades in which hidden defects and damage can self-heal.
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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: Aerospace
NASA’s new COROTUB boom is flattened, rolled, and stowed in a small package for easy transport to remote locations. When unfurled, it expands into a load-bearing structural boom.
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Briefs: Materials
Researchers combined additive manufacturing with conventional compression molding to produce high-performance thermoplastic composites reinforced with short carbon fibers. The approach...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Researchers have developed technology to produce next-generation composite glass for lighting LEDs and smartphone, television, and computer screens. The technology was a step forward in perovskite...
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Briefs: Materials
Optical limiting — a manner of telecom switching without the use of electronics — is an all-optical method that could improve the speed and capacity of Internet communications. A...
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Briefs: Materials
By electrically stimulating nerves, this therapy can reduce epileptic seizures and soothe chronic pain without the use of conventional drugs like opioids.
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Briefs: Design
The advance could accelerate engineers’ design process by eliminating the need to solve complex equations.
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Briefs: Energy
Carbon nanotubes are used to create solar cells with unprecedented flexibility and resistance.
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Briefs: Materials
The carbon fiber reinforced material can be repeatedly healed with heat.
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Briefs: Green Design & Manufacturing
An optimized flash process could reduce carbon emissions.
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Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
The system creates accurate defect standards for in-situ inspection systems.
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Briefs: Green Design & Manufacturing
The eco-friendly process removes heavy metals, dyes, and other pollutants.
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Briefs: Materials
Applications include space structures, emergency shelters, backpack solar collectors, and inspection of hazardous environments.
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
The compact instrument measures thermal conductivity of materials at below ambient temperatures.
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Briefs: Materials
Synthesis of fiber-metal laminates is performed using RF plasma spray deposition.
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Briefs: Materials
Applications include anti-fouling and anti-contamination, aerodynamic and hydrodynamic drag reduction, and adhesive joining of composite parts.
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Briefs: Automotive
Applications include aerospace and automotive components, prosthetics, sporting goods, and other uses where strength-to-weight ratio is important.
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Briefs: Materials
The organic composite material is soft, stretchable, and has good thermoelectric properties for many wearable applications.
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