Briefs: Materials
Improved Fabrication of YBa2Cu3O7 —x Superconductors
An improved method of manufacturing high-temperature superconductors of general composition YBa2Cu3O7— x and various grain structures has been devised. This method involves mixing, pressing, and heating of Y2O3, CuO, and...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
High-Power Laser Illuminator
A laser illuminator system has been developed for use in automated tracking of objects. In its original application, the system illuminates a 5° conical region expected to contain a small satellite at a distance up to 750 m from the space shuttle. If the satellite comes within this region, then a receiving...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
The figure illustrates a chair-base mechanism with a bushing-mounted drag chain. The bushing-mount design provides for one end of the drag chain to be free to pivot; this provision makes it possible to wrap the...
Briefs: Materials
Improved formulations and processes have been invented for manufacturing ceramic fibers that exhibit structural stability and retain tensile strength at temperatures up to 1,200...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Dryden Flight Research Center's Flight Loads Laboratory (FLL) was constructed in 1964 for use in performing combined mechanical and thermal tests of structural components and complete...
Briefs: Materials
Extruding Tb/Dy for Magnetostrictive Actuators
A process that is undergoing development would be used to mass-produce textured polycrystalline rods of a terbium/dysprosium alloy for cryogenic magnetostrictive actuators. The rolling-and-heat-treatment process described in the preceding article yields a high degree of crystal orientation, but is...
Briefs: Motion Control
PC-based control has become one of the fastest-growing automation solutions for the factory floor. Control engineers are quickly dropping their proprietary PLC boxes and replacing them with PC-based control...
Briefs: Motion Control
The linear motor was invented in the mid-nineteenth century, at much the same time as its brother, the rotating electric motor. Because the linear motor always has to effect a reversing movement -...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
A hand-held optoelectronic instrument has been designed to generate a quantitative indication of the loss of chlorophyll, and thus the level of stress, in plants. The instrument...
Briefs: Materials
Improved aerogel-based thermal insulation systems have been developed to provide cost-effective and easier-to-handle alternatives to various types of multilayer insulation (MLI) and...
Briefs: Materials
Electric arcs and electrochemical etching can be used to impart microscopic textures to surfaces of metals. In electric-arc texturing, one strikes an arc between a water-cooled...
Briefs: Materials
Doping with silver bromide has been found to be an effective technique for enhancing the optical homogeneity and other qualities of single crystals of lead bromide. These crystals are grown...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Several microwave-cavity devices at various stages of development are designed for heating material samples or process streams with uniform temperature-versus-time histories. These devices...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Ceramic Hybrid Electromechanical Systems
Ceramic hybrid electromechanical systems (CHEMS) have been proposed to overcome some of the disadvantages while retaining most of the advantages of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). Whereas MEMS are fabricated mostly by micromachining of silicon and have typical feature sizes of the order of microns...
Briefs: Materials
An alloy of 88Cu/8Cr/4Nb (numbers indicate atomic percentages) has been proposed for use in fabricating rocket-engine combustion chambers by vacuum plasma spraying (VPS). Relative...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
By combining patented digital Silver-in-Glass® and analog conductive plastic technologies in a single environmentally sealed unibody package, Spectrol Electronics' DigiSense™...
Briefs: Materials
Device for High-Pressure Fused Deposition of Engineering Polymers From Feed Rods
A more versatile delivery system for fused deposition has recently been developed. This system uses a very stiff, precise, and compact actuator to drive a small piston/cylinder extruder that has a heated nozzle. Because feed rods are used as the feed material, this...
Briefs: Materials
Two techniques have been proposed to reduce thermal-expansion mismatches between (a) substrates made of silicon, silicon-based ceramics, and silicon-based-ceramic composite...
Briefs: Materials
Engineers at Rockwell International Corporation's Space System Division have developed a new method of insulating composite structural...
Briefs: Materials
A process that involves reaction forming has been devised to enable the joining of high-temperature-resistant structural parts made of SiC-based materials. These materials...
Briefs: Materials
Nearly isotropic matrix/fiber composite materials can be made quickly and at relatively low cost by resin-transfer molding. The fiber components of these materials are fine, loosely woven,...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
A sonochemical treatment has been proposed for removing hydrazine contaminants from water. The basis of the proposal is a conjecture that the sonochemical effect in water containing...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Controlled-Orientation Short-Fiber Composite Bodies
A technique for depositing materials into position using a positive-displacement extruder to build up a body has been developed. This technique also includes a process to prepare composite materials through a solid free-body forming process containing directionally aligned short-fiber...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
A simple change in the design of tools used in manufacturing laminated-composite-material sandwich panels reduces the floor area needed to store the tools. To give meaning to a...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Processes for fabricating thin-film type-S thermocouples on metal and silicon nitride substrates (see figure) have been developed. (A type-S thermocouple comprises one leg made of platinum and...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Applying Controlled Pressure Distributions to Complex Curved Surfaces
A technique for applying controlled test pressures to curved surfaces is based on a principle similar to that of a compartmented pilot's or astronaut's pressure suit. The technique involves the use of airbags that accommodate geometric complexity in both the surface under...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
A friction stir weld (FSW) system for welding and weld repair can be used on the manufacturing floor, as well as in the laboratory environment. This FSW system can be used in a wide...
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