Kirigami-Style Fabrication at the Nanoscale

This method fabricates 3D nanostructures for electronics, manufacturing, and healthcare.

Smart Laser Cutter System Detects Different Materials

SensiCut, a smart material-sensing platform for laser cutters, can differentiate among 30 materials commonly found in makerspaces.

Coatings Could Improve Traction on Slick Surfaces

Material for shoe bottoms could help prevent falls in icy or slippery conditions.

Using Lasers in the Automotive Manufacturing Industry

Ever since Henry Ford introduced the first moving production line to the industry in 1913, automotive manufacturers have been constantly striving to streamline their processes,...

The Configurable Laser — A Universal Manufacturing Tool

Laser technology will remain at the forefront of tomorrow’s digital manufacturing processes.

NASA Space Data Can Cut Disaster Response Times, Costs

The NASA study is a first step in developing a model to deploy in future disasters.

Industrial Blue Lasers

What Does It Takes to Change the Game?

Industrial lasers are integrated into manufacturing and fabrication facilities around the world. Every moment, there is an industrial laser somewhere that is cutting, etching,...

Advances in Laser Welding Technology

There have been many changes in laser technology over the past 30 years. With each advancement comes new challenges and opportunities. The CO₂ laser with 10-micron wavelength was king for many...

Additive Manufacturing Using Infrared and X-Ray Imaging

Additive manufacturing is poised to liven the pace and scale of manufacturing. Deploying a range of techniques that use 3-D models to print objects layer by layer, it can generate a...

Ultrafast Laser Micromachining

Ultrashort pulse (USP) lasers for precision micromachining can minimize or avoid undesirable thermal effects that limit feature resolution, edge quality and, ultimately, product functionality. This is...

Device Measures Laser Power in Real Time

Lasers play roles in many manufacturing processes, from welding car parts to crafting engine components with 3D printers. To control these tasks, manufacturers must ensure that their lasers fire at...

Machine Vision Can Do More Than You Think

The ability to automatically extract information from digital images opens many doors for manufacturers striving to cut costs, improve quality, and streamline their processes overall. The primary...

Rubber-Like Adhesive Film Sticks to Highly Deformable Areas

Adhesives used for common pain-relieving bandages often do not stick properly when attached to places that encounter large, inhomogenous bending motion, like elbows and knees. To...

3D-Printed Biomaterials Degrade on Demand

Stereolithography — a method of 3D printing — uses an ultraviolet laser controlled by a computer-aided design system to trace patterns across the surface of a photoactive polymer solution. The...

Precision CNT Cutting Mechanism

NASA Langley Research Center has developed a simple mechanism for the clean cutting of high-strength and high-toughness carbon nanotube/poly-mer fiber composites on demand without high blade wear or...

Novel Laser Power Sensor Technology for Process Control

The need to measure laser output characteristics, including average power, pulse energy, and pulse shape, is a common requirement across many industrial and research applications....

Technological Advances, and How Structural Adhesives Support Manufacturing

Exciting new technological innovations are making the planet cleaner, people healthier, food more plentiful, transportation speedier, communication more accessible,...

Forward Voltage Short-Pulse Technique for Measuring High-Power Laser Diode Array Junction Temperature

NASA’s Langley Research Center has developed a new technology for measuring the junction temperature of laser diode arrays (LDAs) that...

Omni Jaw 5™ Powered Protrusion Cutter

In many manufacturing and construction activities, it is frequently necessary to remove a protrusion of material from a component or from a substrate surface. These removal operations include clipping...

Paper-Based Electrochemical Test Strip Detects Harmful Bacteria

Borrowing concepts from medical diagnostic devices, researchers have created a simple, inexpensive set of handheld tests that can detect the presence of many water- or...

Chain Drive Dust Conveyer

The Mars 2020 coring drill will generate a significant amount of dust and debris (known as fines) due to the volume of milled material displaced by the corer's annulus. These cuttings must be removed to ensure that...

Chain Drive Dust Conveyer

The Mars 2020 coring drill will generate a significant amount of dust and debris (known as fines) due to the volume of milled material displaced by the corer’s annulus. These cuttings must be removed to...

Printed Electronics: The Future Is Flexible

Low-Cost Printable Electronics Fabrication

The need for low-cost and environmentally friendly processes for fabricating printable electronics and biosensor chips is rapidly growing. NASA has...

Flexible Volumetric Structure

NASA’s Langley Research Center has developed composite elastic skins for covering shape-changing (morphable) structures. These skins are intended especially for use on advanced aircraft that change shapes in...

Edge-Bonded Shims

Precision shims are used as compensators to absorb tolerances between mating components. They significantly reduce manufacturing costs by eliminating the need for each component to be precision-machined in order to achieve...

Researchers Prepare RoboSimian for Tasks Beyond Disaster Response

RoboSimian, a limbed robot developed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), is designed to operate in environments too dangerous or difficult for human intervention,...