Tech Briefs

Materials & Manufacturing

Access our comprehensive library of technical briefs on materials and manufacturing, from engineering experts at NASA and government, university, and commercial laboratories.

36,38
-1
660
30
Briefs: Motion Control
Servo motion control delivers powerful, fast, and precise movement onboard robots and for associated equipment.
Feature Image
Briefs: Energy
This could make possible embedded devices like a spinal cord-stimulating unit with a battery-powered magnetic transmitter on a wearable belt.
Feature Image
Briefs: Materials
The coating repels insects on aircraft wing surfaces and motor vehicles and reduces surface imperfections on other low-friction or non-stick surfaces.
Feature Image
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
The technology harvests electrical energy from waste heat sources.
Feature Image
Briefs: Green Design & Manufacturing
Potential applications include lightweight building materials and growing cells for biomedical purposes.
Feature Image
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
The supports enable the production of higher-quality, less-expensive parts via additive manufacturing.
Feature Image
Briefs: Energy
New cell chemistry utilizes less costly and more abundant materials than lithium-ion batteries.
Feature Image
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
The system enables robots to predict what their human coworker will do next.
Feature Image
Briefs: Materials
This system enhances processing via real-time, non-destructive defect tracking.
Feature Image
Briefs: Lighting
This could lead to the commercial development of smart glass, with applications ranging from imaging to advanced robotics.
Feature Image
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
The system could one day replace LiDAR and cameras in automated manufacturing, biomedical imaging, and autonomous driving.
Feature Image
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Biobots based on muscle cells can swim at unprecedented velocities.
Feature Image
Briefs: Motion Control
The machines fold themselves within 100 milliseconds and can flatten and refold thousands of times.
Feature Image
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Complete integrated circuits with more than 1,000 organic electrochemical transistors can be screen-printed.
Feature Image
Briefs: AR/AI
The algorithm identified a new compound potentially useful for photonic devices and biologically inspired computers.
Feature Image
Briefs: Transportation
The transistors enable power converters to perform at substantially improved efficiencies, especially in high-power applications.
Feature Image
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
The software could help reduce cost and waste for companies using additive manufacturing to mass-produce parts in factories.
Feature Image
Briefs: Materials
The new material could help put more power in smaller microchips.
Feature Image
Briefs: Wearables
Thanks to its flexibility and adhesion, the biodegradable display can be worn directly on the hand.
Feature Image
Briefs: Materials
Using gold nanomaterials, this disk can hold data securely for more than 600 years.
Feature Image
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
The device uses load frames to test bonded structures in aerospace, automotive, defense, and energy storage applications.
Feature Image
Briefs: Motion Control
This work could lead to much more robust devices that continue to operate in spite of damage.
Feature Image
Briefs: Energy
The reusable mask would include a heated copper mesh powered by a battery and surrounded by insulating neoprene.
Feature Image
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
The inexpensive cameras are easy to produce.
Feature Image
Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
A smartphone, combined with nanoscale porous silicon, enables inexpensive, simple, home diagnostics.
Feature Image
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Artificial intelligence is used to decode X-ray images faster, which could aid innovations in medicine, materials, and energy.
Feature Image
Briefs: Materials
Due to the chemical stability and durability of industrial polymers, plastic waste does not easily degrade in landfills and is often burned, which produces carbon dioxide and other hazardous gases. In order...
Feature Image
Briefs: Wearables
Nearly 100% of all-carbon-based transistors are reclaimed while retaining future functionality of the materials.
Feature Image
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A flexible, free-standing THz sensor array images blind ends of irregularly shaped objects.
Feature Image

Videos