Materials & Manufacturing

Manufacturing & Prototyping

Explore innovations supporting advances in manufacturing and rapid prototyping. Access the developments and solutions that have an impact on applications in 3D printing and automation.

Stories

Briefs: Materials

3D Additive Manufacturing with a High-Power Electron Gun

Applications include rapid prototyping, medical, aerospace, and automotive.

5 Ws: Manufacturing & Prototyping

5 Ws of Algae-Based Flip-Flops

Would you take a walk in biodegradable flip-flops?

Articles: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Simple Robot Vision Tools Support Complex Applications

New collaborative robot-based vision systems are changing how manufacturers can inspect their parts.

Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Laser Inversion Enables Multi-Material 3D Printing

The technique could enable the printing of circuit boards, electromechanical components, and robots.

Briefs: Materials

Method Turns Nearly any Object into a Data Storage Unit

This technology makes it possible to save extensive data in objects such as shirt buttons, water bottles, or the lenses of glasses and then retrieve it years later.

Briefs: Materials

3D-Printed Soft, Rubbery Brain Implants

This technique may enable speedy, on-demand design of softer, safer neural devices.

Articles: Imaging

Products of Tomorrow

Nanowire masks, underwater imaging, and tiny 3D-printed block that repair bone breaks.

Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Mass-Producible, Centimeter-Scale Metalens

Applications include low-light conditions such as on orbital satellites and VR applications where the lens needs to be larger than a pupil.

Briefs: Materials

Hybrid Material is an Efficient Photodetector

A metal-organic framework does not contain cost-intensive raw materials and can be produced in bulk.

Facility Focus: Energy

Facility Focus: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

In 2020, the EPA marks 50 years of preparing for, responding to, preventing, and mitigating natural and manmade disasters.

Briefs: Energy

Using Silicon for Battery Anodes

A nanostructure design lends extraordinary strength to a promising storage ingredient.

Products: Electronics & Computers

New on the Market: October 2020

Tubing plugs, displacement measurements, CAM software, and more.

Special Reports: Electronics & Computers

Electronics Innovations - October 2020

In this compendium of articles from the editors of Tech Briefs magazine, discover how advances in electronic components are enabling game-changing applications in mobile healthcare/wearables, autonomous...

Special Reports: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Medical Manufacturing and Outsourcing - October 2020

Discover how advances in factory automation, robotics, 3D printing and other fabrication technologies are shaping the future of medical device manufacturing in this Special Report – a...

INSIDER: Sensors/Data Acquisition

Researchers Have Developed the World’s Smallest Ultrasound Detector

Researchers at Helmholtz Zentrum München and the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have developed the world’s smallest ultrasound detector. Based on miniaturized...

INSIDER: Communications

Researchers Devise Efficient, Scalable Process for Fabricating MXene Films That Block Electromagnetic Interference

The proliferation and miniaturization of electronics in devices, wearables, medical implants, and other applications has...

INSIDER: Sensors/Data Acquisition

Medical Robotic Hand? Rubbery Semiconductor Makes It Possible

Researchers at the University of Houston report that they have designed and produced a smart electronic skin and a medical robotic hand capable of assessing vital diagnostic data...

Question of the Week: Automotive

Can Courtesy Be Programmed Into Self-Driving Cars?

During a recent webcast, a Tech Briefs reader raised an interesting question about self-driving cars:

Blog: Aerospace

NASA's 'VITAL' Ventilator: A Choice Between Licensing and Open-Source

As Brazil begins mass-producing a NASA-developed ventilator, a Tech Briefs reader asks why NASA didn't go open-source.

Special Reports: Test & Measurement

Test & Measurement - September 2020

See how the latest test tools and methodologies are enabling new applications in aerospace, electronics, robotics, healthcare, and other key industries. This compendium of recent articles is presented by the...

Application Briefs: Electronics & Computers

Measuring Surface Roughness with an Atomic Force Microscope

Thin films and engineered surfaces are used in a myriad of applications including semiconductor electronics, data storage, and precision optics. In many cases, surface roughness and...