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.

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Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
For many researchers, graphene is ideal for use in filtration membranes. A single sheet of graphene resembles atomically thin chicken wire, and is composed of carbon atoms joined in...
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Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Pressure sensors play an important role in engine maintenance and monitoring systems by diagnosing problems before they happen. To capture the most accurate data, however, these sensors must be...
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Application Briefs: Materials
Minalex Corp.Whitehouse Station, NJwww.minalex.com In PyeongChang, South Korea this month, competitors representing 89 countries will be competing for Olympic gold. For many skiers,...
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Briefs: Materials
Single-Crystal SiGe/Sapphire Epitaxy
NASA's Langley Research Center has developed a new low-temperature method of SiGe/sapphire growth that produces the same single-crystal films with much less thermal loading effort to the substrate. This eliminates the time-consuming and costly high heating, long thermal soak times, and interfacial Si layer....
Briefs: Software
Molding is a popular method for the mass production of objects. Essentially, two (or more) mold pieces are fit together, leaving the shape of the desired object as a hole. During fabrication,...
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Briefs: Medical
Numerous devices in everyday life use computerized cameras to identify objects — think of automated teller machines that can “read” handwritten dollar amounts when...
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Blog: Materials
By adding nanopores to nickel, James Pikul and his team created a kind of "metallic wood."
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INSIDER: Manufacturing & Prototyping
North Carolina State created 3D-printed flexible mesh structures that can be controlled with applied magnetic fields while floating on water. The structures can grab small objects and carry water...
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Blog: Manufacturing & Prototyping
A Failure Analysis may help find problems during product development, but what role should top management play in an FMEA?
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Blog: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Professor Jordan Raney spoke with Tech Briefs about what’s possible when you can embody 3D-printed objects with logic.
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INSIDER: Materials
An ultrafast laser that fires pulses of light just 100 millionths of a nanosecond in duration could potentially revolutionize the way NASA technicians manufacture and...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
3D printing allows for the efficient manufacture of complex geometries. A very promising method is direct laser writing in which a computer-controlled focused laser beam acts as a pen and produces the desired...
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Briefs: Aerospace
Painting of surfaces having numerous facets and/or curved surfaces is a time-consuming process that requires the application of several coats (layers) of paint. Such surfaces are often found on...
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Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Soft, 3D-printed structures have been created whose movements can be controlled with a wave of a magnet, much like marionettes without the strings. The structures that can be magnetically manipulated...
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Briefs: Test & Measurement
In traditional hardwired avionics systems, sensor integration requires installation of literally tons of physical cable that significantly increases vehicle weight and the time...
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Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
For many highly stressed engineering applications like bearings and gears, contaminated steel parts can lead to devastating outcomes such as an emergency shutdown or the end of a mission. Ensuring that these critical...
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Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
A controllable material was developed that can transform into complex, pre-programmed shapes via light and temperature stimuli, allowing it to morph into a different shape before fully...
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Briefs: Aerospace
Internal Short Circuit Testing Device to Improve Battery Designs
Batteries, such as lithium-ion, sold for consumer use in portable electronic devices and other applications such as electrical cars, occasionally fail in the field over time. These cells have typically passed a wide variety of safety tests such as those required by governmental...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Pulsed laser vaporization (PLV) production of single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) on traditional Co/Ni catalyst was explored with respect...
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Briefs: Energy
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 the...
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Briefs: Photonics/Optics
A technique was developed that uses a specially adapted 3D printer to build therapeutic biomaterials from multiple materials. The advance could be a step toward on-demand printing of complex...
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Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A low-cost 3D bioprinter was built by modifying a standard desktop 3D printer with a syringe-based, large volume extruder (LVE). The extruder works with most open-source fused deposition modeling (FDM)...
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Briefs: Imaging
The ability of additive manufacturing to manage small volumes, create complex designs, and fabricate lightweight but strong structures makes it a natural fit for aerospace...
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Articles: Manufacturing & Prototyping
The perception and promise of 3D printing are that it offers a digital workflow that is simple, fast, and automated — a process that is complexity-free. That perception is generally correct up to the...
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Q&A: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Professor Bowles has developed a method to 3D-print cells to produce human tissue. This replacement tissue can greatly improve the recovery of a person with a...
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Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Researchers have developed a new ultrasound transducer that could dramatically lower the cost of ultrasound scanners to as little as $100. Conventional ultrasound scanners use piezoelectric crystals to...
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Articles: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
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 because...
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Articles: Photonics/Optics
The SPIE Photonics West 2019 technical conference and exhibition returns to The Moscone Center in San Francisco, February 2 through February 7, offering attendees the opportunity to explore the latest...
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Articles: Materials
With the computational power and software available today, numerical simulation is a real option to quickly get answers to complicated technical, scientific, and engineering questions. Not only has the hardware doubled...
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