Composites

Turning Carbon Emissions into Rocks

In Penn’s Clean Energy Conversions Lab, researchers are repurposing waste from industrial mines, storing carbon pulled from the atmosphere into newly formed rock. The team sees great environmental potential in mine tailings.

New Programmable Smart Fabric Responds to Temperature, Electricity

A new smart material is activated by both heat and electricity, making it the first ever to respond to two different stimuli. The work paves the way for a wide variety of potential applications, including clothing that warms up while you walk.

Battle for the Box

Whether you call them packs, boxes, or trays, the structures that envelop and protect EV battery cells and their supporting electrical and thermal-management hardware are among the industry's top subsystem priorities.

Low Creep, Low Relaxation Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Composites

Inflatable and deployable beams and masts are often made of polymer composites and may be stored for one to two years in space before deployment.

A Self-Healing Structural Composite

Jason Patrick, assistant professor of civil, construction, and environmental engineering at North Carolina State University, and his team have developed a new composite material for applications like airplane wings and wind turbine blades in which hidden defects and damage can self-heal.

Self-Healing Aluminum Metal Matrix Composite

NASA has developed a new metal matrix composite (MMC) that can repair itself from large fatigue cracks that occur during the service life of a structure.

Designing Sodium-Ion Batteries with Extended Longevity

In batteries, electrolyte is the circulating “blood” that keeps the energy flowing. The electrolyte forms by dissolving salts in solvents, resulting in charged ions that flow between the positive and negative electrodes.

Using AI to Help Scale Up Advanced Solar Cell Manufacturing

The system makes it possible to integrate data from prior experiments, and information based on personal observations by experienced workers, into the machine learning process.

Rice ‘Metalens’ Could Disrupt Vacuum UV Market

Tests showed the metalens they made could focus its 197-nanometer output onto a spot measuring 1.7 microns in diameter, increasing the power density of the light output by 21 times.

Material Inspired by Chain Mail Transforms from Flexible to Rigid on Command

Applications include a smart fabric for exoskeletons, an adaptive cast that adjusts its stiffness as an injury heals, or a deployable bridge that could be unrolled and stiffened.

Enhanced Material Stable Enough for Solar Cells

A simple change to the surface of perovskite removes a barrier to its functionality.

Advancing Renewable Energy Production with Solar Thermochemical Hydrogen

Hydrogen has emerged as an important carrier to store energy generated by renewable resources, as a substitute for fossil fuels used for transportation, in the production of ammonia, and for other industrial applications.

A Laser-Based Volumetric Additive Manufacturing Method to 3D Print Glass

Traditional glassmaking techniques can be costly and slow, and 3D printing glass often results in rough textures, making them unsuitable for smooth lenses. Using a new...

Multi-Material Manufacturing of Molded Composites

Researchers combined additive manufacturing with conventional compression molding to produce high-performance thermoplastic composites reinforced with short carbon fibers. The approach...

Developing Lightweight Glass for Efficient Cars and Wind Turbines

All solid materials, including glass, have a property called elastic stiffness — also known as elastic modulus. It's a measure of how much force per unit area is needed to...

Injectable, Flexible Electrode Could Replace Rigid Nerve-Stimulating Implants

By electrically stimulating nerves, this therapy can reduce epileptic seizures and soothe chronic pain without the use of conventional drugs like opioids.

Tool Calculates Materials’ Stress and Strain Based on Photos

The advance could accelerate engineers’ design process by eliminating the need to solve complex equations.

Healable Carbon Fiber Composite

The carbon fiber reinforced material can be repeatedly healed with heat.

Calibration System for Automated Fiber Placement

The system creates accurate defect standards for in-situ inspection systems.

Water Purification System Engineered from Wood

The eco-friendly process removes heavy metals, dyes, and other pollutants.

Sensor Film for Aerospace

The film monitors how well aircraft and spacecraft withstand the mechanical stresses of flight.

With Help from Heat, A Carbon-Fiber Composite Self-Heals

A team has created a new type of carbon fiber reinforced material that reverses any fatigue damage -- you just need a little heat.