Materials & Coatings

Materials

Learn the latest developments and technical resources for next-generation materials technologies. Learn more about the applications in aerospace, medical, military, and 3D printing.

Stories

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Products: RF & Microwave Electronics
See the new tech products being offered in October 2019.
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Briefs: Materials
For decades, microchip transistors have become smaller, faster, and cheaper; however, miniaturization has reached a natural limit, as completely new problems arise when a length scale of only a...
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Articles: Imaging
Program managers and engineers in the military markets need to know about the emergence of new display technologies in the consumer sector.
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Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Researchers have 3D-printed an all-liquid device that, with the click of a button, can be repeatedly reconfigured on demand to serve a wide range of applications from making battery materials to screening drug...
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Briefs: Automotive
An advanced manufacturing process was developed to produce nano-structured rods and tubes directly from high-performance aluminum alloy powder in a single step. Using a Solid Phase Processing approach,...
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5 Ws: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Who Anyone using standard, coated paper in conventional printers.
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Briefs: Photonics/Optics
3D printing via direct laser writing involves a computer-controlled focused laser beam that acts as a pen and creates the desired structure in the printer ink — a photoresist. In this way,...
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Briefs: IoMT
A method was developed that enables information to be contained in simple plastic foils with a thickness of less than 50 μm, which is thinner than a human hair. Organic luminescent molecules...
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Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Materials with controlled porosity have found diverse applications in separation, catalysis, energy storage, sensors and actuators, tissue engineering, and drug delivery. Multiple...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Excess heat given off by smartphones, laptops, and other electronic devices contributes to malfunctions and, in extreme cases, can even cause lithium batteries to explode. To guard against...
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Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
3D printers that build small parts layer by layer from melted plastic can take up to an hour to produce a pocket-sized piece. This process is far too slow for the mass-production of components...
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Briefs: Energy
Car engines, laptop computers, cellphones, and refrigerators all heat up with overuse. That heat can be captured and turned into energy using a method that produces electricity from heat. The...
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Question of the Week: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Are You Lightweighting with Plastics and Composites?
A Tech Briefs webinar this month focused on the idea of lightweighting – or replacing traditionally metal parts, like engine components, with plastics and composites.
INSIDER: Photonics/Optics
Transparent electrodes are a critical component of solar cells and electronic displays. To collect electricity in a solar cell or inject electricity for a display, you need a conductive contact,...
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INSIDER: Photonics/Optics
Scientists at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory have devised a new process for using nano-particles to build powerful lasers that are more efficient and safer for...
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INSIDER: Energy
Improvements to a class of battery electrolyte first introduced in 2017 — liquefied gas electrolytes — could pave the way to a high-impact and long-sought advance for rechargeable batteries:...
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Blog: Electronics & Computers
Stanford Professor Eric Pop learned a valuable electronics lesson from his early days as a radio DJ.
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Blog: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A new NASA challenge asks university teams to find new ways to drill down to the ice on the Moon and Mars.
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Blog: Materials
How do thermoplastic composites compare to the thermoset composites already in use for several decades? A Tech Briefs reader asks.
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Products: Photonics/Optics
Micromachining Subsystem SCANLAB GmbH (Puchheim, Germany) has introduced a new member of its precSYS product line. Five-axis precSYS subsystems enable industrial ultra-short-pulse (USP) laser micromachining of flexible, definable...
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Application Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Optical coatings are critical for enhancing the transmission, reflection, polarization, and phase of light incident upon and passing through optical components. There are many different technologies used to fabricate...
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Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Researchers have 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 droplets, giving them...
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Briefs: Medical
Microrobots that can deliver drugs to specific spots inside the body while being monitored and controlled from outside the body have been developed that also can treat tumors in the...
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Briefs: Data Acquisition
Material for Faster Computer Memory
Scientists are studying bismuth ferrite (BFO) material that has the potential to store information much more efficiently than is currently possible. BFO could also be used in sensors, transducers, and other electronics.
Products: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Data Recorder DATAQ® Instruments, Akron, OH, announced the DI-4718B data recorder for applications that require signal conditioning. It can accommodate up to eight DI-8B-style amplifiers for industrial...
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Application Briefs: Materials
VELO3D was able to print the perfect spaceship on the very first try.
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Briefs: Test & Measurement
Adding fluoride to water has been common practice in a number of countries including the U.S. In low concentrations (below 1.5 mg/L), fluoride can help prevent tooth decay and...
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Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Graphene Field Effect Transistors for Radiation Detection (GFET-RS)
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center developed novel transistor technology based on a single graphene layer coupled to a radiation absorber substrate. Unlike conventional charge-sensing detectors, the GFET-RS utilizes the sensitive dependence of graphene conductance on local change of...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
A 3D-printed polymer-based foam structure was developed that responds to the force of a shock wave to act as a oneway switch, a long sought-after goal in shock research. The...
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