Learn the latest technologies and tactics for engineering plastics. Design engineers can browse applications and technical briefs for plastics used in 3D printing, military and defense, medical devices, automotive, and all areas of manufacturing.
Blog: Energy'Direct Thermal Charging Cell' Turns Waste Heat into Power
Blog: Mechanical & Fluid SystemsA Breakthrough in Earthquake Forecasting: Floating Buoy Measures Seafloor...
Videos: Manufacturing & Prototyping"M-Blocks" Jump, Flip, Communicate, and Self-Assemble into Structures
Blog: Mechanical & Fluid SystemsAluminum Joining Methods: Welding vs. Adhesives
INSIDER: Sensors/Data Acquisition3D-Printed Plastics with High Performance Electrical Circuits
Podcasts: Sensors/Data Acquisition
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...
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...
A Tech Briefs webinar this month focused on the idea of lightweighting – or replacing traditionally metal parts, like engine components, with plastics and composites.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) uses magnetic fields and radio waves to create images of organs and tissues in the human body, helping doctors diagnose potential problems or diseases. Doctors use MRI to...
Your new industrial electronic product has been designed and the board components specified. It has been prototyped, either on a development board to check...
Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University have developed a semi-liquid lithium metal-based anode. Lithium batteries made using this new...
While different approaches have been used to create artificial muscles — including hydraulic systems, servomotors, shape-memory metals, and polymers that respond to stimuli — they all have limitations such...
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...
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...
The automotive and aerospace industries, in particular, are increasingly looking for innovations that reduce weight, resulting in greater fuel efficiency. From car bumpers to airplane interiors, composites and plastics are being used more commonly for functional components that are lightweight and...
Organic semiconductors (OSCs) have emerged as a new class of electronic materials promising a wide range of applications including organic field-effect transistors...
Researchers developed a new kind of flame-retardant coating using renewable, nontoxic materials readily found in nature. The coating could provide more effective fire protection for several widely used materials. The coatings offer the opportunity to reduce the flammability of...
Researchers have developed a biosensor that attaches to a smartphone and uses bacteria to detect unsafe arsenic levels. The device generates easy-to-interpret patterns similar to volume-bars that display the level of contamination.
Anyone who uses products made of plastic. The new recyclable plastic could be a good alternative to many nonrecyclable plastics in use today.
Self-assembling synthetic materials come together when tiny, uniform building blocks interact and form a structure; however, nature lets materials like proteins of varying size and shape assemble, allowing for complex architectures that can handle multiple tasks.
The critical angle lens reflector has commercial applications that supersede ordinary mirrored reflectors. The physics of the critical angle lens reflector are based on the optics...
The connection of plastics and metals poses a challenge due to the different physical properties of the two materials. A joining gun from Fraunhofer Institute bonds metal and plastic in seconds.
Demands for weight reduction and better fuel efficiency in the automotive and aerospace industries are driving design innovations and the development of new lightweight, high-strength materials. To help you keep pace with the latest advances, we present this compendium of recent articles from the editors of Automotive Engineering,...
For wheelchair users, the feeling of uneven ground can seem all too familiar. Determined to make ride discomfort a thing of the past, Israel-based SoftWheel has completely reinvented the wheel for a...
The connection of plastics and metals poses a challenge due to the different physical properties of the two materials. All conventional joining options, such as bonds using adhesives or rivets,...
Clothing usually is formed with textiles and has to be both wearable and washable for daily use; however, smart clothing has had a problem with its power sources and moisture permeability, which causes the devices to malfunction. To solve this problem, a textile-based, wearable display module technology...
Anew material was developed that can extract the key ingredient in the most common form of plastic from a mixture of other chemicals while consuming far less energy than usual....
Fast-response, stiffness-tunable (FRST) soft actuators — or movable machine elements — were developed that could be used in soft robots.
Making electric cars lighter also involves reducing the weight of the motor. One way to do that is by constructing it from fiber-reinforced polymer materials. A new cooling concept...
Eight million metric tons of plastic waste, including polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles, enter the oceans each year, creating huge manmade islands of garbage. Experts estimate that by 2050, there will be as much waste plastic in the ocean by mass as there are fish. A bacterium, Ideonella sakaiensis 201-F6, can...
Many applications in science and industry require an apparatus that creates a controlled amount of a fluid introduced into another fluid. For instance, some material corrosion testing applications...
Collaborative Robot Applications in the Automotive Industry
Update on Civil Certification of Multicore Processing Systems in...
Enhance Product Design and Dependability with Advanced Coating Technologies
Rapid, Selective Volatile Emissions Testing for Vehicles and Components
Blog: Sensors/Data Acquisition'Direct Thermal Charging Cell' Turns Waste Heat into Power
INSIDER: AutomotiveExposing Cathodes to Light Decreases Charge Time in Lithium-Ion Batteries
Blog: Mechanical & Fluid SystemsCreating the Future: New Take on Welding Gun Bonds Plastic and Metal — In...
Blog: Sensors/Data AcquisitionA Breakthrough in Earthquake Forecasting: Floating Buoy Measures Seafloor Motion
Making Hydrogen by Electrolysis of Methanol
