Materials & Manufacturing

Materials & Coatings

Access the technical resources for a range of materials and coatings. Design engineers can browse news, technical briefs, and applications for plastics, composites, rubbers, elastomers, and metals.

Stories

Special Reports: Tubing & Extrusion

Medical Manufacturing & Outsourcing - February 2022

How virtual, cloud-based technologies are powering the next industrial revolution...transforming plastic parts into high-value products...designing optics for medical 3D printing. Read these...

Special Reports: RF & Microwave Electronics

Test & Measurement - February 2022

From space vehicles to the modern battlefield to the human body, test innovations are improving device and system reliability while speeding time to market. Read about the latest advances – including the...

Articles: Sensors/Data Acquisition

Products of Tomorrow

Flexible electrodes, NASA sensors, and anti-corrosion compounds.

Briefs: Green Design & Manufacturing

Tires Turned into Graphene Make Stronger Concrete

An optimized flash process could reduce carbon emissions.

Briefs: Energy

Cleaner Water Through Corn

Activated carbon made from corn stover filters 98 percent of a pollutant from water.

Briefs: Power

Eliminating Corrosion Extends Life of Lightweight Batteries

A new design could extend the shelf-life of single-use metal-air batteries for electric vehicles, off-grid storage, and other applications.

Briefs: Materials

Polymer-Based Battery Enables Fast Charging and Low Operating Temperatures

The battery charges faster than a lithium-ion battery and is fire-safe and eco-friendly.

Briefs: Photonics/Optics

Optical Coating Exhibits the Same Color in Reflection and Transmission

Fano Resonance Optical Coatings can both transmit and reflect the same color simultaneously.

Briefs: Energy

Dyeing Process Gives Textiles Electronic Properties

Textiles and items of clothing can be converted into e-textiles without affecting their original properties.

Briefs: Materials

Healable Carbon Fiber Composite

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

Briefs: Energy

Load-Bearing Material Mimics Human Cartilage

The synthetic material is soft but can withstand heavy loading with minimum wear and tear for engineering applications.

Briefs: Materials

Bio-Inspired, Blood-Repelling Glue Seals Wounds Quickly

Inspired by barnacles, the paste provides an effective way to treat traumatic injuries and help control bleeding during surgery.

Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping

New Class of Nickel-Based Superalloys Withstands Extreme Heat

Parts remain crack-free and defect-resistant, making them conducive for use in metal-based 3D-printing applications.

Briefs: Materials

3D-Printed Objects Sense How a User is Interacting with Them

Sensing is incorporated directly into an object’s material, with applications for assistive technology and “intelligent” furniture.

Briefs: Materials

3D Printing of Polymers

A 3D-printable elastomer yields soft, elastic objects that feel like human tissue.

Briefs: Energy

Fabrication Method for Large-Scale Production of Perovskite Solar Cells

The sulfolane-additive process yields easy fabrication, low cost, and long operating life.

Briefs: Materials

Fabricating Superconducting Circuitry on Both Sides of an Ultrathin Silicon Layer

A new fabrication methodology addresses the need for a thin, double-sided circuitry board.

Q&A: Electronics & Computers

Q&A: A Unique Material Transmits Heat in One Direction and Blocks it in Another

Professor Jiwoong Park and his team have made a material that is crystalline in the X-Y direction, but amorphous in the Z direction.

Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control

Micro-Robots Propelled by Air Bubbles and Ultrasound

A remotely controlled microswimmer could navigate the human body and aid in drug delivery.

Briefs: Materials

Soft, Mechanical Metamaterials

These “living machines” hold potential for applications from medical treatments to improving the environment.

Briefs: Energy

Material Derived from Trees Could Replace Liquid Electrolytes

The material could pave the way for better, safer solid-state batteries.

Briefs: Energy

Fast-Charging, Long-Running, Bendable Supercapacitor

This technology has potential as a portable power supply in several applications, including electric vehicles, cellphones, and wearable technology.

INSIDER: Physical Sciences

Ultrathin Solar Cells Get a Boost

Using ultrabright X-rays from the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory, a team of researchers led by Rice University has determined that sunlight itself can improve the efficiency of 2D...