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

Briefs: Materials

Anticorrosion Compound Protects Steel from the Elements

The flexible, self-healing coating protects buildings, bridges, and anything above or below the water made of steel.

Briefs: Materials

Swimming Living Robots Can Self-Train

Biobots based on muscle cells can swim at unprecedented velocities.

Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping

4D Bioengineering Materials Bend and Curve Like Natural Tissue

The hydrogels can morph multiple times in a preprogrammed or on-demand manner in response to external trigger signals.

Briefs: Test & Measurement

Tiny Quantum Sensors See Materials Transform Under Pressure

Diamonds’ atomic flaws are converted into atomic sensors that watch a quantum world of materials under extreme pressure.

Briefs: Materials

Calibration System for Automated Fiber Placement

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

Briefs: Electronics & Computers

Implantable Stimulator Speeds Tendon Healing

The device combines with body power to treat tendon disease and damage, and sports injuries.

UpFront: Imaging

UpFront: January 2022 Tech Briefs

Private stations get NASA funding; a camera "sees the unseen," and more.

Articles: Mechanical & Fluid Systems

Products of Tomorrow

Breath-regulating garments, humidity sensors, thin-film antennas, and more.

Facility Focus: Robotics, Automation & Control

Facility Focus: North Carolina State University

Learn about the technologies being developed at NC State, including vehicle armor, a monitoring patch for plants, and origami-inspired materials.

Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems

Wearable Exosuit Lessens Back Muscle Fatigue

The suit can be controlled with a double tap to the chest or via an app.

Q&A: Nanotechnology

Q&A: Ultra-Fast Manufacturing of Wearable Sensors

An "E-Skin" material can be printed without polymer binders.

Products: RF & Microwave Electronics

New on the Market: January 2022

Microwave measurement receivers, oscilloscopes, longwave infrared cameras, and more.

Briefs: Materials

Self-Healing, Highly Adhesive Elastomers

These elastomers have a wide range of uses for the building, automotive, and electronics industries.

Products: Test & Measurement

New Products

Fiber laser machinery, polishing pitch, beam collimators, and more.

Briefs: Photonics/Optics

Metasurfaces Control Polarized Light at Will

Researchers from SEAS have found "hidden potential" in metasurfaces.

Application Briefs: Materials

High-Speed Inspection and Reverse Engineering in 2D and 3D

The Opti-Scan inspection system can measure surfaces and edges in 3D.

INSIDER: Semiconductors & ICs

Layers of Crystalline Nanosheets Enable Tunable Electronic Properties

Boron is a versatile non-metal element, but until the last five years, chemists have only theorized about the useful properties and applications of two-dimensional (2D)...

INSIDER: Electronics & Computers

Paving the Way for UV-Enabled Flexible Wearable Tech

To enable the development of wearable devices that possess advanced ultraviolet (UV) detection functions, scientists from NTU Singapore have created a new type of light sensor that is...