Materials & Manufacturing

Browse innovative developments in materials and manufacturing that significantly impact military, medical devices, automotive, and industrial manufacturing. Advances in plastics, metals, and composites are transforming 3D printing and rapid prototyping.

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Special Reports: Power
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Vehicle Electrification - July 2022
Innovation is happening at a rapid pace in the e-mobility space. Read this compendium of recent articles from the editors of Automotive Engineering and Truck & Off-Highway Engineering to learn about the...

Special Reports: Imaging
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Special Report: Optics & Photonics Innovations - July 2022
The most powerful telescope ever launched, NASA's James Webb Space Telescope will peer back in time to the birth of the universe's first stars. Learn about its highly advanced optics...

Articles: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Thanks to the digital technologies that are powering Industry 4.0, manufacturing has become more flexible and adaptable than ever.
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Articles: Energy
This column presents technologies that have applications in commercial areas, possibly creating the products of tomorrow. To learn more about each technology, see the contact information provided for that innovation.
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Question of the Week: Electronics & Computers
Smart Molecules Act as Computer Transistors
Researchers have discovered a single-molecule switch that can act like a transistor and store binary information. The molecule is around five square nanometers in size — more than one billion of them would fit onto the cross-section of a human hair.
INSIDER: Electronics & Computers
Scientists at Berkeley Lab have discovered a physical phenomenon that is the basis for a new material that has 150% better thermal conductivity than conventional materials used in...
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INSIDER: Electronics & Computers
A team from the Tulane University School of Science and Engineering has developed a new family of two-dimensional materials that researchers say has promising applications, including in advanced...
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Articles: Materials
With its instant repellency and its ability to repel rather than kill or deactivate pathogens, RepelWrap presents an effective alternative to current technologies.
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Blog: Energy
As I was scrolling through research lab press releases for a Q&A column, one caught my eye: “Remote High-Voltage Sensor Unveiled at Sandia Gamma Ray Lab.” High voltage is not the sexiest of technology...
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Podcasts: Manufacturing & Prototyping
CTO Daniella Sladen and her team at Zulu Pods have created an oil-delivery system that fits in the palm of your hand.
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Facility Focus: Research Lab
The University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Science, more commonly known as Penn Engineering or SEAS, offers programs that emphasize hands-on study of engineering...
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Products: Manufacturing & Prototyping
See what's new on the market, including an industrial edge platform, a vertically suspended lineshaft sump pump, and more.
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Briefs: Materials
Researchers have developed a new kind of bandage that helps blood to clot and doesn’t stick to the wound. They tested various superhydrophobic materials — which are, like...
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Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
A fish-inspired robot that can travel 26 meters through the air after takeoff could be used to collect water samples in hazardous and cluttered environments, such...
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Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Robotic assistants are expected to become increasingly marketable as caregivers; however, the external hard structure of current caregiving robots prevents them from establishing a safe human-robot interaction....
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Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Engineers have invented a way to spray extremely thin wires made of a plant-based material that could be used in N95 mask filters, devices that harvest energy for electricity, and potentially the...
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Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Engineers have created a highly effective way to paint complex 3D-printed objects, such as lightweight frames for aircraft and biomedical stents, that could save manufacturers time and money and provide new...
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Briefs: Imaging
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...
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Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
The automation of additive manufacturing (AM) is limited and usually still requires human labor workflows, including the fundamental step of removing the finished object from the printer...
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Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
The Modular Artificial-Gravity Orbital Refinery Spacecraft (MAGORS) is a technology from NASA Ames Research Center for in-situ refining or recycling of materials in space, including mass...
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Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Light-emitting diode (LED)-based communications techniques allow computing devices, including cellphones, to communicate with one another using infrared light. However, LED techniques...
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Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
A new research focusing on topological control capabilities in an integrated acoustic-electronic system at technologically relevant frequencies could pave the way for additional research on...
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Briefs: Communications
Scientists discovered a new platform for quantum technologies by suspending two-dimensional (2D) crystals over pores in a slab of gold. When heated, the metal reflows to form a porous structure and...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Computer processors have shrunk to nanometer scales over the years, with billions of transistors sitting on a single computer chip. While the increased number of transistors helps make...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Engineers have added a new capability to electronic microchips: flight. About the size of a grain of sand, the new flying microchip (microflier) does not have a motor or engine. Instead, it catches...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Researchers have discovered a single-molecule switch that can act like a transistor and store binary information such as the 1s and 0s used in classical computing. The molecule is around five square...
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Articles: Materials
This article is a marked departure from my annual reporting on the past year’s performance of the health of the MEMS industry vis-à-vis my MEMS Industry Commercialization Report Card. [1] Here, I have...
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Q&A: Robotics, Automation & Control
Professor Robert MacCurdy and his team at the University of Colorado at Boulder have developed and characterized a method to print 3D structures with the simultaneous use of different...
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5 Ws: Energy
Who A fully automated net positive submarine fleet, powered entirely on hydrogen, could help cleanse the oceans of toxic pollution. Developed by London-based startup Oceanways, the submarine was named among the...
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