Materials & Manufacturing

Question of the Week: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Are you concerned about the integrity of 3D-printed parts?

This week's INSIDER story features a new method for verifying the integrity of critical 3D-printed parts, from brakes to aircraft components. What do you think? Are you concerned...

News: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Sound-Off: How to Sell Additive Manufacturing to the Organization

How do you convince program managers to take an additive manufacturing approach to tooling? A 3D-printing pro shares lessons he learned about how to overcome obstacles from...

INSIDER: Sensors/Data Acquisition

Secure 3D Printing: 'Three-Layer' System Protects Parts from Hackers

A 3D printer is essentially a small embedded computer — and can be exploited like one.

Researchers from Georgia Institute of Technology and Rutgers University have...

News: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Sound-Off: How Does ‘Cold Forming’ Impact a Part?

The manufacturing process of "cold forming" applies force to a metal as it is staged in a die. The technology, used originally in the early 1900s to create artillery shells, supports the...

Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Conductive Particle Assembly Enables Creation of Two-Dimensional Electronic Circuits

One-dimensional conductive particle assembly holds promise for a variety of practical applications; in particular, for a new generation of electronic...

Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Using Microwaves to Produce High-Quality Graphene

Engineers have developed a simple method for producing high-quality graphene that can be used in next-generation electronic and energy devices. The method essentially bakes the compound in a...

Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping

3D-Printed Heart-on-a-Chip with Integrated Sensors

The first entirely 3D-printed organ-on-a-chip with integrated sensing has been built by a fully automated digital manufacturing procedure. The 3D-printed heart-on-a-chip can be quickly...

Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Robotic System for 3D-Printing the Basic Structure of an Entire Building

Materials that can be produced by 3D printing include not just plastics, but metal, glass, and even food. A new system called a Digital Construction Platform (DCP) was...

Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping

4D Printing of Load-Bearing and Predictable Structures

Research is being performed in adding a fourth dimension to 3D printers — the dimension of time. This technique, called 4D printing, creates moveable and shape-variable objects, such...

Briefs: Electronics & Computers

Machine Vision System

A number of instruments have been built to obtain range images — a two-dimensional array of numbers that gives the depth of a scene along many directions from a central point in the instrument. Instead of measuring...

Application Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Ensuring Part Quality in Industrial Metal Additive Manufacturing

Concept Laser
Grapevine, TX
For more info click here

Now that metal additive manufacturing (AM) is creating fully functional industrial parts, many OEMs are...

Products: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Product of the Month: August 2017

Harwin, Salem, NH, announced the SYCAMORE surface-mount socket that provides pin retention and durability for high-volume applications manufactured using automated systems. The capacitor's design...

Briefs: Motion Control

3D-Printed Tensegrity Object Can Change Shape

A team of researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology has developed a way to use 3D printers to create objects capable of dramatic expansion. The technology could someday be used in...

Articles: Materials

Products of Tomorrow: August 2017

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...

INSIDER: Materials

Using Spider Silk, Surgeon Hits a Nerve

Christine Radtke, a Professor for Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Austria’s MedUni Vienna/Vienna General Hospital, has 21 spiders. The silk obtained from the Tanzanian golden orb-weavers offers...

INSIDER: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Electromagnetic Actuator Decouples Linear and Rotary Motions

A lightweight module for rapid, accurate, and versatile positioning of semiconductor chips features a novel electromechanical actuator that can move objects both linearly and...

INSIDER: Photonics/Optics

New Class of ‘Soft’ Semiconductors Could Transform HD Displays

A new type of semiconductor may be coming to a high-definition display near you. Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory...

Briefs: Materials

Adhesive Strength Enhancement of Shape Memory Polymer Composite and Metal Joint

NASA Langley Research Center has developed technology to increase the adhesive strength between shape memory polymer composites (SMPs) and metal alloys. Shape...

Briefs: Materials

System for Repairing Cracks in Structures

NASA’s Langley Research Center has developed an innovative coating to heal cracks in metal components, such as in aircraft and bridges. Currently, the coating is used for in-laboratory repairs of...

Application Briefs: Materials

Safer, Cleaner, Corrosion-Protecting Metal Coatings

LumiShield
Pittsburgh, PA
For more info click here

Corrosion-related issues cost the U.S. economy $276 billion a year. The Energy Department’s National Energy Technology...

Briefs: Materials

Corrosion-Inhibiting Self-Expanding Foam

Surfaces such as metal and other corrodible surfaces are often exposed to extreme weathering, temperatures, moisture, impurities, and otherwise damaging external forces that accelerate corrosion....

Briefs: Materials

Reusable Sponge Absorbs Oil from Entire Water Column

When the Deepwater Horizon drilling pipe blew out seven years ago, beginning the worst oil spill in U.S. history, those in charge of the recovery discovered that the millions of gallons of...

Articles: Materials

Products of Tomorrow: July 2017

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...

INSIDER: Manufacturing & Prototyping

3D Printed Tensegrity Object Can Change Shape

A team of researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology has developed a way to use 3D printers to create objects capable of shape change. The objects use tensegrity, a structural...