News: Manufacturing & Prototyping
The Next 3D-Printed Part: A Hack?
See what’s new on Tech Briefs, including a three-layer way of securing the growing number of 3D-printed parts being placed in today’s vehicles and airplanes.
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
Method of Manufacturing Convective Accelerometers
Miniaturization and integration of accelerometers in standard integrated circuit (IC) processes has been the topic of extensive research. In most cases, accelerometer structures involve a solid proof mass that is allowed to move under accelerating conditions. This approach has many disadvantages....
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: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Improved Two-Step Replication Process for Producing Precision Optical Mirrors
Production of precision optical mirrors by replication requires molds or mandrels of the complementary shape. For example, replicating a concave mirror requires a convex mandrel. Convex shapes are difficult to fabricate and test since they do not focus light. Convex...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) Coating of High-Precision Components Produced by Selective Laser Melting (SLM)
Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) is being used as a means of coating various substrate materials with a variety of metallic and ceramic oxides for corrosion and thermal protection. The technology necessary to develop a state-of-the-art,...
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
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...
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
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...
Briefs: Materials
Aqueous Solution Dispersement of Carbon Nanotubes
NASA’s Langley Research Center researchers have developed a novel method to disperse carbon nanotubes in aqueous solutions using chemical buffers. By avoiding the common use of surfactants to achieve dispersion, the researchers have provided a means to maintain biocompatibility of the carbon...
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...
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