Materials & Manufacturing

TELEPORT: A New, Better Way to Extract Lithium

A research team from the University of Virginia has found a way to extract lithium from geothermal brines. The team’s method is called Targeted Extraction of Lithium with Electroactive Particles for Recovery Technology (TELEPORT).

Robotic Additive Manufacturing of Large Steam Turbine Blades

Michael Kirka and a team of researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are the first to 3D print large rotating steam turbine blades. They achieved it with robot-controlled wire arc additive manufacturing.

Commercial Lunar Landers Ready for the Moon

Through its Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, NASA is working with several U.S. companies to accelerate a robotic return to the Moon. Test your knowledge about commercial lunar landers in this quiz.

Lengthening the Lifespan of Concrete with Bacteria

A team at Drexel University has engineered a grid of BioFibers that can be embedded within a concrete structure to improve its durability, prevent cracks from growing, and even enable self-healing.

How Much Do You Know About Predictive Maintenance?

One of the benefits of modern digital technology is that industrial maintenance can be done in a more efficient way than ever before, by using a process called predictive maintenance (PdM). See how much you understand about it — take this quiz.

4 Predictions for 2024: AI Set to Supercharge Robotic Automation

Software is a key component of automation, and with AI, software developers will be able to create more customized and optimized solutions for various tasks and challenges.

Product of the Month

See the product of the month, 3D Systems' SLS 300 smaller-footprint 3D printer designed for use in settings other than a manufacturing floor.

New on the Market

See what's new on the market, including Keystone Technologies' THM Test Points, Nikon IMBU's CT systems for non-destructive inspection, Renesas' SoCs and MCUs, Rad Source NDT's X-ray Inspection System, the Precision Specimen Loader from Instron, and more.

Baking Soda Could Turn Concrete into an Effective Carbon Sink

Recent discoveries by MIT engineers have revealed that introducing new materials into existing concrete manufacturing processes could significantly reduce their carbon footprint without altering concrete's bulk mechanical properties.

Add-On Device Makes Home Furnaces Cleaner and Safer

Scientists at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed an affordable add-on technology that removes more than 99.9 percent of acidic gases and other emissions to produce an ultraclean natural gas furnace.

New System Uses Only Solar Energy to Generate Hydrogen

The system harnesses the sun's heat to directly split water and generate hydrogen — a clean fuel that can power long-distance trucks, ships, and planes, while in the process emitting no greenhouse gas emissions.

A Precision Arm for Mini Robots

A team at ETH Zurich has developed an ultrasonically actuated glass needle that can be attached to a robotic arm. This lets them pump and mix minuscule amounts of liquid and trap particles.

Dynamic Hydrogel Makes Soft Robot Components and Building Blocks

Using a new type of dual-polymer material capable of responding dynamically to its environment, researchers have developed a set of modular hydrogel components that could be useful in a variety of soft robotic and biomedical applications.

Single Drop of Ethanol to Revolutionize Nanosensor Production

Macquarie University engineers have developed a new technique to make the manufacturing of nanosensors far less carbon-intensive, much cheaper, more efficient, and more versatile — substantially improving a key process in this trillion-dollar global industry.

Optical Concentration Sensor for Liquid Solution

The optical concentration sensor has been demonstrated to effectively measure pretreat concentrations in both still and flowing liquid conditions and is resistant to contamination issues as necessitated by the UWMS.

Optimizing a Chemical Vapor Deposition Process for a High-Performance Tungsten Material

To make fusion power not only physically possible but also economically possible, we need to develop high-performance fusion reactors. However, these reactors call for high-performance materials.

Extended Reality: Immersing into the Future of Manufacturing

Extended reality (XR) technology has emerged as a key catalyst for innovation, offering a spectrum of benefits that redefine the way industries operate.

Digital Twins: The Next Steps

According to researchers, Interconnected Digital Twins will challenge existing understanding of value creation and capture. The discrete and composite twins will be integrated within and between manufacturing firms and other key stakeholders.

6G: Will It Trigger a Manufacturing Revolution?

The next evolution in mobile networks is on the horizon with 6G. Set to surpass 5G with enhanced speed, reduced latency, and expanded capacity, countless applications will benefit. Manufacturing is anticipated to be one of the greatest beneficiaries.

Artificial Intelligence: How Cloud Technology and AI Drive a More Productive Future

This new era of technology eases the twin challenges of capacity and complexity and offers more flexibility than ever for businesses to respond to a fast-changing world.

5 Emerging Technologies in Manufacturing

This feature explores five transformative currents shaping the future of manufacturing and heralding a new era of improved production, efficiency, and sustainability.

Videos of the Month

See the videos of the month, including one on FibeRobo, a novel body-temperature shape-changing fiber based on liquid crystal elastomers; one on 3D printing extremely viscous plastic solids; one on using digital twins in EV battery design and testing; and one on flexible sensors screen-printed onto a stamp-like flexible surface.

Can Harmful Gas Detection Improve With a New Way of Generating Powerful Lasers?

Scientists led by Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have developed a novel method to produce intense and ultra-fast lasers that holds promise for making precise devices that can speed up how quickly trace amounts of pollutants and hazardous gases can be sniffed out.

New Products

See the new products, including Edmund Optics' new line of ultrafast laser systems; LightPath Technologies, Inc.'s long wave infrared (“LWIR”) microbolometer imaging cores; Metrio Sensors' vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) array boards; Allied Vision's new Alvium camera series; and more.

New Frequency Comb Can Identify Molecules in 20-Nanosecond Snapshots

With this new capability, researchers can potentially use frequency combs to better understand the split-second intermediate steps in fast-moving processes ranging from the workings of hypersonic jet engines to the chemical reactions between enzymes that regulate cell growth.

Sharper Images: A Breakthrough in Microscopy Resolution

Researchers at Boston University recently developed a novel deblurring algorithm that improves the resolution of images with photon intensity conservation and local linearity.

How Corning’s Hyperspectral Imaging in the Sky Sees the Unseen

New satellites equipped with Corning’s advanced hyperspectral-imaging technology can detect pipeline leaks and other environmental issues, providing precise monitoring and exploration capabilities for businesses and governments.