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.

Stories

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Special Reports: Unmanned Systems
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Unmanned Aerial Vehicles & Systems - October 2025
Lasers vs. drones: military demonstrates new tech…high-‐flying uncrewed solar aircraft aces key test…the next frontier for autonomous UAVs. Read about these and other developments in this...

White Papers: Aerospace
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Design Playbook: Architecting Advanced Drone Systems
Modern defense UAVs must deliver endurance, autonomy, and secure communications in contested environments. The Drone Systems Engineering Playbook provides practical guidance on subsystem...

Quiz: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Small satellites are revolutionizing space-based services due to their affordability, faster development cycles, and flexibility. Take this quiz to test your knowledge about smallsats.
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Podcasts: Transportation
To help pass the time during your commute or while working around the house or in the garage, we've launched the SAE Automotive Engineering podcast.
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White Papers: Manufacturing & Prototyping
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Workstations vs. Clusters for Ansys Applications
This paper provides actionable insights into overcoming the challenges of workstation-based limitations. Unlock the full potential of engineering workflows with high-performance computing (HPC)...

Blog: Electronics & Computers
EPFL researchers have pioneered a 3D printing method that grows metals and ceramics inside a water-based gel, resulting in constructions for next-gen energy, biomedical, and sensing technologies.
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On-Demand Webinars: Manufacturing & Prototyping
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Shop floor systems are critical to continuous improvement and long-term success for transportation and mobility manufacturers, necessitated by stringent quality requirements, increasing...
White Papers: Packaging & Sterilization
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Quality, American Made Miniature Ball Screws from PBC Linear
PBC Linear miniature ball screw assemblies are USA made at their Illinois headquarters, allowing for quick shipping and integration into your linear motion applications. Our head of...

Q&A: Robotics, Automation & Control
Piyush Upadhyay and his team at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have developed a self-fixturing tool that can be attached to a robot, freeing friction stir welding from an anvil so it can be used with complex shapes.
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Blog: Materials
MIT researchers have replaced silicon with a magnetic semiconductor, creating a magnetic transistor that could enable smaller, faster, and more energy-efficient circuits.
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Podcasts: Materials
3D printing is transforming the design and production of medical devices. Benefits include creating custom implants, prosthetics, and surgical tools tailored to individual patients, as well as the ability to quickly prototype new devices for testing and development.
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Blog: Energy
What if the next battery you buy was made from the same kinds of ingredients found in your body? That’s the idea behind a breakthrough battery material made from natural, biodegradable components. It’s so natural, it could even be consumed as food.
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White Papers: Tubing & Extrusion
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Innovation Without Compromise: Confluent Medical Changes the Game in Polyimide Tubing Manufacturing
With over 175 years of combined experience in medical device manufacturing, Confluent Medical combines its unrivaled materials science expertise...

INSIDER: Power
As the mobility industry rapidly evolves, Freudenberg continues to expand its portfolio with high-performance, application-specific solutions...
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On-Demand Webinars: Manufacturing & Prototyping
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For those tasked with designing and manufacturing components, assemblies, and systems, choosing the optimal conformal coating can mean the difference between...
INSIDER: Materials
Prestone is exhibiting its Prestone EVX™ collection of electrified vehicle (EV and hybrid) thermal management fluids that meet newly...
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NASA Spinoff: Materials
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory perfected aerogel for the Stardust mission. Now this comet-catching NASA technology is enabling Greek artist to create exotic works of art.
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INSIDER: Electronics & Computers
Transistors, the building blocks of modern electronics, are typically made of silicon. Because it’s a semiconductor, this material can control the flow of electricity in a...
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INSIDER: Physical Sciences
A research team led by physicists Ming Yi and Emilia Morosan from Rice University has developed a new material with unique electronic properties that could enable more powerful and...
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News: Automotive
SAE Media Group announced the winners of its Rising Star Awards: Women in Engineering program today during a live online event attended by participants across the globe.
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Podcasts: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Strategies for assessing risk, streamlining testing, and managing documentation for maintaining product safety.
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Articles: Photonics/Optics
See the products of tomorrow, including a new type of 3D-printed titanium that’s about a third cheaper than commonly used titanium alloys; specially designed metasurfaces — flat devices etched with nanoscale light-manipulating patterns — to act as ultra-thin upgrades for quantum-optical chips and setups; and a handheld slide staining system designed to support medical, research, or environmental monitoring.
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Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Engineers at MIT, Nanyang Technological University, and several companies have developed a compact and inexpensive technology for detecting and measuring lead concentrations in water, potentially enabling a significant advance in tackling this persistent global health issue. Read on to learn more.
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Briefs: Medical
A team of Caltech engineers has developed a technique for inkjet printing arrays of special nanoparticles that enables the mass production of long-lasting wearable sweat sensors. These sensors could be used to monitor a variety of biomarkers, such as vitamins, hormones, metabolites, and medications, in real time. Read on to learn more.
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Briefs: Internet of Things
A team of researchers from Tokyo Tech, led by Associate Professor Yukio Kawano, has designed a flexible and free-standing THz sensor array that can be used to image blind ends of irregularly shaped objects. Read on to learn more about it.
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Articles: Semiconductors & ICs
A new technology closes the gap and combines PCB production into a single process, leveraging the capabilities of SMT. The resulting through-hole reflow (THR) process allows for components to be mounted through those pre-drilled holes — but secured during the same soldering process as the SMT-designed components. Read on to learn more.
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Articles: Green Design & Manufacturing
Meet our esteemed panel of judges comprising of leaders from engineering and technology fields, who bring decades of experience and expertise to the evaluation process, ensuring fairness and rigor. These judges were hand-selected by SAE Media Group’s editorial team for their breadth of knowledge and experience in the industry.
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Articles: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Mariam Sulleiman, Graduate Researcher, University of Texas at Austin from Austin, TX, is the 2025 Rising Star Award Winner for Manufacturing.
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Articles: Electronics & Computers
SAE Media Group’s Women in Engineering: Rising Star Awards program shines the spotlight on trailblazers who not only excel in their respective domains but also stroke the flames of inspiration in others. This year’s awards program features six categories: Aerospace/Defense, Automotive/Transportation, Electronics, Manufacturing/Materials, Medical, and Robotics, Automation and AI. In this special section, you’ll meet the winners in all six categories.
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Top Stories

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Blog: Robotics, Automation & Control

Aerial Microrobots That Can Match a Bumblebee's Speed

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Blog: Electronics & Computers

Turning Edible Fungi into Organic Memristors

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Blog: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Revolutionizing the Production of Semiconductor Chips

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News: Energy

H2-ICE Is Heating Up

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INSIDER: Electronics & Computers

World’s Smallest Programmable, Autonomous Robots

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INSIDER: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Building Bots on a Budget

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