Slippery Material System Can Start, Stop Liquids
News 4/17/2013 12 comments A new material system invented by researchers at Harvard's Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering is continuously "tunable" for transparency and wettability: it repels water or oil to a greater or lesser degree as it becomes more or less transparent.
Can EV Batteries Last 20 Years?
News 4/12/2013 42 comments Lithium-ion batteries for electric cars may last far longer than we’ve been led to believe, a battery expert told the American Chemical Society in a speech this week.
NASA Awards Bigelow Aerospace $17.8M to Add New Module to ISS
News 2/20/2013 11 comments NASA has awarded Bigelow Aerospace a contract to deliver its Bigelow Expandable Activity Module to the International Space Station for experimental use for two years upon its launch to the station in 2015.
Dow Plans North American Plastic Waste Recovery Facilities
News 1/28/2013 18 comments Dow Chemical and Klean Industries are collaborating to build waste recovery facilities throughout North America for recovering energy, chemicals, and oil from nonrecycled waste plastics. The agreement especially targets used plastic packaging materials.
Were the Boeing 787 Batteries Cooled Properly?
News 1/25/2013 57 comments The Boeing 787 Dreamliner's high-profile battery fire may have been the result of an engineering double-whammy: an energetic battery chemistry combined with a possibly inadequate cooling system.
Ford Builds Metal Prototypes With 3D Printing
News 1/8/2013 27 comments Ford Motor Co. is raising the stakes in rapid prototyping, making testable prototype metal parts ranging from brake rotors to transmission cases with three-dimensional printers.
Plastic Makes a Better Light Bulb
News 1/8/2013 34 comments Wake Forest University scientists have devised a shatterproof, white light, flicker-free lighting device based on field-induced polymer electroluminescent (FIPEL) technology.
Video: Fish Slime Makes Tough, Silk-Like Fiber
News 12/27/2012 14 comments Researchers have discovered that the defensive slime exuded by hagfishes may be a source of high-performance protein fibers that could replace petrochemical-based polymers, such as nylon and plastic fibers, and fabrics woven from them.
Strong, Flexible Composite Combines Minerals, Thermoplastic
News 12/20/2012 23 comments A strong, flexible mineral/thermoplastic composite that replicates wood's fibrous structure is contending with wood, wood plastic composites, plastics, and metal in a range of potential structural applications.
3D Print Your Own Personal Electronics
News 12/14/2012 54 comments If it's possible to 3D print blood vessels, robots, and guns, then why shouldn't you be able to 3D print your own personal electronics?
KiOR's Non-Food Biofuel Scales Up
News 12/12/2012 10 comments Renewable fuels company KiOR has left the development stage and entered scaled-up production of its biofuel based on non-food biomass.
One-Piece Composite Wing Built for Perpetual-Flight Plane
News 10/29/2012 10 comments An unusual wing, made in a single piece from carbon fiber composite, has been built for an unmanned aircraft designed for high-altitude perpetual flight. The wing has no fasteners or adhesive joints.
Faster Industrial 3D Printer Boosts Build Volume
News 10/17/2012 11 comments Industrial 3D printing supplier ExOne's M-FLEX midsized metal printer is three times as fast and has a build volume more than seven times as large as the company's previous midsized machine.
Cellulose Could Replace Short Glass Fibers in Composites
News 10/15/2012 19 comments Wood and pulp giant Weyerhaeuser has figured out how to make a thermoplastic composite using engineered cellulose fiber from trees, instead of the short glass fibers usually used for reinforcement.
Fruit Juice Guards Against Aluminum Corrosion
News 10/10/2012 19 comments Extracts of juice from the common date palm fruit may be a greener way to prevent corrosion in the strong, lightweight aluminum alloys in aircraft, cars, and industrial machines.
Study: Wind Could Power World Energy Needs
News 9/28/2012 50 comments Researchers at Stanford University's School of Engineering and the University of Delaware claim there's enough wind over land and at sea combined to produce at least half the world's power demand by 2030.
Automakers Drive Carbon Composites
News 9/11/2012 11 comments The lightweight material isn't ready for high-volume automotive manufacturing, but three consortia are working to fast-track material and process development.
Bayer's Medical-Grade Plastics Aid Surgeons
Product News 9/6/2012 6 comments Bayer unveiled three new materials. One offers flame-retardant properties. Another offers improved ductility. The third helps deliver information during knee replacements.
NASA Helps Professionals Keep Their Cool
News 8/16/2012 29 comments A new line of business dress shirts called Apollo uses a combination of textiles -- including a material designed for NASA spacesuits -- to keep people cool even when it's hot outside.
Reshapeable Plastic Remembers Original Form
News 8/9/2012 5 comments A new shape-memory plastic makes QR code labels look like Salvador Dali's famous floppy watch and could prove useful in product and brand protection.
Robots Speed Complex Composite Fiber Placement
News 8/6/2012 5 comments GKN Aerospace becomes the first to use the UK's new automated fiber placement machines that will help speed production of complex composite aircraft structures like wings.
More Than Cars Drive Powder Metals
News 8/1/2012 17 comments A wide range of materials and processes are helping engineers in many industries design near-net-shape components faster and with less material waste.
Water Bugs Inspire Oil-Repellent Coating
News 7/31/2012 13 comments Taking inspiration from water strider insects that skate between air and water, Chinese researchers have created a metallic device that skates between oil and water, coated with an oil-repelling oxide.
Porous Metal Spine Implant Heals Bone
News 7/19/2012 14 comments A lumbar spine implant made with Zimmer's tantalum-based Trabecular Metal Technology, a highly porous metallic substance with characteristics similar to the spongy type of bone, helps foster new bone growth to speed healing.
Lego-Like Industrial Package Reduces Pallets, Shrinkwrap
News 7/16/2012 13 comments Winner of a gold award in the 2012 DuPont Awards for Packaging Innovation, the CUBE is a Lego-like system that goes from manufacturer's pallet to retail display floor with almost no reconfiguration or changes.
Navy Funds Development of Tool to Model Biofuel Performance
News 6/25/2012 16 comments The Office of Naval Research has given researchers at the University of Wisconsin $2 million to create a tool that can model the performance of various biofuels as part of the military’s ongoing interest in using alternative energy sources to reduce dependency on traditional fossil fuels.
Test Flights Start for Titanium-Blade Engine
News 6/18/2012 5 comments Pratt & Whitney recently started flight tests of its PurePower PW1200G engine family. Like other engines in the PurePower Geared Turbofan engine program, the PW1217G's fan blades incorporate titanium, not composites.
DARPA Taps Nanotech to Treat Brain Injuries
News 6/18/2012 4 comments The Department of Defense is exploring the use of nanotechnology to treat afflictions ranging from infectious diseases to traumatic brain injury more quickly.
ST Packages MEMS Microphones in Plastic
Product News 6/6/2012 5 comments STMicroelectronics NV has claimed it is the first company that has mass-produced MEMS microphones in plastic packages, a technology development that reportedly saves space and increases durability.
DIRAK's E-LINE Locking Systems Cut Security Costs
Product News 6/1/2012 4 comments The latest addition to DIRAK's line of mechatronic security systems for racks, enclosures, and cabinets includes three types that are said to better protect materials, electronics, and data, while reducing security costs.
Army Tests Lightweight Machine Gun
News 5/30/2012 12 comments The Army has contracted with Textron Systems to design a lighter-weight machine gun than the one currently used in Afghanistan.
Nylon 12 Replacements Include Bioplastics
News 5/14/2012 13 comments The worldwide nylon 12 shortage is forcing automakers and suppliers to look at alternative materials with chemical, heat, and salt resistance for quick connectors, multi-layer flexible tubing, and assemblies. Many of the replacement candidates are bio-based polyamides.
Conference Aims to Beef Up Power Plants
News 5/8/2012 6 comments Better materials for constructing electrical power plants, including a variety of alloys, are becoming increasingly important to their operation and have sparked a new international conference on the subject.
With LEDs dropping in price virtually every year, automakers have begun employing them, not only on luxury vehicles, but on entry-level models, as well.
The 3D printing revolution seems to have a knack for quickly moving technology ahead by way of collaborative effort and even a little friendly competition -- all of course in the name of scientific advancement.
Advantech has launched a new series of motion-control I/O modules to meet the increased demands that come with more distributed industrial systems that require control of a growing number of axes and devices.
Using almost 200 light-emitting diodes in the front and back of the new 2014 CTS, Cadillac designers are showing how LEDs can change the character of a vehicle.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 3
Early in my career, I worked as a draftsman and remember the days of drawing on vellum with numbered pencils and Mylar with plastic lead. This was a fun experience in the sense that I ...
I've been using workstations for more than 10 years and love finding ways to get more performance from my system. With demanding professional applications that require more power each ...
A lasting memory from my first job as an engineer in an auto assembly plant is standing on hard concrete at six in the morning, vending-machine coffee clutched in hand, listening to ...
A quick look into the merger of two powerhouse 3D printing OEMs and the new leader in rapid prototyping solutions, Stratasys. The industrial revolution is now led by 3D printing and engineers are given the opportunity to fully maximize their design capabilities, reduce their time-to-market and functionally test prototypes cheaper, faster and easier. Bruce Bradshaw, Director of Marketing in North America, will explore the large product offering and variety of materials that will help CAD designers articulate their product design with actual, physical prototypes. This broadcast will dive deep into technical information including application specific stories from real world customers and their experiences with 3D printing. 3D Printing is
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