PTFE – known widely by the popular brand Teflon – has been around for decades. Now an EU-funded project has developed a stretchable tape version, making a high-tech product fit for the space age. The Horizon 2020-funded ProPApp project improved and streamlined the production of an old and widely used polymer, bringing the technology into the…
Researchers 3D Print Metamaterials with Novel Optical Properties
A team of engineers at Tufts University has developed a series of 3D printed metamaterials with unique microwave or optical properties that go beyond what is possible using conventional optical or electronic materials. The fabrication methods developed by the researchers demonstrate the potential, both present and future, of 3D printing to expand the range of…
Underwater Glue Addresses Sticky Situation
Sticking things together underwater is no easy feat; water is often a glue’s worst enemy. Now, scientists from Wageningen University and Research have created an injectable adhesive that can bond to surfaces underwater. Often, water weakens the mechanical properties of an adhesive and prohibits any good, solid contact with the surface. This has been a…
Researchers Tune Material’s Color and Thermal Properties Separately
The color of a material can often tell you something about how it handles heat. Think of wearing a black shirt on a sweltering summer’s day — the darker the pigment, the warmer you’re likely to feel. Likewise, the more transparent a glass window, the more heat it can let through. A material’s responses to…
That’s ‘Sew’ Smart! Scientists Invent Threads to Detect Gases When Woven into Clothing
Tufts University engineers have developed a novel fabrication method to create dyed threads that change color when they detect a variety of gases. The researchers demonstrated that the threads can be read visually, or even more precisely by use of a smartphone camera, to detect changes of color due to analytes as low as 50…
New Polymer Mixture Creates Ultra-Sensitive Heat Sensor
Scientists at the Laboratory of Organic Electronics have developed an ultra-sensitive heat sensor that is flexible, transparent and printable. The results have potential for a wide range of applications – from wound healing and electronic skin to smart buildings. The ultra-sensitive heat sensor is based on the fact that certain materials are thermoelectric. The electrons in a…
Adhesive Formed From Bee Spit and Flower Oil Could Form Basis of New Glue
Honey bees spend hours each day collecting pollen and packing it into tidy bundles attached to their hind legs. But all of that hard work could instantly be undone during a sudden rainstorm were it not for two substances the insect uses to keep the pollen firmly stuck in place: bee spit and flower oil.…
3D Printer Threads Electronic Fibers Onto Fabrics
The potential for wearable electronics goes far beyond smart watches, but our current options for battery packs and circuit boards don’t make for the most comfortable E-socks. One solution, being developed by scientists in China, is to simply print flexible fibers on to transitional textiles or clothes. For example, they printed patterns that can harvest…
Cambridge Spin-Out Starts Producing Graphene at Commercial Scale
A recent University of Cambridge spin-out company, Paragraf, has started producing graphene—a sheet of carbon just one atomic layer thick—at up to eight inches in diameter, large enough for commercial electronic devices. Paragraf is producing graphene ‘wafers’ and graphene-based electronic devices, which could be used in transistors, where graphene-based chips could deliver speeds more than ten…
Spider Silk Could Be Used as Robotic Muscle
Spider silk, already known as one of the strongest materials for its weight, turns out to have another unusual property that might lead to new kinds of artificial muscles or robotic actuators, researchers have found. The resilient fibers, the team discovered, respond very strongly to changes in humidity. Above a certain level of relative humidity…
Hybrid Material May Outperform Graphene in Several Applications
Materials that are hybrid constructions (combining organic and inorganic precursors) and quasi-two-dimensional (with malleable and highly compactable molecular structures) are on the rise in several technological applications, such as the fabrication of ever-smaller optoelectronic devices. An article published in the journal Physical Review B describes a study in this field resulting from the doctoral research of Diana Meneses Gustin and Luís…
Now You See Heat, Now You Don’t
Hiding an object from heat-sensing cameras could be useful for military and technology applications as well as for research. Efforts to develop such a method have been underway for decades with varying degrees of success. Now, researchers report in ACS Nano that they have fabricated an inexpensive, easy-to-produce film that makes objects completely invisible to infrared detectors.…
New Material Holds Promise for More Secure Computing
As computers advance, encryption methods currently used to keep everything from financial transactions to military secrets secure might soon be useless, technology experts warn. Reporting today in the journal Nature, a team of physicists and engineers led by University of Texas at Austin physics professor Xiaoqin Elaine Li report they have created a material with light-emitting…
Mechanical Engineers Develop Process to 3D Print Piezoelectric Materials
Piezeolectric materials are used in many consumer products such as mobile phones, watches, and instruments. Now, scientists at Virginia Tech have found a way to 3D print piezoelectric materials so they are not restricted by shape or size. Xiaoyu ‘Rayne’ Zheng, assistant professor of mechanical engineering in the College of Engineering, and a member of the…
Benefits of 3D Woven Composite Fabrics
Three-dimensional (3D) weaving of composite fabrics can produce complex, single-piece structures that are strong and lightweight. Compared to traditional two-dimensional (2D) fabrics, 3D weaving reduces weight, eliminates the delamination often experienced with 2D fabrics, reduces crack risks, and lowers production time. 3D fabrics also offer direct and indirect manufacturing and operational cost reductions. What is…
Scientists Turn Carbon Emissions into Usable Energy
A recent study, affiliated with UNIST has developed a system that produces electricity and hydrogen (H2) while eliminating carbon dioxide (CO2), which is the main contributor of global warming. Published This breakthrough has been led by Professor Guntae Kim in the School of Energy and Chemical Engineering at UNIST in collaboration with Professor Jaephil Cho…
Researchers Find New Ways to Harness Wasted Methane
The primary component of natural gas, methane, is itself a potent greenhouse gas. A recent study, affiliated with UNIST has unveiled a high performance catalyst for methane conversion to formaldehyde. This breakthrough has been led by Professor Kwang-jin Ahn and his team in the School of Energy and Chemical Engineering at UNIST in collaboration with…
Engineers Detail Bird Feathers Could Lead to Better Adhesives, Aerospace Materials
You may have seen a kid play with a feather, or you may have played with one yourself: Running a hand along a feather’s barbs and watching as the feather unzips and zips, seeming to miraculously pull itself back together. That “magical” zipping mechanism could provide a model for new adhesives and new aerospace materials,…
That’s Gnarly! Wonder Material Makes Jump from Skateboards to Military Tech
It would be hard to imagine a happier success story than silicon-based electronics. In the six decades since Morris Tanenbaum built the first silicon transistor at Bell Labs, engineers have been able to shrink the size of the transistors they put on a silicon chip from microns to nanometers, and increase the density of circuit…
Sailing in Space with Graphene
In an ingenious set of experiments, European teams have tested graphene under microgravity conditions for the first time. The exciting results provide a valuable foundation for developing graphene devices for use in space. Graphene has unique mechanical, electrical and thermal properties, inspiring researchers to explore the usefulness of this two-dimensional lattice of pure carbon. Researchers…
Influencing the Materials Industry
Materials science is one of the fastest moving scientific fields. As such, there are so many advancements happening in the industry that it can be difficult to keep track. Here, Benjamin Stafford, materials science specialist at materials comparison tool Matmatch, outlines some of the most interesting materials scientists that are contributing to developments in nanotechnology…
How to Choose the Right Material for CNC Machining
CNC machining is one of the most common manufacturing methods used to manufacture parts and products. The use of Computer Numerical Controls (CNC) allows parts to be manufactured using a highly automated process, which has the upper hand on many conventional manufacturing methods in terms of speed, production rate and accuracy. However, determining the right…
Researchers Develop Self-Powered Fluidic Sheet That Wraps, Flaps, and Creeps
While many of us think of the magic carpet in tales such as “Aladdin” and “One Thousand and One Nights” as a flying piece to entertain the visual senses, that carpet’s properties ― being able to wave, flap, and alter its shape to serve its riders ― are fascinating scientific researchers as well. To that…
Scientists of Russia and China To Increase the Capacity of Lithium-Ion Batteries By 15 Percent
Lithium-ion batteries are used in different areas – from mobile phones and laptops to cardiac pacemakers and electric vehicles. Currently, scientists are trying to increase battery power while reducing its size. The team of researchers from Russia and China in collaboration with an industrial partner managed to increase the battery’s energy capacity by 15%. The…
Give It the Plasma Treatment: Strong Adhesion Without Adhesives
Polymers containing plastics are essential in modern life. Being lightweight, strong and unreactive, a vast range of technologies depend on them. However, most polymers do not adhere naturally to other materials, so they need adhesives or corrosive chemical treatments to be attached to other materials. This is a problem in areas like food and medicine,…