3D printing by direct laser writing enables production of micro-meter-sized structures for many applications, from biomedicine to microelectronics to optical metamaterials. Researchers of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have now developed 3D inks that can be erased selectively. This allows specific degradation and reassembly of highly precise structures on the micrometer and nanometer scales.  3D…

Self-healing materials are able to repair autonomously defects, such as scratches, cracks or dents, and resume their original shape. For this purpose, they must be composed of several components whose combined properties result in the desired characteristics. Scientists of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology now discovered…

The Waldbahn railway line near Welzheim is one of the most beautiful railway lines in South Germany and listed as a monument. Its viaducts, however, require restoration. The 100-year-old Laufenmühle viaduct, for instance, exhibits major damage, such as cracks in the reinforced concrete. If the viaduct was restored with standard state-of-the-art methods, the expenditure and…

KIT scientists now present the smallest lattice structure made by man in the Nature Materialsjournal. Its struts and braces are made of glassy carbon and are less than 1 µm long and 200 nm in diameter. They are smaller than comparable metamaterials by a factor of 5. The small dimension results in so far unreached ratios…