Know that sickening feeling when you exit the grocery store and find your car has been banged up by a runaway shopping cart? It may one day be just a bad memory if auto body manufacturers make use of a new suite of tests developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and…
Laser Ranging Can ‘See’ 3D Objects Melting In Fires
Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have used a laser detection and ranging (LADAR) system to image three-dimensional (3D) objects melting in flames. The method could offer a precise, safe and compact way to measure structures as they collapse in fires. Optical range measurements, already used in manufacturing and other fields,…
NIST, Partners Create Standard to Improve Sustainable Manufacturing
Anyone who’s ever covered a wall with sticky notes to clearly map all of the steps in a process knows how valuable that exercise can be. It can streamline workflow, increase efficiency and improve the overall quality of the end result. Now, a public-private team led by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)…
Engineered Nanostructures Could Offer a Way to Control Quantum Effect
You might think that a pair of parallel plates hanging motionless in a vacuum just a fraction of a micrometer away from each other would be like strangers passing in the night—so close but destined never to meet. Thanks to quantum mechanics, you would be wrong. Scientists working to engineer nanoscale machines know this only…
NIST Offers Grants for Consortia to Address Technological Barriers in Advanced Manufacturing
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has announced a competition for grants to support new or existing industry-driven consortia to develop research plans that address high-priority challenges impeding the growth of advanced manufacturing in the United States. NIST’s new Advanced Manufacturing Technology Consortia (AMTech) Program anticipates awarding $4 million in two-year planning grants…