A researcher installs an enviromental chamber in the special laboratory in which metals' susceptibility to stress corrosion can be tested. (Credit: Fraunhofer IWM) ScienceDaily (Aug. 21, 2010) — Ask people to think of the ultimate future car, and their answer is often K.I.T.T. — the legendary talking supercar from the US television series "Knight Rider." [...]
A tiny silicon chip — the glowing orange square at the center of this special heating device — is heated to a temperature well below silicon's melting point, and then very slowly cooled down. The chip inside this heating device was placed in the path of a synchrotron beam to probe its changes at a [...]
ScienceDaily (Apr. 20, 2010) — Conventional die castings can be made stronger using new, more environmentally friendly technologies developed by CSIRO. Test castings made using a conventional runner on left and the narrow, metal-saving ATM runner on the right. (Credit: Mark Fergus) The two new technologies — a dynamic gating system and the 'ATM runner [...]
Components made of fiber-reinforced straps are bonded with Laser. (Credit: Copyright Fraunhofer IPT) ScienceDaily (Mar. 28, 2010) — Lightweight, sturdy, and non-corrosive: fiber-reinforced thermoplastics are an ideal material for making boats and cars, and for aerospace engineering . But up to now, processing the raw materials was considered laborious and costly. At the JEC Composites [...]
An adaptive wing support structure can be constructed using compliant systems. It can be molded in one piece. (Credit: Image courtesy of Empa) ScienceDaily (Mar. 14, 2010) — Those who witnessed the first takeoff of an Airbus A380 Superjumbo from Zurich airport at the end of January know that elegant is not the right word [...]
Engineers have achieved what they call a "nearly perfect hydrophobic interface" by reproducing, on small bits of flat plastic, the shape and patterns of the minute hairs that grow on the bodies of spiders. (Credit: Image courtesy of University of Florida) ScienceDaily (Mar. 6, 2010) — Engineering researchers have crafted a flat surface that refuses [...]
Professor Emily Carter and graduate student Chen Huang developed a new way of predicting important properties of substances. The advance could speed the development of new materials and technologies. (Credit: Frank Wojciechowski) ScienceDaily (Feb. 26, 2010) — Princeton engineers have made a breakthrough in an 80-year-old quandary in quantum physics, paving the way for the [...]
ScienceDaily (Feb. 22, 2010) — Welding uses heat to join pieces of metal in everything from circuits to skyscrapers. But Rice University researchers have found a way to beat the heat on the nanoscale. Two gold nanowires weld when their tips touch. (Credit: Jun Lou/Rice University) Jun Lou, an assistant professor in mechanical engineering and [...]
SHEETS of material that produce voltage when flexed could generate power from the motion of the human body. Tapping into kinetic energy (Image: tempurasLightbulb/iStock) 1 more image Previous materials were either too rigid or too inefficient to be practical as pliable power generators. Now two research teams have solved the problem using different approaches. The [...]
The simulation shows the results of cold forging. An optimized tool geometry (bottom) keeps pore density low. (Credit: Copyright Fraunhofer IWM) ScienceDaily (Feb. 11, 2010) — When metals are shaped, the materials they are made of are often damaged in the process. One cause of this is excessive press force, which cracks and perforates the [...]
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