Materials Mind - Recent Materials science research

Nanospectrometer through single nanowire

noreply@blogger.com (wapsmadusanka) — Fri, 27 Dec 2019 14:54:00 +0000

Overview of nanospectrometer research

Scientists at the University of Cambridge, U.K., designed an ultra-miniaturized device that could image single cells without the need for a microscope or make chemical fingerprint analysis possible with a smartphone camera.

Made of a single nanowire, the new device is the smallest spectrometer ever created. Most modern nanospectrometers are bulky, and are based around principles similar to what Isaac Newton first demonstrated with his prism in the 1600s—the spatial separation of light into different spectral components.

Size of newly developed nanospectrometer

Researchers have now produced a system up to 1000 times smaller than those previously reported. The Cambridge team, working with colleagues from the U.K., China, and Finland, used a nanowire whose material composition is varied along its length, enabling it to respond to different colors of light across the visible spectrum. Using techniques similar to those employed for making computer chips, they then created a series of light-responsive sections on the nanowire. The team hopes the tiny platform will lead to a new generation of ultra-compact nanospectrometers. View more materials research news @materialsmind.com

Reference : www.cam.ac.uk.

New insulator inspired by Polor Bear hair

noreply@blogger.com (wapsmadusanka) — Fri, 20 Dec 2019 05:02:00 +0000

Structure of Polor bear hair

To survive in Arctic conditions, polar bears must rely on insulation supplied by their own fat, skin, and fur. For engineers, polar bear hair is an ideal template for synthetic materials that could lock in heat just as efficiently. Now, materials scientists at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) have developed such an insulator, reproducing the structure of individual hairs with the goal of building a material composed of many hairs for applications in architecture and aerospace. Unlike the hair of other mammals, polar bear hair is hollow. Examined under a microscope, each one has a long, cylindrical core punched through its center. The shapes and spacing of these cavities are not only responsible for their distinctive white coats, but also the source of remarkable heat-holding capacity, water resistance, and stretchiness.

Construction of new insulator

To imitate this structure and scale it to a useful size, researchers manufactured millions of hollowed-out carbontubes, each equivalent to a single strand of hair, and wound them into a spaghetti-like aerogel block. Compared to other aerogels, the new hollow-tube design is lighter weight and more resistant to heat flow, say researchers. The new material is also extraordinarily stretchy, even more than the hairs themselves, further boosting its usefulness.

Reference : http://en.ustc.edu.cn.

global investment in renewable energy 2019

noreply@blogger.com (wapsmadusanka) — Tue, 17 Dec 2019 06:56:00 +0000

Highlights of global investment in renewable energy

Worldwide investment in renewable energy capacity is on track to have roughly quadrupled in the past decade, according to the Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2019 report, released ahead of the UN Global Climate Action Summit. Global investment in this sector from 2010 throughc2019 is set to hit $2.6 trillion, with more gigawatts of solar power capaciity than any other generation technology.

Solar power will have drawn half of the $2.6 trillion in renewable energy investments made over the decade.

The global share of electricity generation accounted for by renewables reached 12.9% in 2018, up from 11.6% in 2017. This avoided an estimated two billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions last year alone—a substantial savings given global power sector emissions of 13.7 billion tons in 2018.

The cost-competitiveness of renewables has also risen dramatically. The levelized cost of electricity is down 81% for solar photovoltaics since 2009; for onshore wind, it’s down 46%. China has been the biggest investor in renewables capacity over this decade, having committed $758 billion between 2010 and the first half of 2019, with the U.S. second on $356 billion and Japan third on $202 billion. Europe invested $698 billion in renewables capacity over the same period, with Germany and the United Kingdom contributing the most.
reference www.unenvironment.org.

EDS (Energy dispersive X ray spectroscopy) for nanoparticle research

noreply@blogger.com (wapsmadusanka) — Sat, 14 Dec 2019 09:15:00 +0000

EDS xray technology

Energy dispersive x ray spectroscopy (EDS, or EDX) is an important electron microscopy tool for materials characterization and is commonly used in a wide range of applications and industries from manufacturing to energy and resource management to consumer-packaged goods. Despite the wide use of EDS, the technique has limitations in certain applications, such as difficulty in obtaining high-quality images of polymers, catalysts, and other nanoparticles sensitive to damage from the electron beam. Next-generation Energy dispersive x ray detectors such as Thermo Fisher Scientific’s Dual-X have helped to meet these challenges. Today’s advanced EDS detectors are overcoming the barriers to EDS analysis by making it quick and easy to obtain quality results without requiring expertise and making it possible to obtain high-resolution images of beam-sensitive materials, which were previously unobtainable.

The ability to apply EDS acquisition and automated processing to a broader range of samples will enable taking nanoparticle research to new levels, paving the way toward new applications in industries ranging from food to medicine to textiles and energy research.

Function of EDS Xray

EDS is used to characterize the chemical composition of samples by taking advantage of the fact that every atom has a unique number of electrons that reside in specific positions, or shells, around the nucleus of the atom. Under normal conditions, the electrons in a specific shell have discrete energies. As an electron beam strikes the inner shell of an atom, it knocks an electron from the shell, leaving a hole. When the electron is displaced, it attracts another electron from an outer shell to fill the void. As the electron moves from the outer to the inner shell of the atom, it loses some energy and the energy difference generates an x-ray with an energy and wavelength unique to the specific element.

X-rays emitted during the process are collected by silicon drift detectors, which separate the x-rays of different elements into an energy spectrum. Software is then used to analyze the spectrum and determine specific elements contained within the sample.

Latest developments in Energy dispersive X ray spectroscopy

As the use of EDS expands to include beam-sensitive materials, automation breakthroughs are simplifying the technology, extending its applications. Fully embedded Dual-X EDS detectors enable:

• Automated EDS tomography for fast access to 3D chemical information. The microscope can be set up to automatically acquire 3D chemical information overnight unattended.

• STEM and EDS Maps software for automated acquisition of statistically relevant data on large area images at high resolution. Data from different imaging and analysis modalities are easily correlated including on-the-fly processing and statistics using Thermo Fisher’s visualization and analysis software Avizo.

• An automatic correction for absorption, which adjusts for holder geometry and detector dimensions. The absorption correction is embedded into the company’s Velox software, making it possible to obtain accurate elemental quantification information.

These features make EDS far easier to use, extending the technique to more users, while increasing researchproductivity. After EDS maps are created, they are stored together with other microscopy information, making it easy to combine and correlate data capturedfrom different microscopy techniques. This enables researchers to completely characterize samples using a single tool.

Potential development of EDS Xray in nanoparticle research

Next-generation EDS detectors are advancing nanoparticle research at institutions around the world. For example, researchers at University of Physics of Materials in Brno, Czech Republic used the detectors to investigate a sample where a large-area, high-resolution EDS map of gold-nickel nanoparticles were acquired in less than one minute. The non-toxic gold nanoparticle combined with the magnetic properties of nickel atoms are promising carriers of surface-anchored agents, which can attach to therapeutic drugs and precisely target them to specific cells in the human body using a controlled release.

Researchers at Xi’an Jiaotong University, China, is using the detectors to map the effectiveness of nanoparticles such as platinum and cobalt as catalysts in the production of hydrogen fuel. Hydrogen is the most widely proposed fuel for use in fuel cell-powered cars, promising a new generation of vehicles that combine the sustainability of electric cars with the large driving range of conventional fossil fuels. Catalyst nanoparticles are needed to optimize the production of hydrogen fuel via photocatalysis. The catalyst uses the synergistic effects of platinum and cobalt nanoparticles to improve hydrogen productivity.

These are just two examples where next-generation EDS detectors, with their rapid ability to characterize beam-sensitive materials are leading to breakthroughs in nanoparticle\ research. In the future, we can expect to see high-resolution EDS imaging of a wider range of nanoparticles, which, in turn, will deepen our understanding of nanoparticles and their applications across a diverse range of industries. More News

For more information:

Yuri Rikers,

Product Manager Talos at Thermo Fisher

Scientific, Zwaanstraat 31 G/H, 5651

CA Eindhoven, The Netherlands, +31

40.2356000, yuri.rikers@thermofisher.

com, www.thermofisher.com.

Reference : Advance materials processing November Edition 2019

Economical fuel cell catalyst from thin graphene based platinum films

noreply@blogger.com (wapsmadusanka) — Fri, 13 Dec 2019 14:06:00 +0000

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, are using ultrathin, graphene supported platinum films to enable fuel cell catalyst with unprecedented catalytic activity and longevity.

Why platinum films used as fuel cell catalyst?

Platinum is one of the most commonly used catalysts for fuel cells because of how effectively it enables the oxidation reduction reaction at the center of the technology. But its high cost has motivated research efforts to find ways to use smaller amounts of it while maintaining the same catalytic activity.

Most platinum-based catalytic systems use the metal’s nanoparticles chemically bonded to a support surface, where surface atoms of the particles do most of the catalytic work, and the catalytic potential of the atoms beneath the surface is never utilized as fully as the surface atoms—if at all.

To prepare their atomically thin films, the Georgia Tech researchers used a process called electrochemical atomic layer deposition to grow platinum monolayers on a layer of graphene, creating samples that had one, two, or three atomic layers. They found that the bond between neighboring platinum atoms in the film essentially combines forces with the bond between the film and the graphene layer to provide reinforcement across the system. That was especially true in the platinum films that were two atoms thick.

New platinum films are potentially long-lasting

Additionally, the new platinum films at that minimum thickness outperformed nanoparticle platinum in the dissociation energy, which is a measure of the energy cost of dislodging a surface platinum atom. The measurement suggests such films could make potentially longer-lasting catalytic

systems.
Reference : www.gatech.edu.
Advanced material processing November 2019 Edition

Naturally extracted graphene from Eucalyptus bark

noreply@blogger.com (wapsmadusanka) — Wed, 11 Dec 2019 17:35:00 +0000

A new method for producing graphene was recently developed by scientists at RMIT University, Australia, and the National Institute of Technology, Warangal, India. The technique uses Eucalyptus bark extract and is less expensive and more sustainable than existing synthesis techniques, according to researchers.

Cost of graphene production

RMIT lead scientist Suresh Bhargava says the new technique could lower the cost of production from $100 per gram to just 50 cents per gram. Professor Vishnu Shanker from the National Institute of Technology, Warangal, says the “green” chemistry avoids the use of poisonous reagents, possibly paving the way for the use of graphenein biocompatible materials. When tested in a supercapacitor, the graphene created by the new technique matched the performance and quality of traditional graphene.

Reference : https://www.rmit.edu.au/news/all-news/2019/jun/graphene-from-gum-trees

Snail epiphragm leads to new adhesive

noreply@blogger.com (wapsmadusanka) — Wed, 11 Dec 2019 09:27:00 +0000

Inspired by snail mucus, This research was done by scientists at Lehigh University, state University of Pennsylvania and the KIST (Korea Institute of Science and Technology) created an adhesive more similar to superglue that they identify as “intrinsically reversible.” Achieving both reversibility and strong adhesion is more challenging. According to Anand Jagota who is one of the leading professors of this research, this contains nearly 90% water which is considered pure hydrogels. Furthermore, he explains that adhesives normally fall into 1 of 2 categories: strong but reversible and reusable but weak or irreversible, like superglues.

How they inspired adhesive similarity with snail epiphragm

As per the report, The research team demonstrated that when hydrated, the softened gel they made conformally adapts to the target surface by low-energy deformation, which is then locked upon drying in a manner similar to the action of the epiphragm of snails. A snails epiphragm is a temporary structure created by snails and mollusks. Made of dried mucus, it holds in moisture during periods of inactivity and enables snails to adhere to surfaces such as rocks. The scientists show that reversible, super-strong adhesion can be achieved from a nonstructured materialwhen the criterion of shape adaptation is met. According to the researchers, the new material can be applied to both flat and rough target surfaces.

Reference :https://www2.lehigh.edu/news/scientists-reveal-reversible-superglue-inspired-by-snail-mucus

It is so vital to have such inspiration as the advancement of science and technology should make the world a better place for the living being. This latest scientific research reveals us the true benefit taken by the researches out of wild creatures that we never think of. materialtoday.co will share with you the alerts of the latest researches and keep in touch with us.

New generation Alloy metal hard as Ceramic

noreply@blogger.com (wapsmadusanka) — Tue, 10 Dec 2019 18:19:00 +0000

Alloy metals are stronger than pure metals due to different alloying. But they

are not as hard as much as ceramic. Engineers at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, found a new way to calculate the interaction between a metal and its alloying material, contributing to the search for a new material that mixes the hardness of ceramic with the resilience of metal. The new method identifies two aspects of this interaction that can accurately predict how a particular alloy will behave—and with fewer demanding, from-scratch quantum mechanical calculations.

Algorithm for alloy metal modification

“Our findings might alter the utilization of machine learning algorithms for metal alloymodification and design, potentially accelerating the search for better alloys that could be used in turbine engines and nuclear reactors,” says lead researcher Liang Qi. The search is on for a material that is very hard even at high temperatures but also resistant to cracking. Alloying elements combine with defects to create a network of disruptions in the lattice of the host metal, but it’s hard to predict how that network will affect the metal’s performance.

The team restricted their study to metals with only one alloying element at defects—still a significant space of design with 100's of material combinations and 1 million's of defect structures. The researchers found they could predict how atoms of the alloying element concentrated at various kinds of defects.

Opportunities in future

However, they note that more descriptors must be discovered for predictions of how more complex alloy metals will behave, for instance, those with two or more alloying elements at defects. And while these descriptors may feed into the machine learning, humans will probably identify them.

Reference :

https://news.umich.edu/hard-as-ceramic-tough-as-steel-newly-discovered-connection-could-help-design-of-nextgen-alloys/

Imaging of magnetic materials enhanced with new electron microscope concept

noreply@blogger.com (wapsmadusanka) — Tue, 10 Dec 2019 08:47:00 +0000

Under the Japan Science and Technology Agency SENTAN program, the joint development team of Prof. Naoya Shibata at the University of Tokyo and JEOL Ltd. has developed an electron microscope that incorporates newly designed magnetic objective lenses. The new microscope achieves direct, atom resolved imaging of materials with sub-angstrom spatial resolution, with a residual magnetic field less than 0.2 mT at the sample position.

Why magnetic materials can not be analyzed through current lens systems

One crucial disadvantage of current magnetic condenser objective lens systems for atomic resolution STEMs is that the samples should be inserted into high magnetic fields of up 3 Tesla (T). Such high fields can severely hamper atomic resolution imaging of many important soft/ hard magnetic materials such as silicon steel because the strong field can greatly alter or even destroy the material’s magnetic and physical structure. Recently, the new development of magnetic materials has advanced speedily. As atomic-scale structural analysis is key to the aforementioned technology, a solution to this problem is overdue.

Configuration of the new magnetic field-free lens system

The joint team has developed a new magnetic field-free objective lens system, containing two round lenses positioned in an exact mirror-symmetric configuration with respect to the sample plane. This new lens system provides extremely small residual magnetic field levels at the sample position while placing the strongly excited front/back objective lenses close enough to the sample to obtain the short focal length condition is essential for atomic resolution imaging. Consequently, the residual magnetic fields induced near the sample center are much less than 0.2 mT, which is 10,000 times smaller than the field strengths resulting from conventional magnetic objective lenses used for atomic resolution TEM/ STEM imaging.

The newly developed electron microscope can be operated in the same manner as a conventional STEM. It is expected to further promote substantial research and development in various nanotechnology fields.

For more information, visit www.jeol.co.jp/en and www.u-tokyo.jp/en.

Extracting rare earth elements in e-waste

noreply@blogger.com (wapsmadusanka) — Mon, 09 Dec 2019 11:24:00 +0000

“Rare earth elements are mostly used in Permanent magnets”

Researchers at the DOE, Washington, have invented a process to extract rare earth elements from the scrapped magnets of used hard drives and other sources. Rare earth elements are most often used in permanent magnets for clean energy.

“We have developed an energy-efficient, cost-effective, environmentally friendly process to recover high-value critical materials,” says co-inventor Ramesh Bhave of ORNL. “It’s an improvement over traditional processes, which require facilities with a large footprint, high capital and operating costs, and a large amount of waste generated.” Through the patented process, magnets are dissolved in nitric acid, and the solution is continuously fed through a module supporting polymer membranes. The membranes contain porous hollow fibers with an extractant that creates a selective barrier, allowing only rare earth elements to pass through. The rare earth oxides were extracted with a purity level exceeding 99.5% through further processing of collected rare-earth rich solution.

Any Commercialized process to recycle pure rare earth elements?

No commercialized process currently exists to recycle pure rare earth elements from electronic-waste magnets. To ensure rare earth could be recovered across a wide spectrum of feedstocks, researchers subjected magnets of varying composition—from sources including hard drives, magnetic resonance imaging machines, cell phones, and hybrid cars—to the process.

Industrial efforts needed to deploy the ORNL process into the marketplace, funded over two years by DOE’s OTT Technology Commercialization Fund, began in February 2019.

Reference: www.energy.gov.

Moreover, there are so many researches that is ongoing to reduce, recycle waste since it is a timely need to have a clean environment. There are number of researches all around the world on similar topics and materialstoday keep its eye on every new information that may be useful for someone to initiate their own research. We kindly request you to follow our latest posts by subscribing to the channel and please convey your ideas which may help us to improve our website content.

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Composite of white graphene and BN – New way of making insulating material with enhanced stiffness

noreply@blogger.com (wapsmadusanka) — Sun, 08 Dec 2019 14:34:00 +0000

Scientists at Rice University, Houston, are modifying an insulating material called hexagonal-boron (h-BN) to make it more applicable for a wide range of applications.

Relationship between graphene and steel

It is found that stiffness of steel is less than by one-fourth of the stiffness of white graphene, well-known 2D material. Also, it is a better conductor of heat. Composites will be benefited due to these enhanced properties compared to conventional material.

Those qualities also make h-BN hard to customize. Because it is considered to be a tight lattice structure where shifting Nitrogen and Boron atoms are highly restricted.

**Chemical phenomina of producing composite insulating material**

Rice’s Angel Martí has established a protocol to enhance h-BN with carbon chains. These turn the 2D material into one that retains its strength but is more amenable to bonding with polymers or other materials in composites.

Lithium is an alkali metal that sheds free electrons when combined with liquefied ammonia. A Carbon source mixed with h-BN considered as 1-Bromododecane, the reaction yields radical of alkyl, a chemical species that reacts with h-BN and makes a bond.

Martí and his group are exploring what other kinds of molecules can be grafted onto white graphene. The goal is to build a library of functional groups that can be used with composite materials.

References : https://news.rice.edu/2019/08/12/youre-not-so-tough-h-bn/

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Measuring Phonons in graphene resolved by new nanospectroscopy technique

noreply@blogger.com (wapsmadusanka) — Sun, 08 Dec 2019 08:08:00 +0000

A team of researchers from the University of Vienna, Austria, in collaboration with the Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Japan, and La Sapienza University, Italy, have developed a new method for measuring existing phonons in a nanostructured material. The technique represents a breakthrough in the analysis and optimization of nanoscale functional materials and devices.

Why study of phonons in a nanostructured material is important

Important thermal, mechanical, optoelectronic, and transport characteristics of materials are ruled by phonons, or propagating atomic vibrational waves. Currently available techniques involve optical methods as well as inelastic electron, x-ray, and neutron- scattering. None of these methods have been able to determine all phonons of a freestanding monolayer of 2D materialssuch as graphene and their local variations within a graphene nanoribbon, which are successively used as active components in nano and optoelectronics.

Study done with graphene

Now, an international research team of leading experts in electron spectroscopy has presented an original method and applied it to graphene nanostructures as a model. For the first time, they were able to determine all vibrational modes of freestanding graphene as well as the local extension of different vibrational modes in a graphene nanoribbon. This new methodology, which they’re calling “large q mapping,” opens entirely new possibilities to determine the spatial and momentum extension of phonons in all nanostructured as well as 2D advanced materials.

We can expect new pathway of nanospectroscopy of all combining momentum and spatial resolved measurement with this study of in q-mapping of vibrations in the electron microscopy.
Reference : www.univie.ac.at/en.

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Laser based non destructive inspection

noreply@blogger.com (wapsmadusanka) — Sat, 07 Dec 2019 10:59:00 +0000

current approach of Non Destructive Inspection

Different non destructive inspection methods are broadly used in nuclear power plants, oil refineries, and chemical plants as periodic tests where destructive tests are not possible. It is an essential part of their business to maintain high safety environment to ensure human safety.

First non contact non destructive inspection method

It is considered to be the first NDT (non destructive testing) systems that merge components of non-contact and contact ultrasound testing.

A team of researchers from North Carolina State University (NCSU), Raleigh, and the Korea Military Academy (KMA) is focusing on ultrasonic NDT that involves amplifying the signal from a photoacoustic laser source using a laser absorbing patch made from an array of nanoparticles from candle soot and polydimethylsiloxane.

Ultrasonic waves generated through such a system with the photoacoustic patch shows the future of applying this new approach for different non-contact applications done by NDT methods.

How it makes?

By inserting the particle into the patch in an exceeding line array, they were able to narrow the bandwidth of the waves, filtering out unwanted wave signals and increasing analytical accuracy. The researchers opted for an Al(Aluminium) sensing system for the receiving in-built transducer.

The patch increased the amplitude by more than twofold over conditions without the patch and confirmed it produced narrower bandwidth than other conditions. The researchers say the question of how the approach’s durability in an industrial setting remains, as well as how well the patches perform on curved and rough surfaces.

Next, the team plans to test the system in high-temperature NDT scenarios.

Reference : ww.ncsu.edu.
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Graphene Magic Angle pave the way for room temperature superconductors

noreply@blogger.com (wapsmadusanka) — Sat, 07 Dec 2019 03:33:00 +0000

What is graphene Magic Angle?

Researchers at California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Pasadena, are building on last year’s MIT discovery of the “magic angle” for stacked sheets of graphene. They are directly studying the material using a scanning tunneling microscope that can image electronic properties at atomic-length scales. Understanding the “magic angle”— a selected orientation between sheets of graphene that yields special electrical properties—could pave the means for production of ambient temperature superconductors, that might transmit monumental electric currents while producing zero heat.
In early 2018, researchers at MIT discovered that, at a certain orientation, the graphene’s bilayer material becomes superconducting and moreover, the superconducting properties can be controlled with the electric fields. Their discovery launched the latest field of analysis into magic angle-oriented graphene, known as “twistronics.”
Research on the magic angle needs an extreme level of exactness to urge the 2 sheets of graphene aligned at simply the correct angle. The Caltech team expanded on MIT’s discovery by developing a new method of creating samples of magic angle-twisted graphene that can be used to align the two sheets of graphene terribly exactly whereas effort it exposed for direct observation.
Using this system, the researchers might learn additional concerning the electronic properties of the material at the magic angle further as a study however these properties modification because the twist angle moves away from the magic value. Their work provides several key insights that will guide future theoretical modeling and experiments in twistronics.

References : caltech.edu.
Advanced Materials Processing- October 2019 edition
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Amorphous Metal Configuration enhance Durability of Military Vehicle

noreply@blogger.com (wapsmadusanka) — Fri, 06 Dec 2019 15:27:00 +0000

In Metallurgy, metals are not Amorphous instead it is crystalline. But this
Military vehicle
latest technological advancement reveals the possibility of enhancing the ductility through introducing amorphous structure into the metal.
As part of a U.S. Army project, researchers at the University of Wisconsin- Madison have discovered a new understanding of the way metals can bend. The discovery upends previous notions the way metals deform and will facilitate guide the creation of stronger, more durable materials for military vehicles.
The researchers’ new mechanism for bending might allow engineers to strengthen a material without running the risk of fractures.
“This creates new opportunities for materials modification,” says scientist Izabela Szlufarska. “It adds another parameter we will manage to change strength and formability.” Normal metals bend because dislocations can move, allowing a material to deform without ripping apart every single bond inside its crystal lattice at once. Strengthening techniques typically restrict the motion of dislocations.
So, it had been stunning once Szlufarska and colleagues discovered that samarium cobalt, known as an intermetallic, bent easily, even though its dislocations were locked in place.
Bending samarium cobalt caused narrow bands to form inside the crystal lattice, where molecules assumed a freeform “amorphous” configuration instead of the regular, grid-like structure in the rest of the metal.
Those amorphous bands allowed the metal to bend. A combination of computational simulations and experimental studies was critical to explaining the result.
“It is that this variety of elementary analysis discovery that eventually ends up in the advanced materials which will defend troopers twenty-five to thirty years from Today,” say researchers. arl.army.mil, wisc.edu.
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Ceramic Welding by Pulsed Laser welding

noreply@blogger.com (wapsmadusanka) — Fri, 06 Dec 2019 03:13:00 +0000

A team of engineers at California University located in San Diego has developed a new ceramic welding technology that could pave the way for space-friendly electronics, shatterproof smartphones, metal-free pacemakers, and more.

How Ceramic pulsed laser welding works

The new process (Ceramic Welding) uses an ultrafast pulsed laser welding technique to melt ceramic materials along the interface and fuse them together. It works in room temperature conditions and uses below fifty watts of laser power, creating it a lot of sensible than current ceramic welding strategies that need heating the components in a furnace.

Ceramic materials are known to be interesting material categories due to their tremendous biocompatibility, extreme hardness, and shatter-resistant, making them ideal for biomedical implants and protective casings for electronics. However, the current ceramic welding procedures are not conducive to making such devices as most require the use of furnaces.

Future trend of Ceramic welding process

The researchers’ solution was to aim a series of short laser pulses along the interface between two ceramic parts so that heat builds up only at the interface and causes localized melting. They call their method ultrafast pulsed laser welding.
“By focusing the energy right where we want it, we avoid setting up temperature gradients throughout the ceramic, and we can encase temperature-sensitive materials without damaging them,” the researchers say.
The process has to date solely been wont to weld small-scale ceramic components that are below 2 centimeters in size. Future plans will involve optimizing the method for larger scales, as well as for different types of materials and geometries.

Reference

www.ucsd.edu.

Advanced Materials and Processes 2019/OCT Edition (ASM International)

Use of Graphene In Film Industry

noreply@blogger.com (wapsmadusanka) — Thu, 05 Dec 2019 17:32:00 +0000

Grapheneis well known development of nanotechnology which is an allotrope

of Carbon form by single layer of atoms in a 2-Dimensional hexagonal lattice in which 1 atom locates on each vertex.

Research team led by Toma Susi at the University of Vienna is using an advanced electron microscope called the UltraSTEM to manipulate strongly bound materials with atomic precision. Because the instruments are fully computerized, simulation can show how researchers actually work with them. Simulation game on show at the capital of Austria Technical museum in an exceedingly special exhibit referred to as “Work & Production; thinking forward_” is currently on the market on-line, at the side of the most recent experiment on silicon impurity manipulation in single-walled carbon nanotubes. The game, called Atom Tractor Beam, is named after the science-fiction concept of an attractive beam of energy popularized by Star Trek. The Nion UltraSTEM allows 50,000,000x magnification. Image contrast depends on how much the electrons are scattered at each location, making it possible to see precisely where impurities are located. In addition to imaging, the microscope’s focused electron beam can be used to move the atoms.

The beam scans across a graphene sample line by line, revealing the locations of carbon atoms that make up the lattices well as the brighter silicon impurities. Because these are confined one-dimensional structures, this advance may enable new kinds of tunable electronic devices.

There are many more application of Graphene nowadays and keep in touch with MaterialsMind for latest technology news.

Reference: www.univie.ac.at.

Adhesive for Lightweight Vehicles

noreply@blogger.com (wapsmadusanka) — Thu, 05 Dec 2019 02:55:00 +0000

Next-generation adhesives designed to join lightweight materials

A new DOE partnership with PPG Inc., Pittsburgh, will use supercomputing

Adhesive for Automobiles resources by means of supercomputers to accelerate the development and testing of structural adhesives for vehicles made of lightweight materials. PPG would collaborate with DOE’s Lawrence livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) to develop computer-based (Supercomputer) models of the aging characteristics of a spread of next-generation adhesives designed to join lightweight materials. Vehicle makers may be exploring the utilization of high-strength steel, aluminum, magnesium, carbon-fiber composites, and other lightweight materials to reduce vehicle mass and improve fuel economy. This approach requires new adhesive chemistries that will mitigate corrosion and thermal expansion issues associated with joining dissimilar materials.

Expertise view about new adhesive development project

“It is vital to know the way adhesive bonds evolve over the lifetime of a vehicle,” says Peter Votruba-Drzal, PPG global technical director, automotive OEM coatings. “This knowledge has traditionally come through iterative formulation and testing, including lengthy exposure tests. This project will enable us to reduce adhesives testing time by up to 75%, which in turn will help manufacturers accelerate the development of increasingly energy-efficient vehicles.”
The project will use supercomputing to achieve a fundamental understanding of the influence of water on the chemistry and adhesion properties of adhesives joined to lightweight substrates. Supercomputing resources are necessary due to the extremely large data sets involved in each simulation. PPG plan to offer $60,000 for the project for technical activities at the company’s world Coatings Innovation Center in Allison Park, Pa. The DOE will provide $300,000 to LLNL and PNNL for modeling expertise and use of their supercomputing resources. ppg.com.

Reference : Advance materials & process November/December 2019 Edition

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Material Science Researches based on Laser technology (petawatt laser)

noreply@blogger.com (wapsmadusanka) — Wed, 04 Dec 2019 04:24:00 +0000

The outcome of new materials science research on Laser

A new three-petawatt laser named Zeus will soon be built at the University of most powerful Laser - Zeus Michigan (U-M), Ann Arbor. Funded with $16 million from the National Science Foundation, this new Laser machine opens a new path for basic and applied experiments and will test a leading theory on how the universe operates at a subatomic level.

The results could lead to advancements in materials science, medicine, and national security. “This new Laser instrument may have maximum peak power inside the U.S may be among the world’s most powerful lasersystems for coming decade,” says Karl Krushelnick, director of the Gérard Mourou Center for Ultrafast Optical Science at U-M, where the laser will be built.

The U.S. built the world’s first petawatt laser in 1996 but has not kept pace with more ambitious systems under construction elsewhere. This includes two 10-petawatt systems in Europe and a 5.3-petawatt laser in China, which also has plans to build a 100-petawatt laser. Zeus will be an upgrade of an existing 0.5-petawatt laser known as Hercules.

The new laser will be a user facility, providing access to extreme laser intensities to scientists and engineers across the country. One of the planned experiments will shoot the laser at a high energy electron beam going the opposite way in order to mimic a much more powerful zettawatt laser. With this capability, the U-M team is most excited concerning the likelihood of searching quantum field theory, the ruling theory of the way the universe operates at the subatomic level. Regarding materials science activities, Zeus could help develop

methods such as improving the detection of nuclear weapons materials in shipping containers and exploring how materials change on very fast timescales.

Umich.edu.

Reference :

ADVANCED MATERIALS & PROCESSES | NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2019 (AMP Digital Edition)

New Form of Carbon Nanotubes called as Buckypaper

noreply@blogger.com (W.A.P.S.Madusanka) — Tue, 03 Dec 2019 15:30:00 +0000

Carbon Nanotubes (buckypaper) for body armors and batteries

Next-generation body armor and batteries could be within reach according to a group of Drexel University engineers who recently presented their work with a sophisticated weave of carbon nanotubes, commonly called buckypaper, in ACS NanoThe researchers, led by Dr. Christopher Li, a professor in Drexel’s Materials Science and Engineering Department, reported the process to fabricate a new form of buckypaper using a nano hybrid structure resembling a shish kebab. In the shish kebab the “skewers” are nanotubes and polymer crystal are the “kebabs” that hold the nanotubes apart. Li demonstrated that the crystals allow researchers to control the pores’ sizes and change the buckypaper’s conductivities, surface roughness and abilities to shed water.“This research shows that we can use this ‘shish-kebab’ instead of the carbon nanotube itself to build a three-dimensional membrane with controlled pore size, so this opens up a playground for using it for electrochemical devices such as batteries,” Li said.

How to form Buckypaper

Standard buckypaper is formed by depositing a very thin layer of entangled carbon nanotubes to create a fiber mat akin to office paper. Li and colleagues note that no existing post-processing method allows researchers to increase the size of the tiny holes, or pores, between the carbon nanotubes after they form the buckypaper. Li’s group looked for a way to do that and to introduce other substances to buckypaper that could make it more useful in electronics or as sensors.
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Au-Ag-Ge solder alloys designed for downhole electronics

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 14 Nov 2019 06:17:00 +0000

We all know that solder in an alloy of copper and zinc, but what is the new trend. Let's look, It's led free

Scientists at National Laboratories (Sandia) in Los Alamos (N.M.), have formulated a

Au-Ag-Ge solder alloys with all the strength to resist the high pressures and temperatures of electronic devices that track gas, oil-well boring and geothermal. It offers a melting selection of 420 to 440°C and is Pb (Lead) free. This alloy system was almost fully categorized throughout a earlier research over ten years ago, it is therefore set for prototyping.

This has primarily designed for neutron pipe elements, the Au-Ag-Ge alloy has all of the right characteristics for down hole solutions. The elements for high temperature micro electronics, for example capacitors and micro processors, are eager for assessment, nowadays. Sadly, electronic packing, such as soldering tech, has negatively impact, due to the fact of the distinctive service providers.

Mostly that is wanting right now is a substrate to solder the electronic circuits on it. When that portion of the challenge was in spot, a latest revolution of high temperature electronic devices can be evolved for the gas, down hole oil and geothermal industries.

Can you identify this corrosion type?

noreply@blogger.com (W.A.P.S.Madusanka) — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 15:30:00 +0000

I have an image of corroded steel plate.I found this from a ship.This is a cargo vessel.So i want to find out the corrosion type of this plate.Not only blisters appear on the surface, there are some areas having pits.Normally we can assume it as a hydrogen blistering.But this plate is not placed in a acidic medium.Is there any possibility for hydrogen blistering without any acidic medium or is this another type of corrosion? can you explain this one.

At the same time i was able to see a ultra sonic testing.Below video present how it was done.Actually we tested same plate as seen in above image.Because of this corrosion plate thickness of the steel plate reduce 11mm to around 9mm,with in 2 years.
This question one is raised by Materials engineering student, Level 2 (Anonymous)

Dog sniffs out stolen metal

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 17:12:00 +0000

A two-year old black Labrador called Jazz was trained by former police officer and dog instructor Mick Swindells to locate SelectaDNA forensic markings on a range of metals including copper, lead, and aluminum. SelectaDNA is being used in many police-backed crime reduction initiatives across the UK and by companies such as Network Rail to protect copper cable from metal theft. Jazz is able to sniff for stolen metal in places like scrap yards, where metal is often piled high and any containing forensic markings is not immediately visible to the human eye.

Mick said: “Jazz is a world-first. She has been trained to sniff out SelectaDNA, which is a unique covert security marker being used by more than three quarters of UK Police forces to track down burglars, robbers, and metal thieves and bring them to justice.”
www.selectadna.co.uk.

Retrieving non ferrous metals from municipal waste

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 06:44:00 +0000

Non ferrous metals are increasingly in demand because of the electronics industry. "They are used in LED’s, computers, smartphones; this is a much bigger business now," says Kate Hornsby, Waste in Social Environment manager at the Technical University Aachen, Germany. Shortages of these metals may occur in Europe. "Even though it is now in abundant supply, copper is listed as a critical metal in Europe because of its technological importance," says Hornsby, who is also the coordinator of an EU-funded metal recycling project called SATURN.

Due to demand, recycling non ferrous metals has become a priority. Besides, the carbon footprint of recycled metal is much smaller than that of metals obtained from ores. For example, recycled aluminium represents an energy saving of 95% compared to aluminium obtained by the processing of bauxite ore.

The problem is that non ferrous metals such as aluminium, copper, bronze, lead, and zinc are not magnetic. Therefore, they have been sorted from waste by hand. Due to labour costs, this work is moving to countries with lower wages. Yet, this created an issue because of the need to keep sourcing these metals from within Europe. What is more, legal requirement to pre-treat solid municipal waste before final disposal put some pressure for locally recycled metals.

This led to the creation, under the project, of a pilot plant in Saltzgitter in Germany, working since 2008 under the company name MeKon. In the plant, new sensor technologies are used to separate out the non ferrous metals from municipal solid waste. Metals are identified easily because they absorb X-rays better than plastic or organic waste. Once an X-ray beam has located the metals, a laser beam checks their colour to separate out different non ferrous metals. The data from corresponding sensors is then fed into a computer controlling air-jets that propel the different metals into separate bins.

This approach proved effective. "We found that the sorted metals coming out of the plant could go straight back to the foundries," Hornby tells youris.com. The factory is now running on its own steam and is extremely profitable, she adds.

"This technology is a necessary innovation--it will move the mixed waste away from landfills and incineration plants into recycling," comments Ross Bartley, Environmental and Technical Director at the European Metal Trade and Recycling Federation Eurometrec in Brussels, Belgium. He also sees this development as an opportunity for European industry to find a market world-wide--"instead of the mixed solid waste, Europe will sell the sorting technology," he adds.

This process could go one step further, according to Peter Boeckx, purchasing director at recycling company Metallo-Chimique in Beerse, Belgium. He sees better sorting methods for metals allowing the development of "urban mining," involving the recycling of untreated waste in old landfills. He concludes: "Copper ore typically contains 0.6 % of the metal. You might find more copper in old garbage dumps."

Source:

http://www.youris.com/Environment/Recycling/Metals_Rush_In_Domestic_Waste.kl

Plastic bottles recycled back into vehicles

noreply@blogger.com (W.A.P.S.Madusanka) — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 16:25:00 +0000

Ford Motor Co., Dearborn, Mich., through the use of REPREVE, plans to divert about 2-million post-consumer plastic bottles from landfills for use in new vehicles beginning with the 2012 Focus Electric—the first vehicle to feature branded REPREVE’s seat fabric made from a hybrid blend of recycled plastic bottles and post-consumer waste.
The Focus Electric contains REPREVE-based fabrics made of about 22 recycled PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles in each car. This is the first Ford vehicle to have an interior made using 100% clean technology. REPREVE seat fabric

is a polyester fiber made of a hybrid blend of recycled materials, including post-industrial
fiber waste and post-consumer waste such as PET water bottles. Using REPREVE also reduces energy consumption by offsetting the need to use newly refined crude oil for production. The technology meets all Ford design and comfort requirements to help ensure

the Focus Electric and other vehicles meet the company’s high performance standards. Currently, Ford vehicles are approximately 90% recyclable at end of life. By using recycled content in its vehicles and ensuring its parts are recyclable, Ford is leading the industry in recycling efforts. www.repreve.com.