Manufacturing

Video: Inside traditional ceramic industries of the early 20th century

By Lisa McDonald / March 6, 2024

Recognizing the impact of ceramic products on society can be difficult due to the ceramic industry’s somewhat hidden nature. But two recent projects are helping bring the history of traditional ceramic industries to light through glass slides and laser-engraved bricks.

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Tiny tubes and far away stars—large metalens images the night sky

By Guest Contributor / March 5, 2024

Researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences developed a method for creating 100-millimeter-diameter metalenses. Scaling up metalenses to this size makes applications in astronomy and free-space optical communications possible.

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Ultraviolet light-sensitive tape allows for easier and less damaging transfer of 2D materials

By Lisa McDonald / February 16, 2024

Researchers in Japan showed that adhesive tape, though not the answer to mass graphene production, may be an ideal solution for mass transfer of 2D materials.

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Rinse and repeat: Water replaces toxic chemicals in printed electronics processing

By Lisa McDonald / February 9, 2024

Printable electronic inks and their associated print processes tend to rely on environmentally hazardous chemicals, which offsets the benefits of printed electronics in application. Engineers at Duke University developed a water-only printing process for fabricating printed electronics.

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Purifying nanomaterials in bulk: New acid etching method rids boron nitride nanotubes of impurities

By Lisa McDonald / January 23, 2024

Ensuring quality of nanomaterials can be difficult when producing in bulk. Rice University researchers developed a new wet-thermal etching method that can result in mass yields of up to 29% purified boron nitride nanotubes.

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Expanding possibilities in materials and processing at 84th Conference on Glass Problems

By Lisa McDonald / November 15, 2023

The 84th Conference on Glass Problems welcomed almost 400 attendees to Columbus, Ohio, from Nov. 6–8, 2023. The conference featured numerous talks highlighting ways to improve the efficiency of the glass production process, from raw materials selection to flue gas cleanup.

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Finding strength in community—researchers publish freely available data for analyzing ball-on-three-balls strength tests

By Lisa McDonald / November 14, 2023

Until now, values for the effective volume and effective surface of ball-on-three-balls test samples were only available for a small range of geometries and materials. But a new open-access paper, courtesy of researchers from the University of Leoben in Austria, provides tabulated data for a wide range of sample geometries and materials.

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Video: Hydrogen trials show promise at glassmaking plants

By Lisa McDonald / November 1, 2023

In recent years, several glass companies have started experimenting with replacing natural gas with hydrogen in glass production. The results from these tests are promising.

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Intricate sintering: Exploring the combined effect of multiple oxide inclusions on zirconia toughened alumina

By Lisa McDonald / October 17, 2023

Several oxides are routinely used as sintering aids in the fabrication of zirconia toughened alumina. While the individual effects of these oxides are well recorded, the effect of multiple oxide inclusions is unclear. Researchers from several institutions in Bangladesh investigated the combined effect of these oxides on the zirconia toughened alumina system.

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Compliant combustion: Nanocoating offers new way to control ‘runaway’ thermal reactions

By Lisa McDonald / September 8, 2023

Current methods for controlling “runaway” thermal reactions such as combustion and pyrolysis remain rather rudimentary. Researchers led by North Carolina State University developed a new nanocoating that, when applied to a material before combustion, allows for the reaction rate and direction of ignition propagation to be controlled.

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