Modeling & Simulation

Harnessing strain to self-assemble nanocomposite superconductor films

By Eileen De Guire / November 26, 2012

Spontaneous self-assembly of a multication nanophase in another multication matrix phase is a promising bottom-up approach to fabricate novel, nanocomposite structures for a range of applications. An ORNL team reports…

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Making a better invisibility cloak

By Eileen De Guire / November 16, 2012

Graduate student, Nathan Landry, seen holding his invisibility cloak made of fiberglass and copper strips. Credit: Duke University. Editor’s note—The generation that grew up reading the Harry Potter septology, grew…

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‘Cloning’ could make structurally pure nanotubes for nanoelectronics

By Eileen De Guire / November 16, 2012

In this computer model, small, pre-selected nanotube “seeds” (yellow) are grown to long nanotubes of the same twist or “chirality” in a high-temperature gas of small carbon compounds. Credit: Courtesy…

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$20M in public-private advanced manufacturing grants announced

By / October 16, 2012

Credit: NIST. Readers may recall that the Obama administration’s Material Genome Initiative is actually just a piece of the broader Advanced Manufacturing Partnership initiative. Several days ago, we reported how…

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Meaningful hand-waving: Purdue group demos design tool that tracks hand motions to create shapes

By Eileen De Guire / October 16, 2012

Purdue doctoral student, Vinayak, demonstrates Handy-Potter to create a three-dimensional object. He is represented by a stick figure in the orthogonal rendering of his hand motions. Credit: Purdue University. One…

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NSF to fund $12M for first ‘designing materials’ DMREF awards in support of MGI

By / October 12, 2012

In support of the federal Materials Genome Initiative, the NSF has just announced the first projects to receive funding awards under a new “materials by design” initiative, which goes by…

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A tale of two nitrides: Corrosion and damage protection coatings for tool steels

By Eileen De Guire / October 8, 2012

Schematic illustrations of micro-sized pores (structural defects) in (a) CrN- and (b) TiSiN-coated steels immersed in a corrosive solution. Micro-sized particles also exist in both types of coatings, in this…

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The science of ‘ings’: ARO seeking proposals to accelerate manufacturing process science

By / October 7, 2012

From the Army Research Office, Materials Science Division: A major opportunity to enable efficient manufacturing of advanced materials lies in the discovery and critical understanding of the fundamental physical laws…

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The discovery of carbon fibers and the practical side of phase diagrams

By Eileen De Guire / September 26, 2012

A carbon fiber propped against a human hair. Was their “discovery” an accident? Credit: Wikimedia Commons. Have you ever wondered how carbon fibers were discovered? It turns out the guy…

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Other materials science stories that may be of interest

By / September 18, 2012

Check ’em out: The CVD system coats solar panel substrates in the cycle. Credit: Fraunhofer IST. New processes for cost-efficient solar cell production The photovoltaic industry is pinning its hopes…

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