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[Image above] Credit: NIST

Advanced composites may borrow designs from deep-sea shrimp

New research is revealing details about how the exoskeleton of a certain type of deep-sea shrimp allows the animal to survive scalding hot waters in hydrothermal vents thousands of feet under water. The researchers probed the interface between two key components of the exoskeletons, chitin and calcite. How these two types of materials—one organic and the other inorganic—behave at their interface is critical to determining how the exoskeleton performs.

Nonmagnetic duo form unique magnet

Titanium and gold are usually not magnetic and cannot be magnets, unless you combine them just so. Scientists at Rice University did so and discovered what is a first of its kind: an itinerant antiferromagnetic metal—TiAu—made from nonmagnetic constituent elements. While the uses for this particular magnet have yet to be determined, the discovery could enhance the scientific understanding of magnetism.

Weyl points, first predicted in 1929, observed for the first time

Part of a 1929 prediction by physicist Hermann Weyl—of a kind of massless particle that features a singular point in its energy spectrum called the “Weyl point”—has finally been confirmed by direct observation for the first time, says an international team of physicists led by researchers at MIT. The finding could lead to new kinds of high-power single-mode lasers and other optical devices, the team says.

UT Arlington aerospace engineer improving advanced composite materials for aircraft

A University of Texas at Arlington professor is collaborating with Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. through a $1.35 million grant to design more durable materials and accelerate their implementation in composite aircraft. Andrew Makeev, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and director of the UT Arlington Advanced Materials and Structures Lab, received the grant to build stronger and more durable composite materials for aircraft.

Simulations lead to design of near-frictionless material

Argonne scientists used Mira to identify and improve a new mechanism for eliminating friction, which fed into the development of a hybrid material that exhibited superlubricity at the macroscale for the first time. Researchers helped enable the groundbreaking simulations by overcoming a performance bottleneck that doubled the speed of the team’s code.

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