Understanding nanoscale gaps, hidden structures below dark side of moon, and other materials stories that may be of interest for August 24, 2023.
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Glass block walls can be a desirable way to maximize natural light exposure in a building, but their thermal properties do not allow for the best energy efficiency. Researchers at Empa, the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology designed aerogel-filled glass bricks that are translucent as well as thermally insulating and strong.
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Using additive manufacturing to repair objects in difficult-to-access locations, such as at the top of tall buildings, is not convenient because the 3D-printing equipment cannot be transported there easily. An international team of researchers developed a swarm of cooperative, 3D-printing drones that can print materials for building or repairing structures while flying.
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Thermionic emission in graphene, perfect corners in architectural glass, and other materials stories that may be of interest for October 9, 2019.
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What causes explosive spalling of concrete? Researchers from Empa, the University of Grenoble, and the Institut Laue-Langevin performed neutron tomography on exploding concrete cubes to find out.
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Transforming waste heat into clean energy, watching concrete explode, and other materials stories that may be of interest for May 8, 2019.
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Researchers at Empa, the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, have developed better insulating building materials called “Aerobricks”—bricks with internal cavities filled with aerogel granules.
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Researchers at Colorado School of Mines have now propelled that continual innovation even further with their latest report on a new ceramic material and production technique that holds big promise for our fuel cell-filled futures.
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You may not have to pine for the luxe life much longer—researchers at Switzerland’s Empa research institute are aiming to bring ceramic brakes to the masses with an option that can be installed on compact cars.
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Though not used widely in the construction industry, shape memory alloys could potentially be used to pre-stress the concrete beams that shore up bridges—and a team from Switzerland’s Empa research lab is hoping to help them live up to that potential.
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