Microstructure

Glass materials are widely used in optical and optoelectronic devices due to their low cost and excellent mechanical and optical properties. Among them, glass concave/convex linear structures with feature sizes ranging from several micrometers to hundreds of micrometers find intensive applications.

Barium strontium aluminum silicate (BaxSr1−xAl2Si2O8, BSAS) ceramics possess both phase stability and resistance to water vapor corrosion, making them ideal materials for radome technology and electronic packaging. To address the low tolerance of BSAS ceramics to damage and defects, the introduction of nano-reinforcements is an effective approach to enhance their strength and toughness.

Chinese and US scientists unveil the world's strongest 3D-printed titanium alloy, boasting a 106% increase in tensile fatigue strength, revolutionizing aerospace applications.

Current lithium-ion battery technology does not have the energy density necessary to meet the demands for renewable energy. In theory, lithium-sulfur batteries could be a viable alternative with a higher specific capacity and energy density. However, sulfur has disadvantages that currently limit its practical adoption.

MIT engineers developed a way to quickly test metamaterial architectures and their resilience to supersonic impacts. They plan to use it to identify new metamaterial designs that could form the basis for stronger and lighter protective gear, garments, coatings, and paneling.

Ferritic/martensitic steels and austenitic steels are the primary candidate materials for advanced nuclear energy systems. The corrosion resistance of the materials is one of the factors that ensures the safe service of key components. Since the corrosion resistance of materials is highly related to the characteristics of the formed oxide films, it is crucial to investigate the oxide films of candidate materials in…

Carbon nanotube (CNT) hybrid composites were formed by combining a CNT and silicone elastomer solution with Kevlar yarn, Kevlar fabric, and Kevlar veil materials. The integration of a CNT-silicone matrix with Kevlar yarn and fabric materials produced a composite with moderate electrical and thermal conductivity due to CNT fabric combined with the strength of Kevlar fabric or yarn. In the material synthesis, a…

Our ongoing endeavor to venture into outer space demands substantial technological advances across various fields, including materials science. Materials used in the aerospace industry must be lightweight yet mechanically resistant, a combination that is difficult to achieve. Fortunately, metal matrix composites have come a long way since their inception in the twentieth century, and many experts believe that they…

A research team has developed a new platform to study and control the atomic-level structure of high-entropy alloys' surfaces. They found that platinum high-entropy alloys outperformed platinum-cobalt alloys in oxygen reduction reaction. These findings have broad applicability, and the team plans to

Magnesium diboride (MgB2) is a low-cost, non-toxic superconductor used in field magnets, electric motors, and generators. However, producing nanoscale boron (B) particles to fabricate MgB2 is expensive. Researchers recently tackled this issue by using high-energy ultra-sonication in 2-propanol, a highly viscous solvent, to produce impurity-free, nm-sized B particles. The approach is cost-effective and enables…

The authors develop a new oxide-dispersion-strengthened NiCoCr-based alloy using a model-driven alloy design approach and laser-based additive manufacturing, showing how such designs can provide superior compositions using far fewer resources than previous methods.

Publishing in the International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing , researchers from Harbin Institute of Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Guizhou University and Ruhr-University Bochum present a brief review on the application of numerical simulations in addressing the impact of properties and microstructures of workpiece materials on the diamond cutting mechanisms of different types of…

Advanced high strength steel and ultra high strength steel are becoming a popular material in the world of auto manufacturing because their attributes and

In a new report now published in Science Advances, Mingze Sun and a research team in physics, mechanical engineering, electrical and electronic engineering in Hong Kong China reported the development of multifunctional tendon-mimetic hydrogels by assembling aramid nanofiber composites.

Carbon nanotubes are a novel material that is 100 times stronger than steel while only one-fourth its weight and has electrical conductivity as high as that of copper. If fibers could be made using carbon nanotubes, theoretically, these fibers could surpass the performance of existing carbon fibers, making carbon-nanotube-based fibers a novel material of interest in the aerospace, military, and mobility industries.…

Researchers have used a novel 3D printing technique to create a new superalloy with "previously unobtainable combinations of high strength, low weight and high-temperature resiliency" – and they say the implications in aerospace and energy are huge.

Researchers embarked on a multidisciplinary project to determine how cavitation bubbles within micro- or nano-structures could mitigate surface erosion and enhance the efficiency in microfluidic mixing devices, often used to quickly and effectively mix multiple samples.

A new way to 3D-print metals makes the materials stronger and more resilient in extreme thermal environments. The technique could lead to 3D printed high-performance blades and vanes for gas turbines and jet engines, which would enable improved fuel consumption and energy efficiency.

Carbon catalysis is an attractive metal-free catalytic transformation, and its performance is significantly dependent on the number of accessible active sites. However, owing to the inherent stability of the C–C linkage, only limited active sites at the edge defects of the basal plane can be obtained even after a harsh oxidation treatment. Therefore, to promote the development of carbocatalysis, it is highly…

One of the challenges of realizing smart dust concepts, as well as nano- and microrobotics in general, is a lack of equally small on-chip power sources for ubiquitous anytime anywhere operation. Now, researchers have created an on-chip micro-Swiss-roll battery by using a self-assembly process known as micro-origami. The batteries are 3 mm in length and about 178 micros in diameter and the self-assembly mechanism…