metals - MaterialsViews

Aluminum Foam from Scrap

May 9, 2013 By Martin Grolms Leave a Comment

A group of scientists show a low cost route to manufacture high quality aluminum foam.

Filed Under: Engineering materials, Environment, Research Tagged With: Advanced Engineering Materials, aluminum, foam, low cost route, metals, recycling, scrap

Link to the original paper on Wiley Online Library

Zinc could be a “golden” bullet for bioabsorbable stents

May 7, 2013 By MaterialsViews staff Leave a Comment

This series of scanning electron microscope images illustrates the corrosion of zinc wire implanted in rats' arteries at 1.5 months, 3 months, 4.5 months and 6 months. The wires degraded at a rate just below 0.2 millimeters per year -- the "magic" value for bioabsorbable stents -- for the first three months. After that, the corrosion accelerated, so the implant would not remain in the artery for too long. Image: Patrick Bowen.

Some materials dissolve too quickly in the body, and some hang around forever — zinc, however, may be just right.

Filed Under: Healthcare research, Research Tagged With: Advanced Materials, biocompatible materials, metals, Michigan Technological University, stents, zinc

Link to the original paper on Wiley Online Library

Metallic nanostructures control light to a new level

May 3, 2013 By MaterialsViews staff Leave a Comment

Researchers at King’s College London have achieved previously unseen levels of control over the travelling direction of electromagnetic waves in waveguides.

Filed Under: Nano, Photonics, Research Tagged With: circular polarisation, King's College London, metals, nanostructuring, Science, waveguides

Link to the original paper

2D nanocrystals developed for future computing applications

April 25, 2013 By MaterialsViews staff Leave a Comment

Researchers are developing a new type of semiconductor technology, pictured here, for future computers and electronics based on "two-dimensional nanocrystals." The material is layered in sheets less than a nanometer thick that could replace today's silicon transistors. Image: Birck Nanotechnology Center, Purdue University.

Technology is based on metal di-chalogenides, which are emerging as potential candidates to replace current CMOS materials.

Filed Under: Electronics research, Research Tagged With: di-chalogenides, metals, physica status solidi (RLL), Purdue University, semiconductors

Link to the original paper on Wiley Online Library

Shaping catalytic nanoparticles through surface diffusion

April 22, 2013 By MaterialsViews staff Leave a Comment

Controlling the shapes of catalytic nanoparticles made from noble metals such as platinum and palladium may be more complicated than previously thought.

Filed Under: Nano, Research Tagged With: catalysis, Georgia Tech, metals, nanoparticles, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, surface diffusion

Link to the original paper

Increasing SERS enhancement in patterned nanoparticle arrays

February 28, 2013 By MaterialsViews staff Leave a Comment

How to improve efficient focusing of light on the nanoscale by using lithographically patterned metal nanoparticle arrays.

Filed Under: Nano, Photonics, Research Tagged With: Advanced Optical Materials, lithography, metals, nanoparticles, SERS

Link to the original paper on Wiley Online Library

Study reveals extraordinary glass properties

January 9, 2013 By MaterialsViews staff Leave a Comment

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Chicago have found new ways to produce ultrastable glasses, kin to the amber pictured here. Such glasses, which can now be created in the lab of UW-Madison chemistry Professor Mark Ediger using vapor deposition methods, have qualities that could be used to produce new classes of technologically vauable materials.

Computational and laboratory studies have confirmed that technologically valuable ultrastable glasses can be produced in days or hours.

Filed Under: Engineering materials, Healthcare research, Research Tagged With: glass, metals, Nature Materials, pharmaceuticals, University of Chicago, University of Wisconsin-Madison, vapor deposition

Link to the original paper

Battery or Bracelet? Cable-Type Flexible Lithium-Ion Batteries

September 18, 2012 By Angelika Bull 2 Comments

An exceptionally flexible prototype cable-type battery can be used in a variety of shapes towards portable, wearable, and flexible electronics.

Filed Under: Electronics research, Research Tagged With: Advanced Materials, cable-type batteries, flexible electronics, lithium-ion batteries, metals

Link to the original paper on Wiley Online Library

Composite Materials: Reinforcing Metal with Ceramics

February 29, 2012 By Martin Grolms 2 Comments

Combining a ductile metal matrix with brittle ceramic additions leads to new composite materials with superior mechanical properties, which appears to be ideal for structural and crash-absorption applications.

Filed Under: Engineering materials Tagged With: Advanced Materials, composites, metals, steel

Link to the original paper on Wiley Online Library

Rolling Titanium into Scrolls: New Microstructures for Medical Implants

February 10, 2012 By Martin Grolms 1 Comment

Microporous titanium rolled into scrolls

A group of researchers examined a new method for creating 3D micro-architectured Ti structures and found an attractive combination of stiffness, strength, and ductility.

Filed Under: Engineering materials, Healthcare research Tagged With: Advanced Materials, Implants, medical applications, metals, microporous materials, microstructuring, titanium

Link to the original paper on Wiley Online Library