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Manufacturing & Prototyping

Micro-Composite Fabrication via Field-Aided Laminar Composite Processing

Much work has been accomplished since the discovery that particles in a dielectric fluid experience forces when placed in an electric field, including mathematical...

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Application Briefs
RF & Microwave Electronics

Microwave Radiometers Help Keep Aircraft Safe From Icing

One of the greatest dangers to aircraft — playing a role in numerous destructive and fatal accidents around the world — comes in the form of droplets of water. In clean air, cloud...

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Application Briefs
Defense

Fluorosilicones

A broad operating temperature range, fuel resistance and long-term reliability are some of the unique properties of fluorosilicones that make them useful in aerospace applications. To demonstrate their effectiveness, NuSil...

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Briefs
Manufacturing & Prototyping

Fabrication of Carbon Nanotube Channels on Three- Dimensional Building Blocks

Single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) are the most attractive material in the fields of nanoscience and nanotechnology due to their chemical, physical, and electrical...

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Briefs
Materials

Nonlinear Acoustic Metamaterials for Sound Attenuation Applications

An acoustic crystal composed of tightly packed spherical particles can exhibit a wide spectrum of acoustic properties with responses varying from linear to highly nonlinear...

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Briefs
Sensors/Data Acquisition

Acoustic Detection Using Reverberation

Acoustic detection of undersea objects is difficult due to the uncertain environment and even more difficult when the objects are buried in the seabed. First, sediments generate high backscattering noise due to heterogeneous scatters within the sediments, clouding the object.

Application Briefs
Defense

Gas Turbine Exhaust Recovery Design Improves Propulsion Efficiency

In January, Concepts NREC (CN) was awarded a Phase I Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) grant from the Navy to improve the power efficiency of its gas turbine prime...

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Briefs
Materials

Fundamental Interaction Between Gold Nanoparticles and DNA

Quantum dots (QDs) and nanoparticles (NPs) are made of metal and/or semiconductor materials with diameters ranging from 5 to 100 nm. The properties of these nanomaterials, which depend on their size and the material they are made from, are usually completely different than the properties of...

Briefs
Mechanical & Fluid Systems

Nozzles for Focusing Aerosol Particles

Several nozzles have been designed to aerodynamically focus aerosol particles into a small-diameter jet, so that individual particles can be illuminated by a laser beam and their light scattering and/or laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) spectra can be measured. An additional nozzle can aerodynamically puff...

Briefs
Physical Sciences

Novel Active Transient Cooling Systems

Energy-efficient cooling technology is extremely important in today’s society, considering the need for energy conservation and the urgent need to mitigate global warming. Near-room-temperature magnetic...

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Briefs
Physical Sciences

MALDI-MSI Imaging of Latent Fingerprints

For years, forensic scientists have been seeking new methods to improve existing techniques for the visualization of latent fingerprints. The structured combination of optical methods (diffused reflection, luminescence, UV absorption and reflection), physical methods (powdering, vacuum metal deposition,...

Briefs
Mechanical & Fluid Systems

Membrane Pump for Synthetic Muscle Actuation

A synthetic muscle has been developed that uses inflatable balloons to produce a tensile force from a positive pressurization. Mechanical supply and ducting is used to provide the required pressurization. However, the mechanical supply and ducting that is currently used is limited in several respects. To...

Briefs
Materials

Templated Synthesis of Aluminum Nanoparticles for Stable Energetic Materials

Reactive nanoparticles as energetic materials have received much recent attention for a variety of existing and/or potential applications. Among more extensively...

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Briefs
Electronics & Computers

Low-Power Circuit for an Electromagnetic Warning System Sensor

Low-power sensors are important to the Army for monitoring infrastructure of the lifecycle of an operation. Isotope batteries can power and operate compact, low-power sensors for...

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Briefs
Physical Sciences

Modular, Portable, and Reconfigurable Wireless Sensing System

A modular, portable, reconfigurable wireless sensor system monitors and records environmental conditions in an aircraft cabin. By designing a sensor system that can be easily...

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Briefs
Materials

Performance Evaluation of Commercial Carbon Monofluoride Materials in Lithium Batteries

The performance of six different commercially available carbon monofluoride (CFx) materials was evaluated at four different discharge rates. The physical...

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Briefs
Materials

Validation of Hazardous Air Pollutant (HAP)-Free Torque Seal Inspection Lacquer

The Army uses numerous adhesives and sealants, among other coating materials, that contain significant amounts of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs). This work...

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Briefs
Mechanical & Fluid Systems

Water Mist System for Shipboard Machinery Space Fires

Water mist has been determined to be a preferred alternative to Halon 1301 total flooding to extinguish fires occurring in ship machinery spaces and pump rooms, because it is toxicologically...

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Briefs
Electronics & Computers

High-Voltage, High-Temperature Power Electronics Capacitor

A novel high-temperature, high-voltage power electronics capacitor incorporates materials of construction and electrical components that have been initially designed as a segment of an...

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Briefs
Materials

Testing Silver-Coated Nylon Fibers as Electrical Conductors

Tests have been performed in an effort to gain understanding of electrical and mechanical properties of silver-coated nylon fibers subjected to stresses and strains and exposed to...

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Briefs
Medical

NO-Generating Coats for Subcutaneous Glucose Sensors

In a research program now in progress, polymeric materials that catalyze the generation of nitric oxide (NO) at low concentrations are being developed and tested for utility as coatings on...

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Briefs
Physical Sciences

Mixing and Combustion in Turbulent, High-Speed Flows

A collection of reports presents a detailed description of a research program that focused on fundamental investigations of mixing and combustion in turbulent subsonic and supersonic flows like those encountered in high-speed air-breathing aircraft engines. The research included close...

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Photonics/Optics

Kinetic Modeling of Laser-Induced D-T Fusion

A computational- simulation study was performed to assess the feasibility of laser-induced fusion of deuterium nuclei with tritium nuclei as a means of generating neutrons for use in neutron...

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Briefs
Materials

Less-Polluting Resins for Molding Composite Structures

Liquid resins that are suitable for use in molding composite- material structural panels and that contain and emit smaller amounts of air-polluting volatile organic compounds than do...

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Briefs
Manufacturing & Prototyping

Progress Toward Carbon-Nanotube Arrays for Probing Cells

Progress has been reported in research oriented toward the goal of fabricating arrays of interconnected single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) that could serve as probes for measuring...

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Briefs
Materials

High-Strain-Rate Tests of Epoxy/Aluminum-Powder Composites

Initial tests have been performed in a continuing experimental study to determine selected mechanical properties, at high strain rates, of an epoxy and of composite materials consisting...

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Briefs
Photonics/Optics

Terahertz Fiber-Optic Lasers for Detection of Explosives

Fiber-optic lasers of a proposed type would serve as sources of coherent radiation at frequencies between 0.5 and 4.0 THz and output power levels ≥100 mW. In the original application...

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Briefs
Physical Sciences

AFRL’s Demonstration and Science Experiments Mission

A document describes the Air Force Research Laboratory's Demonstration and Science Experiments (DSX) mission, dedicated to research needed to advance the ability to operate spacecraft in the harsh radiation environment of medium earth orbit (MEO). The DSX spacecraft, to be launched in late 2009...

Briefs
Materials

Nanoparticle AlxMoyOz/Al Thermites

Research on the microstructures, chemical compositions, and reactivities of thermites that consist of or contain mixtures of MoO3 and Al particles has led to development of a process for making thermites that...

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