Materials

Polymers

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Green Design & Manufacturing

Altair Honors Innovations in Automotive Lightweighting and Sustainability

General Motors engineers opted for a battery structure comprised entirely of high-performance polymeric materials for the 2024 Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray’s hybrid...

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Articles
Materials

Developing Safer Batteries with Solid-State Polymer Electrolytes

A 100 percent solid-state, high-performance polymer electrolyte addresses issues with liquid electrolytes for safer battery cell designs. Read this article to learn more.

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Products
Power

New Products

See the new products, including Nexperia's latest Energy Balance Calculator, StoreDot's new I-BEAM XFCTM concept, Bourns Inc.'s latest miniature resettable thermal cutoff device series, Rohde & Schwarz's wireless battery management system technology, Weidmuller USA's rugged battery connectors, Littelfuse Inc.'s overtemperature detection platform, and more.

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Articles
Manufacturing & Prototyping

Aitiip Integrates Freeform Injection Molding to Lower Weight and Reduce Production Costs

Aitiip is a leading Spanish research and development institute and serves companies in the aeronautics, automation, industrial, and packaging sectors. The institute possesses strong platforms for the characterization of materials and processes and is known as a powerful integrator of technologies, which is constantly on the lookout for the next transformative technology.

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Briefs
Aerospace

‘Nanostitches’ Enable Lighter and Tougher Composite Materials

To save on fuel and reduce aircraft emissions, engineers are looking to build lighter, stronger airplanes out of advanced composites. These engineered materials are made from high-performance fibers that are embedded in polymer sheets. The sheets can be stacked and pressed into one multilayered material and made into extremely lightweight and durable structures.

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Articles
Manufacturing & Prototyping

Aerospace Production: Overcoming Challenges in Composite Machining

Composite materials play an important role in aerospace manufacturing. The light weight, durability and ability to create complex shapes from molds make these materials ideal for frames and structural components that enable lighter, more fuel-efficient aircraft.

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Briefs
Energy

Cobalt-Free Batteries Could Power EVs of the Future

Many electric vehicles are powered by batteries that contain cobalt — a metal that carries high financial, environmental, and social costs. MIT researchers have now designed a battery material that could offer a more sustainable way to power electric cars. The new lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery includes a cathode based on organic materials, instead of cobalt or nickel (another metal often used in Li-ion batteries).

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INSIDER
Materials

US Companies Advance DoD Investment in Rare Earth Materials Supply Chain

Since 2020, the Department of Defense (DoD) has invested $400 million into U.S.-based companies to expand the domestic supply chain for rare earth materials needed...

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INSIDER
Materials

A Computational Method for Creating New Ceramics with Transition Metals

Extraordinarily rugged with a melting temperature of several thousand degrees Fahrenheit. That describes the results of research into new ceramic materials sponsored...

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INSIDER
Manufacturing & Prototyping

Army Launches $50 Million Advanced Manufacturing Initiative for Aviation and Weapon Systems

The U.S. Army has awarded a $50 million three-year research project to Auburn University to understand how new manufacturing materials and...

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Articles
Materials

Unlocking the Potential of 3D-Printed Polymers in Aerospace and Defense

As we look ahead, it’s evident that the aerospace and defense industries are at the forefront of leveraging the potential of additive manufacturing. They are the main reason for the advent of high-performance polymers in AM.

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Articles
Test & Measurement

Ensure Aerospace Composite Quality with Force Measurement, Material Testing

Force measurement and material testing is an essential process for product designers and manufacturers to ensure part integrity, and to gain insightful data for creating the highest quality composite components.

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Briefs
Materials

New Gel Polymer Electrolyte to Revolutionize the Safety of Li-ion Batteries

A collaborative research team has achieved a groundbreaking milestone in battery technology. Their remarkable achievement in developing a non-flammable gel polymer electrolyte is set to revolutionize the safety of Li-ion batteries by mitigating the risks of thermal runaway and fire incidents.

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Products
Energy

New Products

See the new products this month, including Motor Stator Busbars for EVs; high-power, liquid-cooled configurable power solution; a compact, automated battery cycler and test system; and more.

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Briefs
Materials

Towards Sustainable Recycling of Epoxy-Based Polymers: Approaches and Challenges of Epoxy Biodegradation

Epoxy polymers are widely used in various industries. However, the disposal of epoxy polymers and composites thereof has become a significant concern due to their recalcitrant nature and the adverse environmental effects caused by traditional recycling methods.

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Briefs
Materials

Composite Repair Engineering Case Studies for U.S. Army Aerostructures

As technologies develop, aircraft mature, and strides are made in advanced materials development and analysis, aircraft have increased use of advanced composites within the aerostructure. These advanced materials are now being used in highly loaded structures, including aerodynamic profiles.

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Briefs
Materials

Modeling and Experimenting with 2D Materials for CMOS Type Devices and Digital Integrated Circuits

Two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides have been proposed as novel optoelectronic materials for space applications due to their relatively light weight. MoS2 has been shown to have excellent semiconducting and photonic properties. Here, we report the effect of gamma irradiation on the structural and optical properties of a monolayer of MoS2.

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Articles
Materials

Battle for the Box

Whether you call them packs, boxes, or trays, the structures that envelop and protect EV battery cells and their supporting electrical and thermal-management hardware are among the industry's top subsystem priorities.

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Briefs
Materials

New Polymer Coating Could Boost EV Batteries

Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have developed a conductive polymer coating – called HOS-PFM – that could enable longer lasting, more powerful lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles.

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Articles
Materials

Exploring High-Performance Applications for Distributed Transport Property Thermoelectrics

This new, patented distributed transport property technology describes functionally graded materials with spatially varied transport properties.

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News
Power

Engineering Polymers for a Faster-Paced Industry

Engineered polymers are the primary focus of Kara Grasso and her team at DuPont Specialty Products – especially as they apply to introducing the materials to the new wave of start-up...

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News
Photonics/Optics

SAE International Extends Call for Abstracts, Seeks Submissions for AeroTech Conference

Engineering Events staff at SAE International in Warrendale, Pennsylvania, have extended the call for abstracts through September 21 for the...

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INSIDER
Green Design & Manufacturing

NASA to Increase Sustainable Aircraft Manufacturing with HiCAM

One of the aeronautical challenges of the 21st century is finding a way to quickly construct new, sustainable aircraft. Hi-Rate Composite Aircraft Manufacturing (HiCAM), one...

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INSIDER
Aerospace

Unlocking the Digital Potential in Composite Manufacturing

The University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) has worked with the National Composites Centre (NCC), Cranfield University and aerospace engineering...

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News
Materials

Weaving a New Future for Composites

The advantages of composites are rarely debated. Born mostly from aerospace research, incredibly light but strong creations such as carbon fiber have upended mass-to-strength formulas, changing the...

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News
Materials

2019’s Best Automotive Plastics Innovations

The Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) annual Automotive Innovation Awards Competition, now in its 49th year, is considered the “Oscars” for those developing polymer and...

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News
Manned Systems

Air Force Begins 3D Printing Nonstructural Aircraft Parts

The 60th Maintenance Squadron (60th MXS) at Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, California, is the first field unit in the United States Air Force to produce approved...

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News
Software

DENSO and Toyota Form a Joint Venture for Next-Generation Vehicle Semiconductors

DENSO Corporation and Toyota Motor Corporation are teaming up on the research and development (R&D) of in-vehicle semiconductors. The two companies aim to...

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Articles
Materials

Rethinking Aluminum for NVH Abatement

Engineers, abandon those mastics! New “quiet” materials solutions are at hand.

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