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Materials

Strong and Stretchable “Super Steel”

In aerospace applications of materials, increasing strength often leads to a decrease in ductility. Engineers have developed a Super Steel that addresses this strength-ductility tradeoff. In addition...

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Articles
Manufacturing & Prototyping

Verifying Structural Integrity of 3D Metal-Printed Parts

Interest in 3D printing is remaking the manufacturing landscape. Consulting firm IDC says global spending on 3D printers, both desktop and industrial, hit about $11 billion in 2015 and...

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INSIDER
Materials

Army Explores 3-D Printing's Future Applications

A soldier heads back to camp, grabs a power bar and unloads his gear. The power bar, which was "printed" minutes earlier, contains all the nutrients his body currently needs, according to...

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INSIDER
Materials

Lattice Structure Absorbs Propeller Vibrations

Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a lattice structure capable of absorbing a wide range of vibrations while also being useful as a load-bearing component in propellers, rotors, and...

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INSIDER
Materials

Lightweight, Strong Metal Could Make Airplanes More Energy Efficient

Researchers have created a lightweight, but very strong, structural metal made of magnesium because it is a light metal with two-thirds the density of aluminum, is...

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INSIDER
Materials

New Methods Detect and Predict Fatigue-Related Aircraft Cracks

Researchers are developing tools and technology to detect the formation of cracks in aircraft components and monitor their progression. The team is conducting comprehensive...

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INSIDER
Manufacturing & Prototyping

NASA 3D Printing Technique Creates Metal Spacecraft Parts

Researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory are implementing a printing process that transitions from one metal or alloy to another in a single object. JPL scientists have been...

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News
Design

Cornell Wins Iron Team Award as Baja SAE Series Concludes (Video)

Each year, SAE International sponsors the Collegiate Design Series (CDS), a series of competitions around the country where teams of student engineers are given a chance to...

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Products
Materials

Copper Foam

Copper foam from Goodfellow (Oakdale, PA) combines the thermal conductivity of copper with the structural benefits of a metal foam. The matrix of cells and ligaments is repeatable, regular, and uniform throughout the material,...

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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
Electronics & Computers

Gallium Nitride High-Power Electronics

Gallium nitride (GaN) high-power electronic (HPE) devices have the potential to outperform those made from 4H-silicon carbide (SiC), the polytype used for HPE devices, because it has a larger critical...

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Briefs
Materials

Room-Temperature Sub-Diffraction-Limited Plasmon Laser

Lasers present the means to deliver powerful, coherent, and directional high-frequency electromagnetic energy. However, the diffraction limit of light imposes fundamental constraints on how...

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Briefs
Materials

Outdoor Synthetic Aperture Acoustic Ground Target Measurements

A novel outdoor synthetic aperture acoustic (SAA) system consists of a microphone and loudspeaker traveling along a 6.3-meter rail system. This is an extension of a prior indoor...

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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

Textile Capacitor

The Air Force (AF) is evolving from a Cold War-era force with a large, containment- focused infrastructure to a smaller, more responsive and affordable Air and Space Expeditionary Force. In support of this transformation, AFRL...

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Briefs
Materials

Nonchromated Treatment for Aluminum Surfaces

AFRL scientists and engineers recently completed development of a nonchromated treatment for aluminum aircraft surfaces and structures. The new treatment method is the result of a collaborative...

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Briefs
Materials

Strain-Induced Porosity Model

AFRL scientists developed advanced computer models to improve the processing and quality of titanium alloys used in manufacturing gas turbine engine parts and critical structural components for military aircraft....

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Briefs
Materials

Super-High-Strength Aluminum Alloy

AFRL researchers developed a super-high-strength aluminum alloy that engineers can use to improve the capability and performance of aerospace components—cryogenic rocket engine components, in particular....

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Briefs
Materials

Monazite Deformation Twinning Research

AFRL scientists have significantly advanced the understanding of a phenomenon called deformation twinning, a major materials deformation mechanism that is particularly important at low temperatures and...

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