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INSIDER
Materials

New Technique Could Improve Detection of Concealed Nuclear Materials

Researchers have demonstrated proof of concept for a novel low-energy nuclear reaction imaging technique designed to detect the presence of “special nuclear materials”...

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INSIDER
Aerospace

Royal Navy Uses Pilotless Aircraft to Navigate Through Ice

A tiny pilotless aircraft, built by the University of Southampton, launched from the Royal Navy’s ice patrol ship HMS Protector for the first time to assist with navigating...

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INSIDER
Defense

Army Scientists Synthesize High-Performing Energetic Material

Scientists at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory recently synthesized a new material called bis-isoxazole tetranitrate, or BITN, with potential applications in propulsion and...

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INSIDER
Aerospace

New Material Eliminates the Need for Aircraft Deicers

Scientists have developed a liquid-like substance that can make aircraft wings and other surfaces so slippery that ice cannot adhere. The slick substance is secreted from a film on the...

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INSIDER
Test & Measurement

Material Sniffs Out Fuel Leaks and Fuel-Based Explosives

Alkane fuel is a key ingredient in combustible material such as airplane fuel. Yet it’s difficult to detect and there are no portable scanners available that can sniff out the...

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Articles
Aerospace

Turbine Flow Meters: Technology-of-Choice for Measuring Critical Fluid Flow Applications

The aerospace industry has some of the most difficult operating conditions imaginable. Sensors of all kinds used in this industry must stand up to the...

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Articles
Materials

Managing the Impact of Nanomaterials in Aerospace Manufacturing

As the aerospace industry continues to make improvements to safety, comfort and affordability of aircraft, nanomaterials are making their way into more elements of aircraft...

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INSIDER
Materials

Flexible Skin Traps Radar Waves and Cloaks Objects

Iowa State University engineers developed a new flexible, stretchable, and tunable metamaterial skin that uses rows of small, liquid-metal devices to cloak an object from the sharp eyes of...

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INSIDER
Materials

Graphene Composite Could Keep Wings Ice-Free

A thin coating of graphene nanoribbons in epoxy developed at Rice University has proven effective at melting ice on a helicopter blade. The lab melted centimeter-thick ice from a static...

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INSIDER
Defense

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
Mechanical & Fluid Systems

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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Briefs
Materials

Reactive, Multifunctional, Micellar, Composite Nanoparticles for Destruction of Bio-Agents

Multifunctional composites have been investigated for destruction of bio-agents. These materials’ unique properties at the nano scale, including their...

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Briefs
Defense

Quantitative Diagnostics of Multilayered Composite Structures with Ultrasonic Guided Waves

Aging infrastructure has a major impact on safety, increasing the need to assess damage severity. Machinery, systems, and components such as airplanes,...

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Briefs
Defense

Advanced, Single-Polymer, Nanofiber-Reinforced Composite

A strategic goal of the U.S. Air Force is to be able to deliver munitions to targets anywhere around the globe in less than an hour. This will require very high speeds and novel lightweight and temperature-resistant materials. Nanocomposites are promising emerging materials for structural and...

Briefs
Photonics/Optics

Structural Composites with Tuned EM Chirality

Work on structural composites with tunable chiral elements has produced electronically tunable overall chiral composites, mechanically tunable chiral composites, flat lenses with soft hyperbolic...

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INSIDER
Materials

Army’s “Robo-Raven” UAV Flies with Flapping Wings

In the future, it's possible that some unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) might sport wings that flap like a bird or a butterfly. The Army Research Lab has been testing such a UAV, known as...

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INSIDER
Software

Tool Nondestructively Characterizes Structural Materials as they Deform

Materials scientists are busy developing advanced materials, while also working to squeeze every bit of performance out of existing materials. This is particularly true...

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Technology Update
Manufacturing & Prototyping

High-Strength Aluminum Powder Developed for Additive Manufacturing in Aerospace, Automotive

Metal laser melting has made a successful leap from rapid prototyping to an approved manufacturing technology, and the method is increasingly becoming...

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Briefs
Materials

Thermal Response of Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE) Materials in a Flash Flame Test

Testing was performed on Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE) fabric and composite material in a flash flame environment when...

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INSIDER
Materials

NASA Tests Aircraft Wing Coatings that Slough Bug Guts

Bug guts create drag, and drag increases fuel consumption. But aircraft of the future could be made more fuel-efficient with non-stick coatings NASA recently tested on Boeing’s...

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Technology Update
Manufacturing & Prototyping

Altair Optimizes 3D-Printed Structures for Complex, Lightweight Designs

Altair expects to better support the use of additive manufacturing (AM), or 3D printing, by releasing new OptiStruct solver capabilities for topology optimization. The...

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Products
Materials

Titanium/Composites Brazing

Morgan Advanced Materials (Windsor, UK) announced that it now has the capability to braze carbon fiber, ceramics, composites, or other engineered materials directly to a titanium honeycomb. Carbon fiber and other...

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Products
Defense

Silicon Carbide Foam

Silicon carbide (SiC) foam from Goodfellow (Coraopolis, PA) provides the exceptional hardness, high-temperature durability and performance of solid silicon carbide, but in a lightweight foam structure. The matrix of cells...

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Articles
Defense

Dry Drilling Composites Using Carbon Dioxide Cooling

The ground vehicle and aerospace industries use carbonfiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP) because it is more durable and lighter than other materials. CFRP is used in components such as aircraft...

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Technology Report
Green Design & Manufacturing

Brunel Pursues Ultrasound for ‘Greener’ Production of Aluminum Alloys

Treating molten metal with ultrasound is cleaner and more efficient than using argon rotary degassing to produce high-quality castings, according to scientists at...

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Products
Electronics & Computers

Embedded Switch Fabrics

Mercury Systems, Inc. (Chelmsford, MA) has announced its Micro Via Radial Interconnect (MVRI) technology. MVRI improves OpenVPX™ switch fabric interconnect data rates by increasing the signal integrity margin...

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Technology Update
Defense

Toho Tenax Develops 'Super-Heat-Resistant' Prepreg for Engine Apps

Toho Tenax Co., Ltd. announced Nov. 6 that it has developed a new prepreg — a carbon-fiber sheet pre-impregnated with matrix resin — that offers super-high-heat and...

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Articles
Defense

Unlocking the Power of Ceramic Matrix Composites

Faster, lighter, stronger, hotter – words anyone working on military product development is all too used to hearing. In a world where advanced computer modeling and simulation packages are...

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Articles
Test & Measurement

Advancing the Use of Beryllium Bearing Materials for Unmanned Platforms

Aerospace and defense platforms are often regarded as the earliest adopters of new materials and processes technologies. Materials test programs provide validations of...

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