Materials news, June 2015

Designing crack-resistant metals

A look at a recent study into the interactions of metal alloys at the nanometer and atomic scales.

Cellulose fibers take off

Strong lightweight carbon fibers made from recycled plant matter could replace glass fibers in high-performance composites used in cars and airplanes.

Celebrating 50 years of publication

New material could transform dentistry

Kamerlingh Onnes Prize 2015: Winner announcement

Self-healing PVC – a leap forward for thermoplastics

The promise of self-healing thermoplastic materials may be one step closer, thanks to recent work from Chinese researchers.

Soft core, hard shell

Scientists have for the first time succeeded in assaying the stability of particles and their distribution within the body.

Frontiers in Polymer Science 2015: success on Lake Garda

Nanoribbons made from grinding nanotubes

Grinding carbon nanotubes to produce graphene nanoribbons.

Artificial skin that mimics squid camouflage

Artificial skin that mimics squid camouflage.

Optimized printing process enables custom organic electronics

Designer electronics out of the printer.

Stretchable conductors using nano-accordion structure

Combining engineering with surface chemistry to precisely control the nano-accordion’s geometry, composition, and its overall material properties.

Strain and buckling in ion-conducting ceramic membranes

Editor of Organic Electronics receives prestigious Spinoza Prize

2014 Elsevier Distinguished Lecture

Watch a video on Interstitial Flow in the Hierarchical Pore Space Architecture of Bone Tissue.

Flexible PRAM could rattle wearable gadgets

Low-power PRAM flexible memory for wearable electronics.

Following the arc of carbon light sources

Graphene filaments used to make tuneable on-chip light source.

Tunable adhesion for a "gecko-like grip"

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania are developing a new kind of gripper.

New energy-absorbing structure to better withstand impact

Researchers have developed a groundbreaking new energy-absorbing structure.

Elsevier announces two new reference modules

Food Scientists and materials scientists and engineers gain new source of up-to-date, trustworthy reference content.

Journal of Energy Storage: First articles now available

Genuine molecular drawing package

Quick draw molecules can create outlines of simple shapes, templating, edge detection

Rolling, rolling, rolling: harvesting friction from car tires

A potential way to harvest some of the ‘lost’ frictional energy from rolling car tyres has been proposed by scientists.

Ultrasensitive nanomechanical biosensor

Ultracompact highly sensitive sensor for analyzing the chemical composition.

Photographic exposure, live at the nanoscale

Advanced method opens up new opportunities for investigation of dynamic processes.

"Nano-raspberries" for fuel cell applications

A fast, simple process for making microscopic clusters of nanoscale particles.

There's the rub

Tuning friction between surfaces and superlubricity.

How perfect materials begin to fail

Researchers have shown how defects first form on the road to failure.

The most accurate quantum thermometer

Top 10 Materials News from May 2015

Elsevier announces the launch of a new journal: Biotribology

Cedric Barroo winner of the 2014 Frans Habraken Best Paper Award

Cedric Barroo (Faculty of Sciences, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium) has won the 2014 Frans Habraken Best Paper Award.

Winners of the 2015 W.H. Zachariasen Award

The 2015 winner of the 2015 W.H. Zachariasen Award award has been announced: John Mauro of Corning, International.

Synthetic fibers improve on strength of spider silk

New synthetic material could be stronger than spider silk.

ESRF designs a new generation of synchrotrons

Novel X-ray lens sharpens view into the nano world

A team led by DESY scientists has designed, fabricated and successfully tested a novel X-ray lens.

'Designer carbon' for improved battery performance

Stanford University scientists have created a new carbon material that significantly boosts the performance of energy-storage technologies.