News tagged with metal materials

Fool's gold may prove an unlikely alternative to overexploited catalytic materials

Catalytic materials, which lower the energy barriers for chemical reactions, are used in everything from the commercial production of chemicals to catalytic converters in car engines. However, with current catalytic materials ...

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Feb 10, 2012 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (8) | comments 9 | with audio podcast

Model analyzes shape-memory alloys for use in earthquake-resistant structures

Recent earthquake damage has exposed the vulnerability of existing structures to strong ground movement. At the Georgia Institute of Technology, researchers are analyzing shape-memory alloys for their potential ...

Technology / Engineering

created Feb 09, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New kind of high-temperature photonic crystal could someday power everything from smartphones to spacecraft

A team of MIT researchers has developed a way of making a high-temperature version of a kind of materials called photonic crystals, using metals such as tungsten or tantalum. The new materials — which ...

Physics / Optics & Photonics

created Feb 03, 2012 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (16) | comments 5 | with audio podcast

A new discovery answers an old question

(PhysOrg.com) -- The transition-metal monoxide FeO is an archetypal example of a Mott insulator—a material that should conduct electricity under conventional band theories but becomes an insulator when ...

Physics / Condensed Matter

created Jan 30, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (3) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Method that can validate nuclear collision models benefits IAEA

A novel technique for materials research is unexpectedly also contributing to the nuclear safety efforts of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory scientist Dr. Weilin ...

Physics / General Physics

created Jan 25, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Researchers study why metals fail

(PhysOrg.com) -- The eventual failure of metals, such as the aluminum in ships and airplanes, can often be blamed on breaks, or voids, in the material's atomic lattice. They're at first invisible, only microns in size, but ...

Physics / Condensed Matter

created Jan 24, 2012 | popularity 3 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Particle-free silver ink prints small, high-performance electronics

University of Illinois materials scientists have developed a new reactive silver ink for printing high-performance electronics on ubiquitous, low-cost materials such as flexible plastic, paper or fabric substrates.

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Jan 13, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (10) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Electrochemical dissolution of platinum in an ionic liquid

(PhysOrg.com) -- Precious metals, especially platinum, are important catalytic materials for many chemical reactions. For example, platinum is used in some fuel cells; however, broad commercialization of such ...

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Jan 12, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Berkeley Lab seeks to help US assert scientific leadership in critical materials

A few short decades ago, few could have imagined that the world would be seriously concerned over something called dysprosium. Also known as number 66 on the periodic table, dysprosium was once just another element for chemistry ...

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Jan 11, 2012 | popularity 3 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Strengthening metal alloys would provide energy, environment conservation benefit

(PhysOrg.com) -- Fundamental discoveries in optimizing the performance of light-weight metal alloys have earned recognition for Kiran Solanki, a new ASU engineering faculty member.

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Jan 11, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Metal oxide simulations could help green technology

(PhysOrg.com) -- University of California, Davis, researchers have proposed a radical new way of thinking about the chemical reactions between water and metal oxides, the most common minerals on Earth. Their work appears ...

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Jan 10, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Experiments prove nanoscale metallic conductivity in ferroelectrics

(PhysOrg.com) -- The prospect of electronics at the nanoscale may be even more promising with the first observation of metallic conductance in ferroelectric nanodomains by researchers at Oak Ridge National ...

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Jan 09, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Lubricant in metal-on-metal hip implants found to be graphite, not proteins

A team of engineers and physicians have made a surprising discovery that offers a target for designing new materials for hip implants that are less susceptible to the joint's normal wear and tear.

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Dec 22, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

Monitoring the transformation of silver nanowires into gold nanotubes with in situ transmission X-ray microscopy

(PhysOrg.com) -- A technique for real-time monitoring of the galvanic replacement reaction between silver nanowires and aqueous gold salt solutions using in situ flow-cell transmission X-ray microscopy (TXM) ...

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Dec 21, 2011 | popularity 2 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Self-healing electronics could work longer and reduce waste

When one tiny circuit within an integrated chip cracks or fails, the whole chip – or even the whole device – is a loss. But what if it could fix itself, and fix itself so fast that the user never ...

Technology / Engineering

created Dec 20, 2011 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (7) | comments 7 | with audio podcast