ASM publishes breaking industry news articles to our web site every day! Below are the top news items of the week; view the full-text articles and more headline news online.

Carbon Aerogel to Generate Hydrogen Fuel for Small Engines
PRNewswire-FirstCall
CDT Systems Inc. has developed a proprietary carbon aerogel material to generate a hydrogen/oxygen mix as a fuel source for small engines. At more than three volts, carbon aerogel electrodes perform electrolysis, or the separation of a hydrogen/oxygen mix from water. The mix may augment and enhance conventional fuels in internal combustion engines, with potential benefits of improved fuel economy and reduced harmful emissions.

Nanoscale Silver: No Silver Lining?
PRNewswire-USNewswire
Widespread use of nanoscale silver will challenge regulatory agencies to balance important potential benefits against the possibility of significant environmental risk, highlighting the need to identify research priorities concerning this emerging technology, according to a new report released by the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies.

Caltech Issued Key Fuel Cell Patent in Europe
PRNewswire-FirstCall
Viaspace Inc. says that a key California Institute of Technology direct-methanol fuel cell patent was granted in Europe for an organic fuel cell, its methods of operation, and its methods of manufacture. The patent, for a fuel cell disposable cartridge, has been licensed from Caltech and the University of Southern California by Viaspace subsidiary, Direct Methanol Fuel Cell Corp.

NASA's Ares I Rocket Passes Review, Reaches Critical Milestone
PRNewswire-USNewswire
NASA has taken a major step toward building the nation's next-generation launch vehicle with the successful completion of the Ares I rocket preliminary design review. Starting in 2015, the Ares I rocket will launch the Orion crew exploration vehicle, its crew of four to six astronauts, and small cargo payloads to the International Space Station. The rocket also will fly for missions to explore the moon and beyond in the coming decades.


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Callaway Golf FT-iQ Driver
The Callaway Fusion Technology FT-iQ golf club incorporates an ultralight carbon composite chassis; a titanium hyperbolic face cup, aerospace grade aluminum sole and tail, dense metal alloy weights, and thermoplastic urethane – all precisely positioned to increase stability on off-center hits and generate the straightest drives possible. For more details and photos, visit
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Fusion for Energy and the European Commission, Japan Atomic Energy Agency, and the International Thermonuclear Reactor (ITER) organization, have successfully tested a prototype superconductor for the ITER poloidal field coils. Made of Nb-Ti, the superconductor coils reached stable operation at 52 kA in a magnetic field of 6.4 Tesla. Poloidal field coils will maintain the plasma equilibrium and shape inside the ITER Tokamak reactor.
Learn more.

University of California Berkeley researchers are continuing their march toward creating a synthetic, gecko-like adhesive, one sticky step at a time. Their latest milestone is the first adhesive that cleans itself without the need for water or chemicals, much like the remarkable hairs found on the gecko lizard's toes.
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Materials for Medical Devices Database update has just been released!

The update includes:

• Information on Specific Forms and Conditions, including Stress-Strain Curves:
•Orthopaedic Module update, with over 400 specific device records with links to full-text FDA documents.
•Cardiovascular Module: A completely new device category of Intra-Aortic Balloons has been added to the database, and populated with new general device information and schematics for all 145 specific devices listed by the FDA, including direct links to full-text FDA documents for every record.

This latest version of the database features all the new PMA and 510(k) approvals up to August 2008, in both the Orthopaedic and Cardiovascular modules, fully integrated for ease of searching, and linked to materials and supplier data.
See all the new changes.

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NEWS OF THE INDUSTRY Metals, Polymers, Ceramics Test/Characterization Process Technology Emerging Technology Global Business Energy Trends

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Armored Fish Survives 96 Million Years

Scientists seeking to protect the soldier of the future can learn a lot from a relic of the past, according to an MIT study of a primitive fish that could point to more effective ways of designing human body armor. The fish’s individual armored scales are comprised of multiple material layers—each of them about 100 microns thick. High-tech nanotech methods measured the properties through the thickness of one individual fish scale —about 500 microns thick—and its four different layers. The different materials, the geometry and thickness of each layer, the sequence of the layers, and the junctions between layers all contribute to an efficient design that helps the fish survive a penetrating attack such as a bullet. For lots more details and photos, click here.

Materials: What Dreams are Made of

“You and I are just passing through history,” the rival archaeologist tells Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark. “This IS history.”

You don’t have to be Indiana Jones to realize that materials help to define us. It’s how we know about past civilizations, from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age to the Iron Age. And centuries from now, the materials that we have created and applied will speak eloquently about the challenges we faced, the technological advances we achieved, and the progress we made as a society.

By participating in Materials Science & Engineering 2008, ASM members and the members of our partnering societies help to accelerate technological progress, to make today’s products more successful, to make tomorrow’s products possible. In short, to make history.

To learn more, click here.

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Technical Program
MS&T’08 addresses eight diverse themes to cover the breadth of materials science and engineering.

• ELECTRONIC and MAGNETIC MATERIALS
• ENVIRONMENTAL AND ENERGY ISSUES
• FUNDAMENTALS and CHARACTERIZATION
• IRON AND STEEL
• MATERIALS AND SYSTEMS
• NANOTECHNOLOGY
• PROCESSING and PRODUCT MANUFACTURING
• SPECIAL TOPICS

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The technical conference and exposition brings together worldwide experts and promotes the technical and practical engineering of shape memory and superelastic alloys. Learn more.

There’s a better way to control distortion and stress. Our heat treating experts will show you how. Learn more.

ASM-Indian Institute of Metals Seeks 2009 Visiting Lecturers

Qualified lecturers:
• Are ASM members who visit India
• Have experience with delivering technical presentations of interest to government, industrial or academic organizations
• Can lecture on current technological conditions in India
• Will be available between April 1 and December 31, 2009
• Have definite travel plans to and from India using own funds

Award carries with it an $800 honorarium to be used for travel expenses within India during their visit and a certificate of recognition to be presented at the ASM Leadership Awards Luncheon scheduled for October 2009 in Pittsburgh, PA during MS&T’09.

Deadline for application is February 1, 2009. For more information, contact Carole Chesla at 440/338-5151 ext. 5330

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Elements of Metallurgy and Engineering Alloys

This practical reference provides thorough and systematic coverage on both basic metallurgy and the practical engineering aspects of metallic material selection and application. Coverage includes:

•Practical information on the engineering properties and applications of steels, cast irons, nonferrous alloys, and metal matrix composites.

•Concise overviews and practical implications of metallic structure, imperfections, deformation, and phase transformations

•Process metallurgy of solidification and casting, recovery, recrystallization and grain growth, precipitation hardening, mechanical deformation during processing and in-service properties of fatigue, fracture, and creep.

•Physical properties and corrosion

To see the Table of Contents and read a sample chapter, click here.

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Senior Level Advisor for Materials Science and Engineering Mechanics
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Rockville, Md.

In this vital advisory position in the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, you will have broad responsibility in the areas of materials science, engineering mechanics, and related issues. You will provide authoritative technical and scientific advice and analysis to senior agency management on a wide-spectrum of complex scientific and engineering issues related to materials science and engineering mechanics in operating nuclear power plants. For more information, visit
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Visit the ASM Career Center.

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