Topological insulators have been of great interest to physicists in recent years because of unusual properties that may provide insights into quantum physics.
Continue readingPredicting new forms of insulating materials
Batteries as they are meant to be seen
In the search for long-lasting, inexpensive rechargeable batteries, researchers develop more realistic methods to study the materials in action.
Continue readingISTFA 2013 Tools of the Trade: RKD/Left Coast Instruments
The history and process of dual acid decapsulation. This includes basic decapsulation techniques and the correct use of electrostatically dissipative tweezers and proper grounding relative to the Elite Etch Cu ESD decpasulation equipment.
Continue readingASM International Celebrates 100 Years of History and Looks to Define Century Ahead
Nearly 400 Gather in Montreal, Quebec, Canada for Oct. 27 Gala Celebration ASM International, Materials Park, Ohio, commemorated its 100th anniversary with a celebratory gala on Oct. 27 in Montreal, Canada. Nearly 400 guests, including ASM members, past-presidents, dignitaries and valued partners from around the world, came together to celebrate the society’s impact on material science and look ahead to the next century.
Continue readingCorrosion module software provides simplified operation
Olympus Corp., Japan, introduced new Corrosion Module software available with the portable EPOCH 600 Ultrasonic Flaw Detector. The module is designed for the growing population of inspectors that require both flaw detection and corrosion measurement solutions as standard application offerings. This optional software provides simplified instrument operation for basic corrosion applications, requiring less set up time and more efficient data collection.
Continue readingFlame-sprayed silver protects 40-ton generator rotor
RFI Screening Ltd., England, has selected Metallisation MK61 Flamespray equipment from Metallisation Ltd., England, to metal spray a 40-metric-ton generator rotor with fine silver. It was first sprayed with a 25-micron coating of molybdenum, to optimize the adhesion of the top coat of silver. A final coating of silver was then added to achieve the specified outside diameter on the shaft. In a typical application, a coating 250 microns thick of silver would be sprayed.
Continue readingMPIF sponsors Additive Manufacturing conference
The Metal Powder Industries Federation (MPIF), Princeton, N.J., announces the inaugural conference on Additive Manufacturing with Powder Metallurgy (AMPM), May 18-20, 2014, at the Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel, Orlando, Florida. This specialized conference will be co-located with the PM2014 World Congress on Powder Metallurgy & Particulate Materials and the Tungsten, Refractory & Hardmaterials Conference, which will all be taking place under one roof in Orlando.
Continue readingRubig opens first facility in the United States
Rubig Group, Austria, announces that it opened its first facility in the United States on July 19, in Rockford, Ill. The facility is a service center for furnace maintenance and troubleshooting, and provides support for application engineering in the field of heat treatment. It will also include plasma surface treatment equipment, and will offer sales, service, and spare parts focused on the aviation industry.
Continue readingHydraulic press is energy efficient and accurate
Hydraulic press is energy efficient and accurate A new 3500 ton molding machine will allow EVCO Plastics, Deforest, Wis., a leading custom plastics manufacturer, to provide customers with increased efficiency to further advance its large-part production capabilities and provide greater cost savings. The new 3500 ton Engel press is up and running at EVCO’s Oshkosh, Wis., plant, with production orders in the queue.
Continue readingIpsen’s first Titan Temper vacuum furnace delivered to Hansen-Balk
Ipsen USA, Cherry Valley, Ill., announces that Hansen-Balk Steel Treating has purchased Ipsen’s first Titan Temper vacuum furnace. It was designed as a dedicated batch furnace for tempering, aging, annealing, and stress relieving, and Hansen-Balk’s tool and die applications were factored into the furnace’s testing. The low-temperature furnace incorporates shared data from both companies.
Continue readingIpsen to supply vacuum furnace for additive manufacturing
Ipsen USA, Cherry Valley, Ill., has been selected by ExOne, North Huntingdon, Pa., to provide vacuum furnaces for additive manufacturing production. ExOne is a global provider of three-dimensional printing machines and printed products. Its goal is to simplify the purchasing process for 3D printers by offering a complete printer-furnace package.
Continue readingOlympus OmniScan SX phased-array portable flaw detector is smaller and lighter
Olympus America Inc., Center Valley, Pa., introduces the OmniScan SX, which is 33% lighter and 50% smaller than its predecessor. Featuring an easy-to-read 8.4-in. touch screen, the single group OmniScan SX provides a cost-effective solution for linear zero-degree inspections, such as corrosion mapping and composite inspection. It also enables weld inspection using one phased array group or one TOFD channel. The OmniScan SX comes in two models: the SX PA and SX UT.
Continue readingAir Products acquires EPCO Carbon Dioxide Products
Air Products, Lehigh Valley, Pa., has acquired EPCO Carbon Dioxide Products Inc., a privately-held producer and marketer of liquid carbon dioxide headquartered in Monroe, Louisiana. The acquisition also includes Louisiana Leasing, Ltd. of Illinois, an affiliated company that owns liquid CO2 distribution assets that are solely leased to EPCO.
Continue readingDisorder creates rust protection
A material’s nanostructure is decisive in determining how resistant it is against corrosion Corrosion eats away 75 billion euros of economic output annually in Germany alone. But it may soon be possible to better assess which steels and other alloys will be affected, and how to limit the damage: An international team led by scientists from the Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung GmbH in Düsseldorf analyzed an amorphous steel comprising iron, chromium, molybdenum, boron, and carbon.
Continue readingSamsung mass-producing 4-gigabit DDR4 devices via 20 nm-class process technology
Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Japan, is now mass-producing 4-gigabit (Gb) advanced DDR4 memory, for enterprise servers in next-generation data centers. Early market availability of the devices, which use 20 nm-class process technology, will facilitate demand for 16- and 32-gigabyte memory modules. This compares to conventional DRAM of which 8 gigabyte modules using a 30nm-class process technology are still commonplace.
Continue readingCentury Aluminum acquires Sebree smelter
Century Aluminum Co., Chicago Ill., announces that its wholly owned subsidiary has completed the transaction with Rio Tinto Alcan Inc. to acquire substantially all of the assets of the Sebree aluminum smelter. The Sebree smelter, located in Henderson County, Kentucky, has an annual production capacity of 205,000 metric tons of primary aluminum. Century Aluminum Company owns primary aluminum capacity in the United States and Iceland.
Continue readingCeramic converter tackles solar cell problem
Coating a solar cell component in ceramics makes it more heat resistant, which could boost overall efficiency of the cells, say researchers. The component converts heat from the sun into infrared light, which can be absorbed by solar cells to make electricity-a technology known as thermophotovoltaics. Unlike earlier prototypes that fell apart before temperatures reached 2200°F (1200°C), the new thermal emitter remains stable at temperatures as high as 2500°F (1400°C).
Continue readingSRC to help establish Center of Excellence for Energy Efficient Electronic Systems in Abu Dhabi
The Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC), Research Triangle Park, N.C.; and the Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC), Abu Dhabi, have launched the ATIC-SRC Center of Excellence for Energy Efficient Electronic Systems (ACE4S). ATIC will dedicate over $4.7 million to the project over the next three years, which will be matched collectively by Masdar Institute and Khalifa University for a total budget of more than $9 million.
Continue readingGreenCentre Canada spins off company to commercialize atomic layer metal deposition for interconnects
GreenCentre Canada, Kingston, Ontario, has recently incorporated its third spinoff company, Precision Molecular Design Corp., to commercialize a metal deposition technology that allows manufacturers to generate circuit interconnects in successive layers one atom at a time. This will allow the semiconductor industry to develop the next generation of smaller microchips that can be produced with less waste and lower power consumption.
Continue readingResistive memory based on zinc-oxide/silicon has higher speed, greater storage capacity
A team at the University of California, Riverside, has developed a novel way to build a zinc oxide nano-island on silicon. It eliminates the need for a second element called a selector, which is often a diode. The device is based on the principles of resistive memory, which can be used to create memory cells that are smaller, operate at a higher speed, and offer more storage capacity than flash memory cells, the current industry standard.
Continue readingThallium-doped bismuth telluride topological insulator could enable advanced electronics
The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, reports that its researchers have developed a thallium-doped bismuth telluride topological insulator, a material that conducts electricity on its surface, but not in its interior. With their new approach, the researchers can tweak the properties of the bulk of their material from a so-called “p-type” semiconductor, which conducts electricity because of a deficiency of electrons, to an “n-type,” which conducts because of an excess of electrons.
Continue readingSeco/Warwick to deliver vacuum carburizing furnace line to ThyssenKrupp
Seco/Warwick Corp., Meadville, Pa., has received an order for a CaseMaster Evolution vacuum carburizing furnace line that includes a washer/tempering unit, loaders, and line control system with single load tracking. The system is dedicated to the treatment of automotive steering system components. The contract was signed in August 2013 with ThyssenKrupp Presta de Mexico S.A. de CV, and the turnkey production cell will be delivered in the second quarter of 2014.
Continue readingSupport for women in STEM
Women now make up nearly half the workforce, yet only 23% of workers in STEM-related jobs are women. A way to combat this trend is to find support from peers in a formalized way.
Continue readingSUSS MicroTec and Sematech partner to develop substrate and blank cleaning technologies
SUSS MicroTec, Sunnyvale, Calif., and Sematech announce that SUSS MicroTec’s photomask equipment division has partnered with Sematech to investigate and develop extreme ultraviolet lithography substrate and blank cleaning technologies that will accelerate process availability for extreme ultraviolet pilot line manufacturing.
Continue readingTin-silver plating chemistry designed for lead-free solder bump plating
Dow Electronic Materials, Marlborough, Mass., announces availability of its Solderon BP TS 6000 tin-silver plating chemistry for lead-free solder bump plating applications. In copper pillar capping applications, it forms a smooth, micro-void free interface post reflow. It features enhanced plating performance, bath stability, and ease of use, thereby enabling the industry’s widest process window with the most robust process flexibility and a competitive cost of ownership.
Continue readingShape-memory polymer repeatedly reverses deformation
Researchers from the Institute of Biomaterial Science of the Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht, Germany, have developed shape-memory polymers that can repeatedly change from one shape to another and then back again when temperatures fluctuate within a selected range. This enables their use as actuators. Until now, polymers with temperature-controlled shape memory could change form only once.
Continue readingWater graphite to ‘grow’ better batteries
Materials made from graphite, such as lithium-ion batteries, dislike water-or so researchers have assumed for decades. But a team of engineers from the University of Pittsburgh show that those materials are actually intrinsically attracted to water, or “hydrophilic.” It appears that past samples of graphite were likely contaminated by air, causing the samples to appear hydrophobic, according to the study.
Continue readingPolymers replace platinum in fuel cells
A new type of polymer membrane could replace expensive platinum in alkaline batteries and fuel cells. “We have tried to break this paradigm of tradeoffs in materials (by improving) both the stability and the conductivity of this membrane at the same time, and that is what we were able to do with this unique polymeric materials design,” says Michael Hickner, associate professor of materials science and engineering at Penn State University, University Park.
Continue readingVolume rendering on mobile devices
Bruker microCT (Kontich, Belgium) introduces a newly developed volume rendering application for mobile devices operating under iOS, such as iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. It is now available as a free download on the App Store. Any 3D results obtained using SkyScan scanners can be sent to a mobile device for realistic visualization by real-time volume rendering with the possibility of 3D object manipulation, virtual cut, adjustments of object’s opacity and colors, etc.
Continue readingNIST and ASM International to Collaborate on Structural Materials Data Demonstration Project
The NIST Material Measurement Laboratory, Gaithersburg, Md., and ASM International, Materials Park, Ohio, through its Computational Materials Data Network, formed a collaboration: the Structural Materials Data Demonstration Project. The project will establish a data repository focused on metallic structural materials, leveraging the overlapping interests and strengths of the two organizations.
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