XEI Scientific Inc., Redwood City, Calif., manufacturer of the popular Evactron De-Contaminator Plasma Cleaning System for electron microscopes and other vacuum chambers, was awarded U.S. patent #US8507879B2 on August 13, 2013, for an improved method and instrumentation for the production of oxygen radicals to be used in the cleaning of high vacuum instruments such as electron microscopes.
Scientists have 3D printed giant titanium bugs in a first for additive manufacturing this week. Minute insects, from the Australian National Insect Collection, were super-sized by up to forty times using a novel 3D scanning system and printed using a state of the art 3D printer. The 3D bugs show new potential for entomologists studying the anatomy of miniscule creatures by enabling them to physically handle the insects and study their features up close.
Alcoa, Cleveland, rolled out the most advanced aluminum wheel alloy in 45 years. The new material opens the door for lighter weight wheels at increased strength with the same corrosion-resistant characteristics as the industry standard, also made by Alcoa. They expect to introduce a new, state-of-the-art wheel featuring the alloy in early 2014. Unveiled at the American Trucking Association Management Conference & Exhibition in Orlando, Fla.
Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, N.Mex., and SRI International, Menlo Park, Calif., an independent research and innovation center, will join forces to explore, test, and evaluate a broad range of hydrogen and natural gas fuel systems and components for transportation applications under a new agreement.
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.
