Nature creates layered materials like bone and mother-of-pearl that become less sensitive to defects as they grow. Now researchers have created, using biomimetic proteins patterned on squid ring teeth, composite layered 2D materials that are resistant to breaking and extremely stretchable.
“Researchers rarely reported this interface property for the bone and nacre because it was difficult to measure experimentally,” said
Researchers have created a new glass-ceramic that emits light in response to mechanical stress, a property known as mechanoluminescence. With further development, the new material could be used to create a light source that is switched on by mechanical stress. This could be useful for monitoring stress in artificial joints in the body or providing warnings of dangerous stress or … Read More
Firing bricks and making mortar and cement is very costly, but organic chemists at Flinders University are working on more sustainable alternatives — focusing on building materials made from waste products.
In another move into the circular economy, researchers from the Flinders Chalker Lab have used low-cost feedstocks to make lightweight but durable polymer building blocks which can be bonded
Scientists at the University of Virginia School of Medicine and their collaborators have used DNA to overcome a nearly insurmountable obstacle to engineer materials that would revolutionize electronics.
One possible outcome of such engineered materials could be superconductors, which have zero electrical resistance, allowing electrons to flow unimpeded. That means that they don’t lose energy and don’t create heat, unlike
Accurate, continuous monitoring of nitrogen dioxide and other gases in humid environments is now possible, thanks to a new water-resistant gas sensor developed by Huanyu “Larry” Cheng, the James L. Henderson Jr. Memorial Associate Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics, and his team.
The sensor detects nitrogen dioxide in breath, the concentration of which may indicate potential pulmonary diseases, or
A team of researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the Georgia Institute of Technology has 3D printed a dual-phase, nanostructured high-entropy alloy that exceeds the strength and ductility of other state-of-the-art additively manufactured materials, which could lead to higher-performance components for applications in aerospace, medicine, energy and transportation. The work, led by Wen Chen, assistant professor of mechanical … Read More
