Tag: manufacturing
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Safer, Cheaper Ultraviolet PCB Disposal Process Developed
A team of engineers and chemists at University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada devised a new process for cleaning soil contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls or PCBs, cancer-causing chemicals banned in the U.S. since 1979, but with residues still in the environment. The new methods, say Calgary engineering professor Gopal Achari and chemistry professor Cooper Langford,…
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University of Houston Spins-Off Nanotech Coatings Company
A physics professor at University of Houston in Texas started a company to develop and manufacture protective coatings for industrial and consumer goods based on his research in nanotechnology. C-Voltaics, started by Houston physicist Seamus Curran, was awarded last week the Young Technology Award at the Commercialization of Micro- and Nanosystems conference in The Netherlands, according…
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Thin Illuminating Touch-Sensitive Electronic Film Developed
Engineers and materials scientists at University of California in Berkeley created an interactive electronic film with a network of pressure sensors built into flexible plastic. The findings from the lab of Berkeley engineering professor Ali Javey, with colleagues from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, appear online in yesterday’s advance issue of the journal Nature Materials (paid…
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Alternative Solar Cell Developer Adds $10M Venture Funding
Scifiniti, a developer of silicon-based solar materials in San Jose, California secured $10 million in series B venture financing, the second round of funding after initial start-up. Current investors Alloy Ventures, Firelake Capital, I2BF Global Ventures, and Peninsula Ventures took part in the round. The company’s first product is SmartWafer, an alternative photovoltaic solar cell…
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More Feasible CO2 Emission Control Technology Devised
Chemical engineers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology devised a lab-scale process that can more efficiently remove carbon dioxide from fossil-fuel emissions and work more readily with today’s power plants than current technologies. The team led by MIT’s Alan Hatton published its findings online earlier this month in the journal Energy and Environmental Science. Current emission-control…
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3-D Printing, Computer Model Generate Synthetic Bone Matter
Engineers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge and the 3-D printing company Stratasys Ltd. in Billerica, Massachusetts developed a process that translates complex computer-designed models into bone and related organic composite materials with 3-D printing. The team led by MIT engineering professor Markus Buehler published its findings online yesterday in the journal Advanced Functional…
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GE Unveils Two Challenges on 3-D/Additive Manufacturing
General Electric Company is holding two challenges that seek ideas and solutions from the science and engineering communities on three-dimensional printing applied to manufacturing. The company unveiled the competitions yesterday at the 2013 RAPID conference on additive manufacturing — a generic name for industrial 3-D printing — in Pittsburgh. Both challenges have an initial…
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U.K. University to Build Advanced Manufacturing Facility
University of Sheffield in the U.K. says it secured funding for an advanced manufacturing lab to study the needs of the aerospace industry and other high-value manufacturing industries. The £43 million ($US 66.3 million) lab, part of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC), is supported by Boeing — which has its name on the official…
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Inkjet Print Process Devised for Quantum Dot Organic LEDs
Engineers at University of Louisville in Kentucky developed a process for making organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) with quantum dots and applied with inkjet printing, a common manufacturing technology. The findings of the research team led by Louisville engineering professor Delaina Amos will be presented next week at the Optical Society’s Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics…
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Analysis Shows Life-Cycle Impacts of Lithium-Ion Batteries
A cradle-to-grave analysis of lithium-ion batteries, like those used in electric vehicles, shows the batteries have potential adverse impacts on the environment and public health beyond the benefits from their day-to-day use. The study, by consulting firm Abt Associates in Bethesda, Maryland, was conducted for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, with researchers from battery manufacturers,…