News tagged with carbon fibers

Lightweight construction on the way to volume production

Carmakers and airplane manufacturers are very particular when it comes to the weight of their models: the lighter they are, the less fuel they consume - and the less carbon dioxide they blow into the air. ...

Technology / Engineering

created Apr 23, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 2

New process converts polyethylene into carbon fiber

(PhysOrg.com) -- Common material such as polyethylene used in plastic bags could be turned into something far more valuable through a process being developed at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National ...

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Mar 27, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

Tube-shaped solar cells could be woven into clothing

(PhysOrg.com) -- Titania semiconducting nanorods grown on the surface of carbon fibers look more like bristles on a tiny hairbrush than a solar cell, but the novel configuration could have several advantages ...

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Mar 01, 2012 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (8) | comments 8 | with audio podcast feature

In new mass-production technique, robotic insects spring to life

(PhysOrg.com) -- A new technique inspired by elegant pop-up books and origami will soon allow clones of robotic insects to be mass-produced by the sheet.

Technology / Engineering

created Feb 15, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (11) | comments 8 | with audio podcast

Graphene quantum dots: The next big small thing

A Rice University laboratory has found a way to turn common carbon fiber into graphene quantum dots, tiny specks of matter with properties expected to prove useful in electronic, optical and biomedical applications.

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Jan 12, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (7) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Prototype device measures absolute optical power in fiber at nanowatt levels

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated a prototype device capable of absolute measurements of optical power delivered through an optical ...

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Dec 21, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

How do green algae react to carbon nanotubes?

Nanoparticles such as carbon nanotubes (CNT), which are found in an ever-increasing number of products, are ending up more and more frequently in our surroundings. If and how they affect aquatic ecosystems ...

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Nov 04, 2011 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

The green look for EV charging stations

The network of electric-vehicle (EV) charging stations in Germany is still relatively sparse, but their number is growing rapidly. The majority of roadside charging points take the form of steel-clad pillars. ...

Technology / Energy & Green Tech

created Oct 05, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Built like the Dreamliner: 2013 debut of carbon composite cars

The revolutionary material used to build the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, the Airbus A350 super-jumbo jet, and the military's stealth jet fighter planes is coming down to Earth in a new generation of energy-saving automobiles expected ...

Chemistry / Other

created Sep 28, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 2

Robots are coming to aircraft assembly

Up to now, aircraft have been put together in huge assembly cells, but to build the necessary facilities is expensive and time-consuming. That is why Fraunhofer researchers have come up with a flexible assembly-line ...

Technology / Engineering

created Sep 19, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 1

Engineering professor develops 'superlaminate' industrial pipe repair system

A University of Arizona engineering professor may have a solution to a U.S. infrastructure problem that's growing deadlier each year.

Technology / Engineering

created Sep 13, 2011 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (8) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Optofluidics could improve energy applications

(PhysOrg.com) -- The ability to manipulate light and fluids on a single chip, broadly called "optofluidics," has led to such technologies as liquid-crystal displays and liquid-filled optical fibers for fast ...

Physics / Optics & Photonics

created Sep 13, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Improving batteries' energy storage

MIT researchers have found a way to improve the energy density of a type of battery known as lithium-air (or lithium-oxygen) batteries, producing a device that could potentially pack several times more energy ...

Technology / Energy & Green Tech

created Jul 25, 2011 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (15) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

YikeFusion: same design, heavier frame, less expensive

(PhysOrg.com) -- Some of you may be familiar with the YikeBike. For those you who are not familiar with the YikeBike it is a computerized bike that can be folded up and packed away when it is not in use. The ...

Technology / Hi Tech & Innovation

created May 16, 2011 | popularity 3 / 5 (2) | comments 8 | with audio podcast weblog

University of Maryland student engineers to test human-powered helicopter (w/ video)

(PhysOrg.com) -- In a step toward winning the Sikorsky Prize, a team of A. James Clark School of Engineering students will attempt for the first time to test-fly their human-powered helicopter, called Gamera. ...

Technology / Engineering

created May 05, 2011 | popularity 4 / 5 (4) | comments 7 | with audio podcast