Zoom in on a crystal and you will find an ordered array of atoms, evenly spaced like the windows on the Empire State Building. But zoom in on a piece of glass, and the picture looks a bit messier—more like a random pile ...
Condensed Matter
May 30, 2017
4
3483
Polymers are used for myriad applications today, and perhaps the most important property that dictates which polymer is chosen for a given application is its "glass transition temperature." Many industrial polymers possess ...
Condensed Matter
Mar 21, 2017
0
13
Over time, when a metallic glass is put under stress, its atoms will shift, slide and ultimately form bands that leave the material more prone to breaking. Rice University scientists have developed new computational methods ...
Condensed Matter
Jan 16, 2017
1
545
Water has many unusual properties, such as its solid form, ice, being able to float in liquid water, and they get weirder below its freezing point. Supercooled water—below freezing but still a liquid—is notoriously difficult ...
Condensed Matter
Dec 13, 2016
0
354
Simple cements are everywhere in construction, but researchers want to create novel construction materials to build smarter infrastructure. The cement known as mayenite is one smart material—it can be turned from an insulator ...
Condensed Matter
Aug 29, 2016
0
916
Polylactic acid, or PLA, is a biodegradable polymer commonly used to make a variety of products from disposable cups to medical implants to drug delivery systems. A team of Brown University researchers has shown that by treating ...
Polymers
Jul 25, 2016
0
12
While glass might be thought of in terms of holding wine or as a window, the stability of glass affects areas as diverse as nuclear waste storage, pharmaceuticals, and ice cream. Recently, chemical physicists at Pacific Northwest ...
Condensed Matter
Mar 18, 2016
0
1345
The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) Chemistry Division and Technology Transfer Office announce today the signing of licensing agreements for the commercial manufacturing of an NRL-developed PEEK-like phthalonitrile (PN) ...
Materials Science
May 6, 2015
1
20
Most of us have seen dramatic photographs of laptops and even cars that have burst into flames due to failures in lithium-ion batteries. On a much larger scale, battery fires grounded Boeing's 787 Dreamliner jets for several ...
Nanophysics
Apr 3, 2015
0
49
Flexible substances that can withstand high temperatures are much sought after for various industrial and engineering applications. Types of glass made from oxides are hard at room temperature and fracture easily, but scientists ...
Materials Science
Dec 3, 2014
0
0
