Component Management

The European adhesives and sealants market accounts for 35% of the global adhesives market. Here Peter Crossen, VP of the Maintenance and Partsmaster Innovation platform of global water, energy and maintenance solutions provider NCH Europe, explores the recent developments in super structural adhesives that are paving the way for better joining methods. The global adhesives market is worth over €13.4bn and growing at four per cent per y...

  Some novel materials that sound too good to be true turn out to be true and good. An emergent class of semiconductors, which could affordably light up our future with nuanced colors emanating from lasers, lamps, and even window glass, could be the latest example. These materials are very radiant, easy to process from solution, and energy-efficient.

Electrolube has frequently been approached regarding the prospect of an optically clear, flame retardant resin. As the demand for LED encapsulation ever increases, particularly for hazardous areas, Electrolube has developed the long-awaited new UR5641 encapsulation resin. Technically, UR5641 almost defies convention and is very different from other resins that claim to be flame retardant and transparent.

Carbodeon and Tiamet 3D have announced the first nanodiamond-enhanced filaments for 3D printing. The Carbodeon/Tiamet 3D filaments are based on a jointly-patented technology which significantly improves the mechanical and thermal properties of 3D printed items. “By joining forces we’ve already developed filaments with a 100% increase in tensile strength, improved printability, and better thermal properties,” said Mr Re...

The aircraft industry has forecast that over 35,000 new aircraft will be required within the next 20 years. Meeting this kind of escalating demand clearly calls for new approaches and new technologies. As a consequence, thermoplastic composites are expected to play an increasingly important role in accelerating future aircraft construction – a major theme of JEC World 2018, last week in Paris/France.

Scientists are exploiting the unique properties of bacteria to help develop a self-healing system for buildings and historic structures. Based at Cardiff University, the team have set out to produce a system that can be simply applied to building stone and masonry to give it self-healing properties. Once applied, the team state that any sort of damage to the stone will trigger the release of bacteria and a range of ‘helper’ chemi...

An engineering physics professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison has created new materials that behave in an unusual way that defies the standard theory engineers use for designing things like buildings, airplanes, bridges and electronic devices. It’s an advance that could open the door to designing novel materials for applications that require high toughness — for example, airplane wings that are more fracture-resis...

Global silicon-based technology provider, Dow Performance Silicones, has introduced DOWSIL CC-3122 conformal coating, a solvent-free silicone formulation offering supposedly excellent protection of printed circuit boards (PCBs) targeting transportation, aerospace, consumer and industrial applications.

The latest advance in a new type of optics aimed at improving microscopy started with a game of tennis three years ago. Unwinding after a long day of research in their respective labs, Mooseok Jang (PhD '16) and Yu Horie (who will receive his PhD in June 2018)—at the time, both graduate students at Caltech—met up for a game of tennis at Caltech's Braun Athletic Center courts.

Here are the results of a practical laboratory exercise for undergraduate students, taken from: 'Teaching EMC using an EMC demonstration unit', a paper submitted for the 2018 APEMC/IEEE symposium in Singapore.