Tag Archives: smart materials

The advance in smart material technologies includes the capability of self replication. Studies in this area started in the last decade and exploited the results of Nature: using DNA strings with attached molecules of materials scientists demonstrated the possibility of replication (see the image). Of course the replication instructions to …

In the last ten years there have been several researches focussing on the creation of a sensory system for robots that could be as effective as the one of animals. Animals have a variety of sensorial capabilities, varying in different species. Most species (probably all) have touch sensors embedded in …

I have a digital reflex camera and it is a bulky one. It gets even bulkier when I decide to use a telephoto lens. The reasons are related to the physics of optics. The “bulkiness” of the lens depends on the size of the sensor you have and on the …

Several dictionaries do not list the word “blacker” because black is supposed to be an “absolute” state, you cannot get something that is more black than black. A week ago I reported on the use of Vantablack by BMW to paint their X6 model and showcase it at the Frankfurt …

2. Powder Bed Fusion – Laser fusion Power Bed Fusion based on Laser – SLS Selective Laser Sintering and SLM Selective Laser Melting,,  was invented over 20 years ago by EOS, a German company still on the leading edge in additive manufacturing tools. It is based on the use of …

Back in 2014 I wrote a post commenting on the announcement of the use of carbon nanotube to paint an object in real “black”. Black is the color absorbing all light (visible) wavelengths, but in reality what we usually call black is something that is absorbing quite a bit of …

  9. Self-healing concrete If you place a bunch of stones one over the other it won’t take long to discover that the structure is weak and will collapse at a moment notice. This is no news, our ancestors were familiar with the problem and as far as 8,500 years …

8. Super-trees Think about a tree: it captures solar light and convert it into chemical energy, it capture CO2 from the air absorbing carbon emission. What about the possibility of creating artificial trees that can do the same, better and even more? Just few months ago I took a stroll …

Science and technology has progressed to the point that it is now possible to design materials bottom up, starting from the desired characteristics to create a material with the right atomic and structural composition to deliver them. There are already several “smart” materials that have been created through design and …

It is really nothing new having a material that can accumulate energy and then release it when the environment condition changes. You place your hand over a metallic surface exposed to the Sun and you can feel it gets warmer and warmer; when the Sun sets the heat accumulated is …