ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A team at Sandia National Laboratories developed a molecule that helps change the way some materials react to temperature fluctuations, which makes them more durable. It’s an application that could be used in everything from plastic phone cases to missiles. Polymers, which include various forms of plastics, are made up of many […]
Tag Archives: materials
Sandia work at the heart of next generation nuclear reactor
January 16, 2023 – 5:00 am
LIVERMORE, Calif. — A team of Sandia National Laboratories researchers working on the reactor at the DIII-D National Fusion Facility is testing materials to make the next generation of fusion reactors, in the quest to develop more carbon-free energy sources. These magnetic confinement fusion reactors, called tokamaks, use magnetic fields to shape plasma into a […]
Airplanes to cellphones: New equipment finds the flaws in everything
February 17, 2021 – 5:00 am
LIVERMORE, Calif. — Tim Briggs has built a career at Sandia National Laboratories tearing and breaking things apart with his team of collaborators. Now, he’s developed a fracture-testing tool that could help make everything from aircraft structural frames to cellphones stronger. Briggs has filed a patent for a device associated with bonded structural composite materials […]
Materials’ increased capacity, efficiency could lower the bar for hydrogen technology
October 10, 2019 – 5:00 am
LIVERMORE, Calif. — Hydrogen as a carbon-free energy source could expand into a variety of sectors, including industrial processes, building heat and transportation. Currently, it powers a growing fleet of zero-emission vehicles, including trains in Germany, buses in South Korea, cars in California and forklifts worldwide. These vehicles use a fuel cell to combine hydrogen […]
Asian American conference selects Sandia researcher ‘most promising engineer’
September 24, 2019 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories researcher Stanley Chou was recently selected one of three Most Promising Engineers of the Year at the 2019 Asian American Engineer of the Year Conference in Dallas. The AAEOY Award, first introduced in 2002, honors outstanding Asian American professionals in science and engineering for their technical achievements, leadership and […]
Sandia’s robotic work cell conducts high-throughput testing ‘in an instant’
June 11, 2018 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Today with 3D printing you can make almost anything in a matter of hours. However, making sure that part works reliably takes weeks or even months. Until now. Sandia National Laboratories has designed and built a six-sided work cell, similar to a circular desk, with a commercial robot at its center that […]
Paving the way: Sandia researchers earn top Hispanic science and engineering honors
September 29, 2016 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The technical achievements of two Sandia National Laboratories innovators will be recognized with 2016 Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Awards Conference (HENAAC) Awards from Great Minds in STEM, an organization supporting careers in science, technology, engineering and math. Chemist Bernadette “Bernie” Hernandez-Sanchez won for outstanding technical achievement and is the first woman at Sandia to […]
Supercomputers receive funding to help predict, modify new materials
September 16, 2016 – 12:00 pm
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The Department of Energy (DOE) will invest $16 million over the next four years in supercomputer technology that will accelerate the design of new materials by combining theoretical and experimental efforts to create new validated codes. Sandia National Laboratories researcher Luke Shulenburger will head a team working to improve algorithms that predict […]
Bay Area national labs team to tackle long-standing automotive hydrogen storage challenge
October 8, 2015 – 9:25 am
LIVERMORE, Calif. —Sandia National Laboratories will lead a new tri-lab consortium to address unsolved scientific challenges in the development of viable solid-state materials for storage of hydrogen onboard vehicles. Better onboard hydrogen storage could lead to more reliable and economic hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. “Storing hydrogen on board vehicles is a critical enabling technology for […]
Techniques could create better material, design in high-consequence uses
September 23, 2015 – 1:00 pm
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Imagine a table with sinuous legs resembling the twisting shape of an inverted swamp cypress trunk. Those flowing legs might make the table stronger, better able to handle whatever someone piles on it. Sandia National Laboratories researchers believe such organically shaped designs, achieved through a technology called topology optimization, could enable better […]
Hongyou Fan chosen for prestigious lecture on creating nanomaterials
April 2, 2015 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories researcher Hongyou Fan has been selected by the Materials Research Society (MRS) and the Kavli Foundation to deliver the 2015 Fred Kavli Distinguished Lecture in Nanoscience. Fan is the first lecturer identified with a national laboratory to be so honored. “I am glad that I have an opportunity to […]
The quest for efficiency in thermoelectric nanowires
February 2, 2015 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Efficiency is big in the tiny world of thermoelectric nanowires. Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories say better materials and manufacturing techniques for the nanowires could allow carmakers to harvest power from the heat wasted by exhaust systems or lead to more efficient devices to cool computer chips. Sandia researchers published a paper, […]
Students painlessly measure knee joint fluids in annual Sandia contest
September 26, 2012 – 9:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Texas Tech University repeated last year’s victory in the novel design category of Sandia National Laboratories’ annual competition to design new, extraordinarily tiny devices, while Carnegie Mellon University won the educational microelectromechanical (MEMS) prize for the second year in a row. This year’s contest attracted engineering students from nine universities, nearly double […]
Sandia Labs’ unique approach to materials allows temperature-stable circuits
May 31, 2012 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M — Sandia National Laboratories researcher Steve Dai jokes that his approach to creating materials whose properties won’t degenerate during temperature swings is a lot like cooking — mixing ingredients and fusing them together in an oven. Sandia has developed a unique materials approach to multilayered, ceramic-based, 3-D microelectronics circuits, such as those used […]