#Material Engineering

[margospiano]

Margo moment - today’s 8h course on all the possible materials for space use

[plethoraworldatlas]

Two insect-like robots, a mini-bug and a water strider may be the smallest, lightest and fastest fully functional micro-robots ever known to be created. Such miniature robots could someday be used for work in areas such as artificial pollination, search and rescue, environmental monitoring, micro-fabrication or robotic-assisted surgery. Reporting on their work in the proceedings of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society's International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, the mini-bug weighs in at eight milligrams while the water strider weighs 55 milligrams. Both can move at about six millimeters a second.

...

Both can move at about six millimeters a second.

"That is fast compared to other micro-robots at this scale although it still lags behind their biological relatives," said Conor Trygstad, a PhD student in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering and lead author on the work.

An ant typically weighs up to five milligrams and can move at almost a meter per second.

The key to the tiny robots is their tiny actuators that make the robots move.

Trygstad used a new fabrication technique to miniaturize the actuator down to less than a milligram, the smallest ever known to have been made.

"The actuators are the smallest and fastest ever developed for micro-robotics," said Néstor O. Pérez-Arancibia, Flaherty Associate Professor in Engineering at WSU's School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering who led the project.

The actuator uses a material called a shape memory alloy that is able to change shapes when it's heated

[cylexplastics]

PTFE Filled Modified Materials: The Key to Enhancing Wear Resistance and Mechanical Strength

In the world of advanced polymer materials, PTFE (Polytetrafluoroethylene) stands out for its exceptional properties. However, when enhanced with filler materials, PTFE transforms into an even more remarkable engineering solution. This article explores how PTFE filled modified materials significantly improve wear resistance and mechanical strength for demanding industrial…

[govindhtech]

MnBi6Te10 Semiconductor: Thinnest Junction For Quantum Tech

Researchers Find the world's thinnest semiconductor junction in quantum material. Unexpected discovery enables ultra-small, energy-efficient circuits.

Electronic properties of MnBi6Te10

The crystal structure of a quantum material spontaneously creates a semiconductor junction, essential to modern electronics. Our connection is 3.3 nanometres thick. It is 25,000 times thinner than paper and one of the thinnest semiconductor junctions.

Small, energy-efficient electronics may result from the surprise discovery. Additionally, it gives critical electron behaviour information in materials for advanced quantum applications.

Pennsylvania State University and the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (UChicago PME) were studying MnBi6Te10, a topological material that allows electricity to flow without resistance.

Researchers hope to use this topological material in ultra-efficient electronics or quantum computers.

Surprise and Experiment

Materials like MnBi6Te10 need evenly distributed and balanced electrons to work. The researchers believed they had achieved this balance by adding antimony to MnBi6Te10. Preliminary electrical tests showed the material was neutral.

The scientists discovered something odd using temporal-and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (trARPES), which uses ultrafast laser pulses to analyse electron distribution and energy levels in real time. Electronics were unevenly placed in the crystal's few-atom-thick repeating layers. Instead, they left certain places with fewer electrons and clumped others. This unequal distribution created tiny, intrinsic electric fields in the material.

Without trying, the material developed one of the thinnest connections ever seen.

In an ideal quantum material, charges should be uniform, says the first author, a PhD student at the University of Chicago PME. This unequal distribution is another helpful phenomenon, although it may not permit quantum applications as anticipated.

Nature's P-N Junction

These little areas were p-n junctions due to electric fields. P-n junctions with internal electric fields make diodes for computers and phones. They spontaneously developed in MnBi6Te10's crystal structure, unlike artificial p-n junctions. Junction thickness was consistently 3.3 nanometres.

Researchers attribute the spontaneous formation of p-n junctions to the addition of antimony to MnBi₆Te₁₀. Modelling suggests that antimony and manganese atoms moving locations in the crystal lattice cause these charge differences and localised electric fields across the material.

Aftereffects on Quantum and Electronic Applications

Its implications are significant. Naturally occurring p-n junctions are light-responsive. It benefits solar cells, LEDs, and spintronics.

Unlike electronics, spintronics stores and alters data using electron spin. This may make spintronic devices faster and more energy-efficient. Spintronics is used in quantum computing, logic gates, data storage, and non-volatile memory.

The result challenges the use of MnBi6Te10 for quantum effects that need a uniform charge distribution or magnetic properties, even while its uneven electron distribution and p-n junctions are desirable for electronic applications. The discovery also allows for material engineering that may achieve quantum engineering uniformity.

Enhancing Material Properties

Instead of three-dimensional crystals, the UChicago PME team is making thin MnBi6Te10 films. This technology may let them control material electrons more precisely. Modifying its characteristics can improve the yield and qualities of small, naturally growing p-n junctions for semiconductor applications or raise the material's quantum features. This project aims to develop technology-specific materials.

The study emphasises the material's potential for high-speed, energy-efficient electronics but admits the need for further development to overcome quantum application limits.

This emphasises the need of fundamental scientific research and transparency. It started with one goal, but a surprise led us in a fascinating new route.

MnBi6Te10 may improve electronic device performance and miniaturisation, however applications and manufacturing viability remain challenges.

Nanoscale published the discovery on April 2, 2025, under the title “Spectroscopic evidence of intra-unit-cell charge redistribution in a charge-neutral magnetic topological insulator”. Project funding came from the National Science Foundation and DOE.

[this-is-me19]

Sharing

AJSJJDKSJD THE QUILTING SHOW MY GMA WANTS TO GO TO HAS A “FREE TICKET FOR UNDER 30s” IM!!!!! that’s SO funny ?? They wanna encourage young ppl SO much to get into quilting

[clarabosswald]

the return of captain poppy space babies >>> the story and the engine

[medicaldevicesindustrynews]

The Automotive Elastomer Market is Led by the APAC Region

The automotive elastomers market was USD 34.6 billion in 2023, and it will power at a compound annual growth rate of 5.7% by the end of this decade, to touch a value of USD 50.6 billion in 2030. The industry is mainly boosted by the growing requirement for novel cars and growing per-capita income. Also, governments’ strict standards and guidelines to reduce pollution levels, surge mileage, and…

[six-demon-bag]

DEATH SHIP (1980) dir. Alvin Rakoff

[mail-me-a-snail]

as someone who was in the mines of "drawing a characters robotic arm from increasingly difficult angles" before, i yearn for those times. so heres my take on blu engie's gunslinger, based on modern prosthetic forearms

its worth noting that, before he cloned himself to create red engie, he had the original gunslinger, ie he was only missing his hand. he decided to upgrade himself not only bc he had the means to, but bc he wanted to differentiate himself from his clone so that he would always be distinctly the original, even if he would be the only one to know that

inspired by vi's hextech gauntlets and ofc, johnny silverhand's arm. i miss drawing johnny every day of my life

[mindblowingscience]

For 200 years, scientists have failed to grow a common mineral in the laboratory under the conditions believed to have formed it naturally. Now, a team of researchers from the University of Michigan and Hokkaido University in Sapporo, Japan have finally succeeded, thanks to a new theory developed from atomic simulations. Their success resolves a long-standing geology mystery called the "Dolomite Problem." Dolomite—a key mineral in the Dolomite mountains in Italy, Niagara Falls, the White Cliffs of Dover and Utah's Hoodoos—is very abundant in rocks older than 100 million years, but nearly absent in younger formations. "If we understand how dolomite grows in nature, we might learn new strategies to promote the crystal growth of modern technological materials," said Wenhao Sun, the Dow Early Career Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at U-M and the corresponding author of the paper published today in Science. The secret to finally growing dolomite in the lab was removing defects in the mineral structure as it grows. When minerals form in water, atoms usually deposit neatly onto an edge of the growing crystal surface. However, the growth edge of dolomite consists of alternating rows of calcium and magnesium.

Continue Reading.

[arachnid-guts]

he lives rent free in my head

[fuckyeahfluiddynamics]

On the Mechanics of Wet Sand

Sand is a critical component of many built environments. As most of us learn (via sand castle), adding just the right amount of water allows sand to be quite strong. But with too little water -- or too much -- sand is prone to collapse. (Video and image credit: Practical Engineering) Read the full article

[a-scary-lack-of-common-sense]

A collection of all my little paper guys + some new Sonic ones I made today

[coochiequeens]

On the 35th anniversary of The École Polytechnique massacre never forget the 14 women who were killed for being women in science

The École Polytechnique massacre (French: tuerie de l'École polytechnique), also known as the Montreal massacre, was an antifeminist mass shooting that occurred on December 6, 1989 at the École Polytechnique de Montréal in Montreal, Quebec. Fourteen women were murdered; another ten women and four men were injured.

Perpetrator Marc Lépine, armed with a legally obtained Ruger Mini-14 semi-automatic rifle and hunting knife, entered a mechanical engineering class at the École Polytechnique. He ordered the women to one side of the classroom, and instructed the men to leave. After claiming that he was "fighting feminism", he shot all nine women in the room, killing six. The shooter then moved through corridors, the cafeteria, and another classroom, specifically targeting women, for just under 20 minutes. He killed eight more women before ending his own life. In total, 14 women were killed, and 14 others were injured.

The massacre is now widely regarded as an anti-feminist attack and representative of wider societal violence against women; the anniversary of the massacre is commemorated as the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women. After the attack, Canadians debated various interpretations of the events, their significance, and the shooter's motives. Other interpretations emphasized the shooter's abuse as a child or suggested that the massacre was the isolated act of a madman, unrelated to larger social issues

The incident led to more stringent gun control laws in Canada, and increased action to end violence against women. It also resulted in changes in emergency services protocols to shootings, including immediate, active intervention by police. These changes were later credited with minimizing casualties during incidents in Montreal and elsewhere. The massacre remained the deadliest mass shooting in Canada until the 2020 Nova Scotia attacks over 30 years later.[4]

Contents

Timeline

Sometime after 4 p.m. on December 6, 1989, Marc Lépine arrived at the building housing the École Polytechnique, an engineering school affiliated with the Université de Montréal, armed with a Ruger Mini-14 rifle and a hunting knife.[5] He had purchased the gun less than a month earlier on November 21 in a Checkmate Sports store in Montreal. He had told the clerk that he was going to use it to hunt small game.[6] He had been in and around the École Polytechnique building at least seven times in the weeks leading up to December 6.[5]

The perpetrator first sat in the office of the registrar on the second floor for a while, where he was seen rummaging through a plastic bag. He did not speak to anyone, even when a staff member asked if she could help him.[2] He then left the office and was seen in other parts of the building before entering a second-floor mechanical engineering class of about sixty students at about 5:10 p.m.[7] After approaching the student giving a presentation, he asked everyone to stop everything and ordered the women and men to opposite sides of the classroom. No one moved at first, believing it to be a joke until he fired a shot into the ceiling.[8][9]

Lépine then separated the nine women from the approximately fifty men and ordered the men to leave.[10][9] He asked the women whether they knew why they were there; instead of replying, a student asked who he was. He answered that he was fighting feminism.[9][11] One of the students, Nathalie Provost, protested that they were women studying engineering, not feminists fighting against men or marching to prove that they were better. He responded by opening fire on the students from left to right, killing six—Hélène Colgan, Nathalie Croteau, Barbara Daigneault, Anne-Marie Lemay, Sonia Pelletier, and Annie St-Arneault—and wounding three others, including Provost.[9][11] Before leaving the room, he wrote the word "shit" twice on a student project.[10]

The gunman continued into the second-floor corridor and wounded three students before entering another room where he twice attempted to shoot a female student. When his weapon failed to fire, he entered the emergency staircase where he was seen reloading his gun. He returned to the room he had just left, but the students had locked the door; he failed to unlock it with three shots fired into the door. Moving along the corridor, he shot at others, wounding one, before moving towards the financial services office, where he shot and killed Maryse Laganière through the window of the door she had just locked.[12][11]

The perpetrator next went down to the first-floor cafeteria, in which about 100 people were gathered. He shot nursing student Barbara Maria Klucznick near the kitchens and wounded another student, and the crowd scattered. Entering an unlocked storage area at the end of the cafeteria, the gunman shot and killed Anne-Marie Edward and Geneviève Bergeron, who were hiding there. He told a male and female student to come out from under a table; they complied and were not shot.[13]: 30 [11]

The shooter then walked up an escalator to the third floor where he shot and wounded one female and two male students in the corridor. He entered another classroom and told the men to "get out", shooting and wounding Maryse Leclair, who was standing on the low platform at the front of the classroom, giving a presentation.[13]: 26–27  He fired on students in the front row and then killed Maud Haviernick and Michèle Richard who were trying to escape the room, while other students dived under their desks.[11][13]: 30–31  The killer moved towards some of the female students, wounding three of them and killing Annie Turcotte. He changed the magazine in his weapon and moved to the front of the class, shooting in all directions. At this point, the wounded Leclair asked for help; the gunman unsheathed his hunting knife and stabbed her three times, killing her. He took off his cap, wrapped his coat around his rifle, exclaimed, "Oh shit", and then killed himself with a shot to the head, 20 minutes after having begun his attack.[14][13]: 31–32  About 60 unfired cartridges remained in the boxes he carried with him.[14][13]: 26–27 

After briefing reporters outside, Montreal Police director of public relations Pierre Leclair entered the building and found his daughter Maryse's stabbed body.[15][16]

The Quebec and Montreal governments declared three days of mourning.[15] A joint funeral for nine of the women was held at Notre-Dame Basilica on December 11, 1989, and was attended by Governor General Jeanne Sauvé, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, Quebec premier Robert Bourassa, and Montreal mayor Jean Doré, along with thousands of other mourners.

The Victims

Geneviève Bergeron (born 1968), civil engineering student

Hélène Colgan (born 1966), mechanical engineering student

Nathalie Croteau (born 1966), mechanical engineering student

Barbara Daigneault (born 1967), mechanical engineering student

Anne-Marie Edward (born 1968), chemical engineering student

Maud Haviernick (born 1960), materials engineering student

Maryse Laganière (born 1964), budget clerk in the École Polytechnique's finance department

Maryse Leclair (born 1966), materials engineering student

Anne-Marie Lemay (born 1967), mechanical engineering student

Sonia Pelletier (born 1961), mechanical engineering student

Michèle Richard (born 1968), materials engineering student

Annie St-Arneault (born 1966), mechanical engineering student

Annie Turcotte (born 1969), materials engineering student

Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz (born 1958), nursing student

[regular-gnome]

What's Anatomist up to lately? (I miss my bae)

They are mainly working, occasionally getting annoyed at how evolution makes things more difficult for them to work on

it's reference to the recurrent laryngeal nerve. The fun thing about it is that it's the nerve that innervates the muscles in the larynx, but it detours around the aorta on its way from the brain to the voice box. This is especially noticeable in larger animals where the heart and the voice box are far apart. For example, in giraffes, the structures are only a few centimeters apart, but the nerve can get 5 meters long because it travels all the way down to the chest and then loops back up. This is a result of how structures evolved from fish (with no necks) to large animals (with large necks). Evolution can't just "unplug" the nerve and optimize it, so next best thing is to gradually adjust over time

animation of the process | bit more info about it