From the category archives:

materials

Thumbnail image for liquid metal (as awesome as it sounds)

liquid metal (as awesome as it sounds)

design

Just came across LiquidMetal today. Wow. At first I thought it was just a twist on Metal Injection Molding (MIM). Digging in a little further I realized that the really cool part isn’t the process, it’s the material. Liquid Metal isn’t actually a material, but a class of alloys, check out their website for more [...]

Tagged as: alloys, liquid metal, metal injection molding, springs

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Thumbnail image for hard anodizing

hard anodizing

materials

A while back I had the need to get some sheetmetal (every spell check in the world keeps telling me it’s “sheet metal” and not “sheetmetal”, but I digress) and machined parts hard anodized.  I’ve been meaning to post my notes on the process for some time… and now I am. what is hard anodizing? A [...]

Tagged as: aluminum, anodizing, hard anodizing, hard coat, plating

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Thumbnail image for pre-consumer vs post-consumer recycled content

pre-consumer vs post-consumer recycled content

materials

This past weekend I was flipping through the March 2010 edition of Metropolis and came across an advertisement for a new line of San Fransisco bus shelter. As eye candy, it was in line with the rest of the magazine, but read some of the copy and you see they are trying to sell it [...]

Tagged as: Koda XT, LEED, materials, polycarbonate, recycle

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Thumbnail image for a wake-up story

a wake-up story

materials

If you’re anything like me, you occasionally (read: habitually) flip through trade magazines, checking to see if any badass new materials have cropped off. Graphene you say?  Sweet. Aerogel? Awesome. Transparent aluminum? Beam me up. Unfortunately, even as a sustainability nut I don’t think I’m in the minority when I say that my knee-jerk reaction [...]

Tagged as: materials

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Thumbnail image for sealing medical cushions: <br/> RF vs ultrasonic welding

sealing medical cushions:
RF vs ultrasonic welding

design

Once your kickass memory foam design has been molded or fabricated, it’s probably going to need to be covered. That means upholstery. When you think of upholstery, you probably think of stitching and sewing.  If you’ve got some practical experience, stapling might even come to mind. But when you start talking about designing medical cushions, [...]

Tagged as: fabrics, medical, RF welding, ultrasonic welding

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Thumbnail image for help make your stainless steel…stainless? what?

help make your stainless steel…stainless? what?

materials

If you’re thinking, “Wait. Isn’t stainless steel already stainless?”, you’re aren’t the first. Everyone thinks the very same thing the first time they hear “stainless”.  I for one was under the same impression until I asked some embarrassing questions at my first co-op… an aerospace manufacturer that makes a living on stainless steel. But can we really [...]

Tagged as: stainless steel

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