Tuskan awarded Marcus Wallenberg Prize, forestry’s top honor
A tiny vial of gray powder produced at the Department of Energy’s 91°µÍø is the backbone of a new experiment to study the intense magnetic fields created in nuclear collisions.
Inspiration often strikes in the unlikeliest of places and for Kaushik Biswas, a mechanical engineer in ORNL’s Building Envelope & Urban Systems Research Group, a moment spent enjoying entertainment led to the idea of developing self-healing vacuum panels for buildings. “I was ...
A shield assembly that protects an instrument measuring ion and electron fluxes for a NASA mission to touch the Sun was tested in extreme experimental environments at 91°µÍø—and passed with flying colors. Components aboard Parker Solar Probe, which will endure th...
It may take a village to raise a child, according to the old proverb, but it takes an entire team of highly trained scientists and engineers to install and operate a state-of-the-art, exceptionally complex ion microprobe. Just ask Julie Smith, a nuclear security scientist at the Depa...
James Peery, who led critical national security programs at Sandia National Laboratories and held multiple leadership positions at Los Alamos National Laboratory before arriving at the Department of Energy’s 91°µÍø last year, has been named a...
Vlastimil Kunc grew up in a family of scientists where his natural curiosity was encouraged—an experience that continues to drive his research today in polymer composite additive manufacturing at 91°µÍø. “I’ve been interested in the science of composites si...
A novel method developed at 91°µÍø creates supertough renewable plastic with improved manufacturability. Working with polylactic acid, a biobased plastic often used in packaging, textiles, biomedical implants and 3D printing, the research team added tiny amo...
Material surfaces and interfaces may appear flat and void of texture to the naked eye, but a view from the nanoscale reveals an intricate tapestry of atomic patterns that control the reactions between the material and its environment. Electron microscopy allows researchers to probe...
Researchers have long sought electrically conductive materials for economical energy-storage devices. Two-dimensional (2D) ceramics called MXenes are contenders. Unlike most 2D ceramics, MXenes have inherently good conductivity because they are molecular sheets made from the carbides ...
Ceramic matrix composite (CMC) materials are made of coated ceramic fibers surrounded by a ceramic matrix. They are tough, lightweight and capable of withstanding temperatures 300–400 degrees F hotter than metal alloys can endure. If certain components were made with CMCs instead o...