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Materials World February 2009

The February issue looks at mining. Related features focus on corporate social responsibility and the Dukes Wood, UK, oilfield.

News examines smart cotton for biomonitoring and industry views on the credit crunch. 

News

Optical probe enhanced with LED

Optical probe diagram
A scanning near-field optical microscope (SNOM) integrated with a microlens and a light emitting diode (LED) could allow the SNOM to become a more routine analytical tool for high resolution materials research and optical lithography.
Materials World Magazine, 01 Feb 2009

Logging while drilling in mining

Adapting a technique called logging while drilling (LWD) for use in slimhole minerals exploration will improve efficiency and cut costs in the industry, say scientists in Australia. The approach currently enables the oil industry to accumulate real-time geological and geotechnical data about the rock while drilling.
Materials World Magazine, 01 Feb 2009

Faster inspection of stainless steel welds?

A single-probe ultrasonic technique for stainless steel weld inspection could save production time, say scientists from TWI Ltd in Cambridge, UK.
Materials World Magazine, 01 Feb 2009

Smart cotton for biomonitoring

A conductive cotton yarn woven into soft fabrics could have health monitoring capabilities by acting as an intergrated sensor. The thread is coated in carbon nanotubes and is said to produce smart textiles with better flexibility, durability and mobile comfort than metal and optical fibres.
Materials World Magazine, 01 Feb 2009

Improving coal gasification and synfuel production?

A proposal for a more energy and cost efficient coal gasification and synfuel production facility has been put forward by a team of researchers at the University of Padova in Italy. The team has suggested that combustion and gasification be carried out in separate fluidised bed reactors, with an inert solid, such as sand, transferring heat between them.
Materials World Magazine, 01 Feb 2009

Nanogold for multiple drug delivery

Exploring laser excitation of gold nanoparticles will enhance international research into these materials for controlled drug delivery, say researchers at MIT, Cambridge, USA. Gold nanorods of different shapes respond to different infrared wavelengths, enabling selective melting of the carriers and release of the various medicines attached to their surfaces.

Materials World Magazine, 01 Feb 2009

Automotive technology aids synthetic bone manufacture

In an unusual example of technology transfer, the manufacturing process for automotive catalytic converters has been applied to synthetic bone implants. Scientists at the University of Warwick, UK, claim to have developed monolith bioceramic scaffolds that combine strength and porosity for load-bearing applications, such as large fractures and spinal fusions.
Materials World Magazine, 01 Feb 2009

Dough moulding for resilient ceramics

UK researchers have created low-cost ceramic compounds with improved thermal and impact properties by applying a fibre reinforcing technique used for polymer moulding composites. These ceramics, made from calcium carbonate, calcium phosphate, and an aluminium trihydroxide hardener, could have applications in automotive heat shields or composite aircraft wings.
Materials World Magazine, 01 Feb 2009

Trialling times – the credit crunch

As the full brunt of the recession starts to take effect, Materials World talks to 18 leading members of the UK engineering and manufacturing industries to get their views about the effects of the economic climate on their sector and where future redemption may lie.

To express your views on the impact of the recession, visit the Materials World forum at the link below.

Materials World Magazine, 01 Feb 2009

Features

Taking responsibility

Mining has wide ranging environmental impacts
Corporate social responsibility has grown in importance to the minerals industry. This article examines examples of CSR policies.
Materials World Magazine, 01 Feb 2009

Barrels in the Wood

The UK's Eakring oilfield
UK oilfields provided a lifeline to Briatain during WWII. This article described the Eakring oil operation and the Duke's Wood site in Nottinghamshire, which now houses an oil museum.
Materials World Magazine, 01 Feb 2009

Bubble not bust

Stock market decline
This article puts the global economic downturn into context and reminds investors that values fluctuate. It suggests that caution is always needed and that financial decisions should always be based on fact.
Materials World Magazine, 01 Feb 2009

Mine of information

The Fraser Institute and the Metals Economic Group both offer surveys providing exploration related information. This article provides an overview of the information available.
Materials World Magazine, 01 Feb 2009

Risk and finance

Donald Douglas, CEO of Cambridge Risk Ltd, UK, explains the challenges of hedging.
Materials World Magazine, 01 Feb 2009

Reclaiming rubbish

People scavenging
Humans are used to throwing away items at the end-of-life. This article argues that economic and environmental value can be gained from the mining of rubbish tips.
Materials World Magazine, 01 Feb 2009

Material Matters

Charles Darwin's theory of evolution

Charles Darwin's theory of evolution and the debates surrounding it, including the Creationist viewpoint.
Materials World Magazine, 01 Feb 2009

Book reviews

Microstructure of Metals and Alloys

Microstructure of Metals and Alloys

Materials World Magazine, 01 Feb 2009