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Materials World June 2008

The June 2008 issue takes a look at sport and leisure. Related articles focus on the use of carbon fibre composites in Formula 1 design, polymers in pole vaults and golf balls, and the evolution of the tennis racket. Other features investigate how converting coal-to-liquid fuels provides gas for power generation, and mining opportunities in Manitoba, Canada.

News includes reports on sportswear that limits the sweating and heating up of the body, and on a commercial recording material for high-resolution colour holograms.

 

News

Growing clean carbon nanotubes

Using catalysed chemical vapour deposition, scientists at the University of Warwick, UK, have grown clean carbon nanotubes directly onto a disc surface. The creation of these ultramicroelectrodes, which are 25-100µm in diameter, could be used for extremely sensitive sensors.
Materials World Magazine, 01 Jun 2008

New smelter could save energy

Following the acquisition of Alcan last year, Rio Tinto has announced the evolution of Alcan’s aluminium production technology through a smelting process that consumes up to 20% less energy. The system, which is based on heat recovery, low resistance cathode blocks and drained cathodes, will be scaled up in 2009 at the company’s pilot plant in St Jean de Maurienne, France.
Materials World Magazine, 01 Jun 2008

Microseismic technology navigates directional drilling for coal gas

Microseismic technology has been used for the first time to guide underground directional drilling for coal gas production, say scientists at the Australian Commonwealth Scientific Research Organisation. A trial was conducted at a coal field test site in Queensland, Australia.
Materials World Magazine, 01 Jun 2008

Adapting to Formula 1 engine restrictions

The design of Formula 1 car engines has experienced a dramatic change over the past two years, with materials and weight restrictions taking hold, and in a five-year engine development freeze put in place in 2008. While adapting to the new regulations, automotive engineers are also developing kinetic energy recovery systems to improve the environmental performance of these racecars.
Materials World Magazine, 01 Jun 2008

High-resolution holograms

A commercial recording material for high-resolution colour holograms that is made from ultra-fine grain silver halide emulsions has been developed by a group of researchers working as part of the European SilverCross project. The resolution is comparable to modern digital photographs, which achieve 10,000 lines per millimetre, and could be used in advertisements, photo displays in galleries or in packaging.
Materials World Magazine, 01 Jun 2008

Direct-to-sheet extrusion for APET and PET reduces cost and environmental impact

A new direct-to-sheet extrusion technique could eliminate drying and melting processes during resin preperation for manufacturing APET and PET, reducing the cost of production.
Materials World Magazine, 01 Jun 2008

Textile solutions to sweating in sport

By combining two well-established textiles – Outlast phase-change material and the super absorbent fibre Oasis SAF – Charlton Lamb, based in London, UK, appears to have come with a solution to produce caps, helmets and clothing that are lined to limit heating up of the body and sweating when playing sports or in hot and unpredictable environments.
Materials World Magazine, 01 Jun 2008

Mine waste produces fuel

Power generation from acid mine drainage (AMD) is the subject of research being conducted at Pennsylvania State University, USA. The team is investigating treatment of mine waste using a specially developed fuel cell that generates electricity while recovering ferric iron for use in pigments.
Materials World Magazine, 01 Jun 2008

Features

Phase transition fuel — a coal-to-liquid fuel project in South Australia

Exploration in the 1980s discovered a large sub-bituminous coal deposit 800km north of Adelaide, South Australia. Altona Resources, an AIM and Australian stock exchange listed company is implementing a development plan using a number of established technologies to convert coal-to-liquid (CTL) fuels and provide gas for power generation.
Materials World Magazine, 01 Jun 2008

Sporty polymers — polymer use in sports equipment

While much sports apparatus must be light and stiff, favouring composites and polymers, the transfer of force from product to athlete needs to be considered. The ability to alter dynamic properties in polymeric and polymer-matrix composites allows optimisation of these materials for sport.
Materials World Magazine, 01 Jun 2008

Pressure control — products from the Bernic Lake pegmite in Canada

A unique application of oil and gas well drilling fluids has created a profitable new opportunity for the Bernic Lake pegmatite in Manitoba, Canada. Drilling for oil and gas requires the well to be filled with a dense fluid or drilling mud to prevent highly-pressured fluids and gases entering the well bore and flowing to the surface, cesium formite drilling mud improves project economics and reduces the operational risk of developing oil and gas reservoirs.
Materials World Magazine, 01 Jun 2008

In the frame — tennis racket development

Materials selection can affect tennis racket and player performance. The stiffness-related vibration of the frame and shock transmission to the player are common complaints that manufacturers are addressing through applications such as piezo materials.
Materials World Magazine, 01 Jun 2008

F1 alchemists - carbon fibre composites in motorsport

Many motorsport innovations rely on carbon fibre composites (CFCs) to provide specific properties that are unobtainable with traditional metallic materials and manufacturing techniques. But it is not enough to take an existing metallic component and simply change it to a CFC.
Materials World Magazine, 01 Jun 2008

Material Matters

Producing energy from hydrogen

My brother Rex, a University of Birmingham metallurgist, is a keen advocate of the hydrogen cycle as a part-solution to global warming.Materials World Magazine, 01 Jun 2008

Book reviews

Strengthening Mechanisms in Crystal Plasticity

Strengthening Mechanisms in Crystal Plasticity

Materials World Magazine, 01 Jun 2008
Self-Doped Conducting Polymers

Self-Doped Conducting Polymers

Materials World Magazine, 01 Jun 2008
Industrial Minerals and Rocks

Industrial Minerals and Rocks

Materials World Magazine, 01 Jun 2008