3D Printing Extremely Viscous Materials

I'm guessing that Bonnie Raitt could've helped solve this long ago if anybody had just asked her.

Seriously, though, I love that song. Take a few minutes to give it a listen if you haven't before.

More to the topic, though, the idea of 3d printing highly viscous materials would open up a whole lot more possibilities. Heating any polymer filament up to force the polymer through the nozzle leads to complications that could be mitigated apparently with a little shaking.

Plus we get increased opportunities to precisely print with ceramics, cement, even - as the video above mentions - icing.

I wish we'd gotten more of the icing shown.

As always, check out the ASM video of the week.

Making aluminum without making CO2

At this point, jainism is starting to look pretty good to me.

The basic summary - if I'm in a charitable mood - that I've come to about our environmental impact is that everything we do changes the environment. If I'm feeling a little less neutral, it's more that everything we do harms the environment.

Yes, the aluminum industry's carbon dioxide emissions are - from the graphic above (source) - far less than those of the iron & steel industry, cement manufacturing, or - by leaps, bounds, and a broken scale - our consumption of fossil fuels. And, according to the Aluminum Association's website, "Energy demand to produce new (primary) aluminum is down more than a quarter since 1995 and the industry's carbon footprint is down nearly 40 percent." That doesn't, however, remotely mean that the carbon dioxide released by the aluminum industry is negligible.

A recent article from C&EN, highlighted one of the industry's further efforts to reduce CO2 emission by developing more and more inert anodes instead of the current, carbon-rich anodes which produce CO2 - and CF4 and C2H6 gases, also potent greenhouse gases - throughout the aluminum production. In fact, Alcoa and Rio Tinto have formed a new venture, Elysis, to develop and market these anodes.

For two years, Alcoa has been offering a premium, sustainable aluminum line guaranteeing that the aluminum produced creates 75% fewer CO2 emission than the industry average.

All of these are among many industry efforts to reduce CO2 emissions and environmental impact - within all industries, honestly, not just aluminum. As a presentation titled "Can the global aluminum industry achieve carbon neutrality" writes, "we didn't inherit aluminum from our parents. We are borrowing aluminum from our children."

Source - link

How tough is the new Gorilla Glass 6?

Wait, Gorilla Glass 5 has been improved upon?

Fine, but I'm sure nothing will ever surpass Gorilla Glass 6.

In all honesty, I did like seeing the various tests that the glass designers undertake when they're developing a new glass. I haven't had the issues described with the purse, but I'm assuming those are real issues.

In the video below, we get a brief glimpse into the manufacturing and prototyping of the various glass compositions on the way toward a final product.

Plastic Injection Molding

Well, if they're going to talk about - and briefly focus on - how Lego bricks are made (not Legos, ya savages), then I'm going to post the video.

Our material science class at Princeton High School doesn't get anywhere near practicing injection molding. One of our dreams out in the distance is to sometime get to lost wax casting, but that's about as close as we've considered. In this video, however, The Engineer Guy does a great job explaining the process of injection molding and a bit of the history of celluloid because one of the claimants for the invention of celluloid is the inventor of the injection molding process.

Plus there's the Lego connection...more of which after the break...

MAKING A BOWIE KNIFE WITH REAL ENGINEERING!!! PART 2 - WHY we heat treat steel!

Finally, the testing...

The first part of the video is more making a knife - grinding the blade, drilling to attach the handle.

Then, at 5:50, the actual materials testing comes in. Alec Steele takes a steel bar and heat treats it different ways (not on camera, sadly) and gives each piece a few solid wacks with a sledge hammer.

These two videos (Alec's and Real Engineering - whatever that guy's name is) really balance the two sides of material science. Alec shows a lot of a practical knowledge. Real Engineering shows a lot of academic knowledge. Together they're pretty awesome.

Oh, and the testing wraps up around 12:25. Then it's back to finishing off the handle of the Bowie knife.