Back

Advanced Materials and Manufacturing

Tiny tubes move into the fast lane

For the first time, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers have shown that carbon nanotubes as small as eight-tenths of a nanometer in diameter can transport protons faster than bulk water, by an order of magnitude.The research validates a 200-year old mechanism of proton transport.A nanometer is one billionth of a meter. By comparison, the diameter of a…

Researchers outline physics of metal 3D printing

While the most common method of metal 3D printing is growing exponentially, moving forward from producing prototypes to manufacturing critical parts will be possible only by reaching a fundamental understanding of the complex physics behind the process, according to a new paper authored by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers. The powder bed fusion…

Researchers 3D-print with reactive materials

Reactive composite materials are everywhere, from the life-saving air bags in your car to the dazzling pyrotechnics in Fourth of July fireworks. But one of the main drawbacks to using these materials has been the unpredictability of their reactions.Historically, the way to alter the performance in reactive materials (i.e. thermites) has been to either change the…

Lawrence Livermore teams up with Autodesk to investigate design of next-generation materials

Researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and a Bay Area company are joining forces to explore how design software can accelerate innovation for three-dimensional printing of advanced materials.Under an 18-month Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA), LLNL will use state-of-the-art software for generative design from San Rafael-based…

3D-printed aerogels improve energy storage

A new type of graphene aerogel will make for better energy storage, sensors, nanoelectronics, catalysis and separations.Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers have made graphene aerogel microlattices with an engineered architecture via a 3D printing technique known as direct ink writing. The research appears in the April 22 edition of the journal, Nature…

America Makes taps Lawrence Livermore, GE to develop open source algorithms for 3D printing

LIVERMORE, Calif. – General Electric (GE) and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) recently received $540,000 to develop open-source algorithms that will improve additive manufacturing of metal parts.The award is from America Makes, the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute that’s focused on helping the U.S. grow capabilities and strength in 3D…

California employers train service members for advanced manufacturing jobs

LIVERMORE, California — California employers have created a pipeline to train and educate active-duty service members and veterans for careers in advance manufacturing to fill a workforce shortage for a burgeoning industry.Lawrence Livermore and Lawrence Berkeley national laboratories, NASA Ames Research Center and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and other employers are…

Researchers develop efficient method to measure residual stress in 3D printed parts

LIVERMORE, California – Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers have developed an efficient method to measure residual stress in metal parts produced by powder-bed fusion additive manufacturing.This 3D printing process produces metal parts layer by layer using a high-energy laser beam to fuse metal powder particles. When each layer is complete, the build…

Livermore researchers create engineered energy absorbing material

Materials like solid gels and porous foams are used for padding and cushioning, but each has its own advantages and limitations. Gels are effective as padding but are relatively heavy; gel performance can also be affected by temperature, and possesses a limited range of compression due to a lack of porosity. Foams are lighter and more compressible, but their performance is…

Researchers develop efficient approach to manufacture 3D metal parts

LIVERMORE, Calif. -Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers have developed a new and more efficient approach to a challenging problem in additive manufacturing -- using selective laser melting, namely, the selection of appropriate process parameters that result in parts with desired properties. Selective laser melting (SLM) is a powder-based, additive…

Forum showcases Lab's additive manufacturing capabilities

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's additive manufacturing capabilities including hardware expertise, materials science R&D and high-performance computing were highlighted at a recent Silicon Valley forum.Held at theHigh Performance Computing Innovation CenterLivermore Valley Open Campus, the event drew a standing room only crowd of more than 80 people from…

LLNL partners with FATHOM to develop new additive manufacturing technology

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has entered into a technology development partnership with FATHOM, a company specializing in 3D printing and additive manufacturing.The collaboration combines FATHOM's advanced industry knowledge with LLNL's unique research and development capabilities and broad domain expertise in applied science and engineering to…

Visiting engineering professor works on materials designed for additive manufacturing

Many professors publish research papers but never get to see their research move into the development phase.That's not the case for Daniel Tortorelli, an engineering professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.He recently completed a nine-week sabbatical at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, where his research on structural optimization was put to use in…

Livermore Lab shines new light on novel additive manufacturing approach

For nearly a century, electrophoretic deposition (EPD) has been used as a method of coating material by depositing particles of various substances onto the surfaces of various manufactured items. One of the most common and oldest processes that utilize EPD is the application of a primer coat to new car bodies on a production assembly line. The body of the car is positively…

Lawrence Livermore scientists use carbon nanotubes for tissue healing

Lawrence Livermore scientists have found that carbon nanotubes can help with tissue healing and repair.The team, which includes scientists from The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, UC Davis and UC Merced, found that there is long-term biocompatibility of single wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) when used for tissue engineering and articular cartilage.Carbon nanotubes…

Lawrence Livermore researchers unveil carbon nanotube jungles to better detect molecules

LIVERMORE, Calif. - Researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich have developed a new method of using nanotubes to detect molecules at extremely low concentrations enabling trace detection of biological threats, explosives and drugs. The joint research team, led by LLNL Engineer Tiziana Bond…

Lab engineer brings science and technology to Bay Area youth

Victor Castillo is focused on helping students succeed using his favorite tools: science and technology.The quantitative risk analysis group leader at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) Computational Engineering Division has spent many years giving back to the Bay Area community through youth development.In his free time, he mentors students in science and…

Advanced manufacturing key to economic vitality, Lab hosted forum concludes

"Plastics!" That was the career advice offered to the new college graduate played by Dustin Hoffman in the 1967 film "The Graduate."Today that would likely be "additive manufacturing" or "3D printing." That was the underlying theme to last week's "Additive Manufacturing Forum" sponsored by the California Network for Manufacturing Innovation (CNMI) and hosted by Lawrence…

The Laboratory enters the additive manufacturing arena

Additive manufacturing. You'll be hearing a lot more of those two words in the coming months and years at LLNL. Additive manufacturing (AM) is a new generation of technologies that were actually first developed during the 1970s. But AM has recently become more mainstream with the advent of advances in materials, sensors, micromechanics, computational modeling and…