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Lawrence Livermore reinventing metal 3D printing with new direct writing process
Metal 3D printing has enormous potential to revolutionize modern manufacturing. However, the most popular metal printing processes, which use lasers to fuse together fine metal powder, have their limitations. Parts produced using selective laser melting (SLM) and other powder-based metal techniques often end up with gaps or defects caused by a variety of factors. To…
Lab employees author X-ray imaging book
After three current and former Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) employees and a university professor found a need, they started down the long road to meet it. When the LLNL trio -- physicist Harry Martz, retired engineer Clint Logan and retired computer scientist Dan Schneberk -- and a colleague surveyed scientific books on X-ray imaging, they discovered a…
Lab honored for Vets to Tech program
For veterans returning from military service and attempting to readjust to civilian life and the classroom, the transition can be a culture shock. To help give veterans on-the-job experience while they continue their education in engineering, math and physics -- in addition to solving a need for engineers in the coming years at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory -- the…
Lab team to explore more cost-effective way to inspect welds on nuclear-powered submarines
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers are joining forces with the U.S. Navy Metalworking Center (NMC) to study ways to reduce the high cost of inspecting welds on nuclear‐powered submarines. LLNL entered a feasibility study agreement with the Navy to look at developing a non‐destructive technology that can essentially peer through the submarine’s…
3D printing with high-performance carbon fiber
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers have become the first to 3D print aerospace-grade carbon fiber composites, opening the door to greater control and optimization of the lightweight, yet stronger than steel material. The research, published by the journal Scientific Reports online on March 6, represents a "significant advance" in the development of…
National Academy honors Westbrook
The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) bestowed its highest honor to retired Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) senior scientist Charlie Westbrook.Westbrook was recognized for his "pioneering development, applications and leadership in chemical kinetic modeling to advance combustion science and technology." He is part of a 105-person class to be inducted at…
Lab researchers develop unique model to customize common industrial process
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers have published a precise computer model of a deposition process using electrically charged particles that will provide scientists and engineers with unprecedented insights into the method.The process of electrophoretic deposition (EPD) uses an electric field to drive colloidal particles suspended in a liquid from a…
Fund aids commercialization efforts
For three Lab engineers, a Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) commercialization fund has proven to be an oasis of assistance as they have sought to cross the legendary technology "valley of death."In technology transfer circles, there is a phase -- between when a technology is promising and when it moves forward into commercialization -- known as the "valley of…
Laboratory begins engineering internship program with Texas A&M University
Looking to ramp up hiring of engineers and extend its reach into the country’s top engineering schools, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is launching an internship program with Texas A&M University (TAMU) that will bring promising engineering students to the Lab starting this summer. If selected, up to two TAMU (undergraduate, junior or senior) students…
Lab physicist's sensor work wins DARPA award
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) named Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory engineer and physicist Vincent Tang as a Program Manager of the Year for 2016, recognizing him for leading a program involving multiple agencies to develop and deploy networked sensors for dynamic, real-time radiological and nuclear threat detection over large urban areas…
Advanced Manufacturing Lab to build new collaborative hub for next-gen materials
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) officials, along with representatives from local government and industry, broke ground Friday on the Advanced Manufacturing Lab (AML), a modern collaborative hub for developing next-generation materials and manufacturing technologies.The $9.4 million, 13,000-square-foot facility will…
LLNL wins three R&D 100 awards
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers have garnered three awards among the top 100 industrial inventions worldwide for 2016. The trade journal R&D Magazine announced the winners of its annual awards, sometimes called the "Oscars of invention," Thursday at the Gaylord Convention Center in Washington, D.C. With this year’s results, the Laboratory has now…
Lab-developed hydrogen sensors put to the test at Southern California refueling stations
As hydrogen fuel cell cars become commercially available and hydrogen refueling stations slowly begin to proliferate throughout California, government agencies are turning to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to help detect leaks that could lead to fire. The South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD), the air pollution control agency for Orange County and…
3D printed metamaterial shrinks when heated
Members of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s Additive Manufacturing Initiative are among a group of researchers who have developed 3D printed materials with a unique property -- instead of expanding when heated, they shrink. In a study published in the Oct. 21 edition of the journal Physical Review Letters, LLNL engineers, along with scientists from the University…
Scientists explore use of 3D printing to speed up target production for testing material strength
Advanced 3D printing promises to redefine manufacturing in critical industries such as aerospace, transportation and defense, and now, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is exploring the use of 3D printing to achieve unprecedented flexibility in producing "on-demand" targets for testing how materials behave under extreme conditions. Through an additive manufacturing…
LLNL to lead development of manufacturing training program for energy entrepreneurs
The "valley of death" can make or break a startup enterprise due to the cost and time involved in getting from prototype to profitability. To help clean technology entrepreneurs and engineers navigate across the chasm and make it safely to the other side, the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy (EERE) has announced the…
New study unlocks potential for ultra-lightweight and flexible 3D-printed metallic materials
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) engineers have achieved unprecedented scalability in 3D-printed architectures of arbitrary geometry, opening the door to super-strong, ultra-lightweight and flexible metallic materials for aerospace, the military and the automotive industry. In a study published online July 18 in Nature Materials, LLNL engineers report building…
3D printing could revolutionize laser design
LLNL researchers are exploring the use of metal 3D printing to create strong, lightweight structures for advanced laser systems - an effort they say could alter the way lasers are designed in the future. In a Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program, physicist Ibo Matthews and his team are experimenting with a new research-based metal 3D printer, one of…
'Sky's the limit' for latest graduates of the Laboratory's Machinist Apprentice Program
While he was working as a machinist in Oakland and taking classes at Laney College, Wesley Scoggins wanted to improve his skills to find a better job. In 2012, he answered a Craigslist posting for a slot in the Livermore Lab Engineering Directorate’s Machinist Apprentice Program. It was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up. "It’s really one of the only machinist…
Lab engineers garner DOE tech transfer awards
The Department of Energy (DOE) recently announced the selection of two proposals from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers for grants under the department’s Technology Commercialization Fund (TCF), a program intended to help promising energy technologies move from national laboratories to the marketplace. DOE awarded LLNL engineer Brian Guidry a $432…
