carbon fiber tagged posts

A research team affiliated with UNIST has introduced a technology that generates electricity from raindrops striking rooftops, offering a self-powered approach to automated drainage control and flood warning during heavy rainfall.

Led by Professor Young-Bin Park of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at UNIST, the team developed a droplet-based electricity generator (DEG) using carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP). This device, called the superhydrophobic fiber-reinforced polymer (S-FRP-DEG), converts the impact of falling rain into electrical signals capable of operating stormwater management systems without an external power source...

When cars, planes, ships or computers are built from a material that functions as both a battery and a load-bearing structure, the weight and energy consumption are radically reduced...

A waste material from the paper and pulp industry soon could be made into anything from tennis rackets to cars, according to new findings by Texas A&M AgriLife Research scientists.
Credit: Graphic courtesy of Texas A&M AgriLife Research

Scientists have discovered how to make high quality carbon fiber from lignin. About 50 million tons of lignin – or structural part of a plant – piles up each year as waste from the US paper and pulping industry. Additional lignin could come from biorefineries that use plants to produce ethanol, yielding another 100 million to 200 million tons of lignin waste each year. Yet only about 2% of the lignin waste is currently recycled into new products. “Lignin is considered as one of the most abundant biopolymers in the world,” he said...

1. Iowa State engineers don’t need a plow to clear snow from the heated test slabs they installed at the Des Moines International Airport. Larger photo. Photos courtesy of Halil Ceylan.
2. A thermal image of the heated airport pavements.

Engineers have installed 2 test slabs of electrically conductive concrete and the pavement has effectively cleared ice and snow. Iowa State University’s Halil Ceylan picked up his smartphone, opened up an app and called up the remote controls for the first full-scale test slabs. When a winter storm approaches, Ceylan can use that app to turn on the heated pavement system and, thanks to real-time video capability, watch as snow and ice melts away.

Late last fall Prof...