FAST tagged posts

Computational Method discovers Hundreds of New Ceramics for Extreme Environments

rows and rows of graphic 3D lines forming boxes with different colored spheres inside
““Spark plasma sintering or field assisted sintering technology (FAST) is not a common technique in industry yet. However, current ceramic manufacturers could pivot to making these materials by making small adjustments to existing processes and facilities.”
Doug Wolfe
Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and Associate Vice President for Research at Penn State

If you have a deep-seated, nagging worry over dropping your phone in molten lava, you’re in luck.

A research team led by materials scientists at Duke University has developed a method for rapidly discovering a new class of materials with heat and electronic tolerances so rugged that they that could enable devices to function at lava-like temperatures above several thousands of degrees Fahrenheit.

Harder than st...

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China begins operating World’s Largest Radio Telescope

China begins operating world's largest radio telescope

In this Saturday, Sept. 24, 2016 photo released by Xinhua News Agency, an aerial view shows the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) in the remote Pingtang county in southwest China’s Guizhou province. China has begun operating the world’s largest radio telescope to help search for extraterrestrial life. (Liu Xu/Xinhua via AP)

The world’s largest radio telescope began searching for signals from stars and galaxies and, perhaps, extraterrestrial life Sunday in a project demonstrating China’s rising ambitions in space and its pursuit of international scientific prestige. Beijing has poured billions into such ambitious scientific projects as well as its military-backed space program, which saw the launch of China’s second space station earlier this month.

Measuring 500m in di...

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