Material

The Department of the Interior published on May 18, 2018, a list of 35 mineral commodities considered critical to the economic and national security of the United States. These minerals have been designated as critical to the US’s national interest in part because of their potential military and industrial applications. …

The cities of today are built with concrete and steel between they are responsible for as much as a tenth of worldwide carbon emissions. Before they ever reach a construction site, both steel and concrete must be processed at very high temperatures – which take a lot of energy. And …

The design of aerodynamic airfoils is optimized for certain conditions. For instance, the shape of the wings of fixed-wing aircrafts are designed and optimized for a certain flight condition (in terms of altitude, speed, aircraft weight, etc.). However, these flight conditions vary significantly during the flight. Currently, aircraft are provided …

Silicon carbide, also known as carborundum, is a unique compound of carbon and silicon and is one of the hardest available materials.  Characteristics such as relatively low thermal expansion, high force-to-weight radius, high thermal conductivity, hardness, resistance to abrasion and corrosion, and most importantly, the maintenance of elastic resistance at …

Integrated circuits and power devices utilized by the semiconductor industry for the production of advanced computers, consumer electronics, communication networks, and industrial and military systems have been almost exclusively based on silicon technology. The requirements of future electronics place a great emphasis on achieving new devices with greater power density …

Geopolymer concrete—an innovative material in light of the ongoing emphasis on sustainability is a potential alternative to conventional portland cement concrete for use in transportation infrastructure construction. In contrast to portland cement, most geopolymer systems rely on minimally processed natural materials or industrial byproducts to provide the binding agents. Since …

Recent advances of high power solid state lasers promises necessary laser power levels required for the Directed Energy Weapons (DEW) systems. However, inefficiencies of the laser components still generate too much waste heat to be managed by conventional liquid cooling systems, especially in an airborne platform where compactness, light-weight and …

The inductors along with capacitors and resistors, inductors are one of the three passive elements that are the foundations of all electronics. An inductor works by inducing a magnetic field as an electric current flows through its coil of wire. This magnetic field temporarily stores electric energy as magnetic energy, …

Modern warfare is increasingly dependent on microelectronics capabilities that sense the environment, convert the signals into data streams, process the information, and generate a response. In this sense, Aerospace and Defense (A-D)  systems are quite similar to commercial systems that perform communications and computations, while taking advantage of the advancement …

Thermoelectric energy harvesting mainly depends on the operation of the thermoelectric generator (TEG). A thermoelectric (TE) device can directly convert heat emanating from the Sun, radioisotopes, automobiles, industrial sectors, or even the human body to electricity.  A TEG converts heat directly into electrical energy according to the Seebeck effect.   …