Future Materials News

 

Easing the risk of research

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Research News
 

Picking the glue from the wood: Distinguishing resin in wood composites with X-ray analysis.

While only constituting 4-6% of a wood composite, resin makes up around 20% of its total cost making it the most expensive component of particle board. Around a million cubic metres of wood composite products are produced each year in Australia, so this is big business. Surprisingly, given the expense of the resin, we don't know a lot about where the glue goes and how it works in binding together the wood particles. That, however, is about to change.
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Tin Tacks
 

Troubles in the tubes

When Crane Copper Tube shipped over the first batch of copper tubing of a large export order to South East Asia there was some dismay when it was discovered that a discoloration had developed on some of the tubing. Was the discoloration due to environmental damage during transit, or was it due to some contamination in the production process? Crane needed to know quickly.
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Know your material
 

Overcoming problems with plantation timber

Wood is a wonderful material for crafting furniture. However, it comes with limitations, one of which is its tendency to shrink and expand depending on the ambient humidity. Because of these limitations, fast grown plantation timbers or mismatched timbers are avoided when it comes to putting together a quality table top because the boards usually respond differently in the manner in which they shrink and expand.
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Sensational Materials
 

Getting more out of recycling old cars

Researchers at CSIRO Minerals have found a way to even further reduce waste from car recycling by retrieving materials that are currently thrown away. "We found every tonne of dry sludge contained about 3.1kg of recoverable copper and about 33kg of clean steel."
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Breathe easy with launch of new lens

Last month a revolutionary new contact lens was launched by CIBA Vision that can be left in the eye for far longer than traditional contact lenses. The secret of its success is that O2OPTIX™, the name of the new lens, transmits up to 5 times more oxygen than the leading traditional soft daily wear contact lens.
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Building nanospheres with sound

Using high-intensity ultrasound, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, US, have created hollow nanospheres and the first hollow nanocrystals. The nanospheres could be used in microelectronics, drug delivery and as catalysts for making environmentally friendly fuels.
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Future Materials People
 

Making a difference to science and industry

When it comes to forging links between materials research and industry, Professor Jim Williams is one of Australia's true champions. Besides having an outstanding record in materials research, Jim has also been a long-time campaigner for greater interaction between academia and industry. Indeed, it is largely through Jim's tireless efforts that Future Materials came into being.
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Archive News

Editor - David Salt