Materials & Manufacturing

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Advances in materials and manufacturing are leading to better implants, prosthetics, and devices. Browse innovative developments in materials and manufacturing that significantly impact medical device design and production.

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Applications: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Additive manufacturing can be used to create faster, more flexible, and more cost-effective development and production methods. Direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) is an additive...

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INSIDER: Materials
New Antibacterial Material: A Safer Alternative to Silver

The safe use of silver ions in antibacterial textiles has been a matter of debate worldwide, with consumers increasingly seeking a proven alternative. Sweden’s national agency for chemical inspection has ruled silver a health risk, citing possible damage to human genetic material,...

R&D: Materials

In a combat situation, a wounded soldier can bleed to death quickly without prompt attention. But depending on where the injury is, like a deep wound at the neck, shoulder, or groin,...

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R&D: Nanotechnology

A team of engineers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are using Shrinky Dinks material, a polystyrene that shrinks under high heat, to close the gap between nanowires in an array to...

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R&D: Materials

New stretchable technologies and soft robotics being explored by engineers at Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, could lead to innovations such as robots with human-like sensory skin and...

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Features: Tubing & Extrusion

Modern medicine has come a long way from the reed catheters of ancient Syria or the metal tubes of Benjamin Franklin’s time. As doctors discover more and more ways to utilize minimally...

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INSIDER: Test & Measurement
Nano-Measurements Using Optical Microscope Technique

New research has confirmed that a technique developed previously at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Gaithersburg, MD, can enable optical microscopes to measure the 3D shape of objects at nanometer-scale resolution—far below the normal resolution limit for optical...

INSIDER: Medical
Creating Custom Medical Implants with 3D Printers

A team of engineers at Louisiana Tech University, Ruston, has developed an innovative method of using off-the-shelf 3D printers and materials to fabricate custom medical implants that can contain antibacterial and chemotherapeutic compounds for targeted drug delivery.

INSIDER: Medical
Self-Fitting Implant Material for Facial Reconstruction

Defects in the head, face, or jaw, whether from disease, injury, or birth defect, can dramatically impact a person’s appearance. A team of researchers at Texas A&M University, College Station, report that they have developed a specialized material that can expand with warm salt water...

INSIDER: Materials
New Materials Database Helps Spur Innovation

When seeking chemical compounds with just the right properties to create new products, including medical devices, researchers can spend years of trial and error testing them in the lab. To aid researchers in this quest, a team of scientists at the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science at...

R&D: Test & Measurement

A team of engineers at Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, say they have developed a technique that could produce “soft machines” made of elastic materials and liquid metals for potential...

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R&D: Materials

Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA, say they have developed a more efficient approach to a challenging problem in additive manufacturing, using selective...

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R&D: Materials

A group of engineers at the University of Southern California Viterbi School of Engineering, Los Angeles, say that they are developing a flexible, energy-efficient hybrid circuit combining carbon...

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Products: Medical

Ham-Let USA, Inc., Sugar Land, TX, launched PuRight™, a new, enhanced version of stainless steel 316L material that offers, lower inclusion content, low carbon content for enhanced welding, and low sulfur...

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INSIDER: Medical
Untangling the Secret of Barnacle Superglue

The strength of barnacle cement is unbeaten when compared to anything man-made, say researchers at Newcastle University, UK. It can stick to any surface, under any conditions. But exactly how it works has been a mystery. The international team of scientists have shown for the first time that barnacle...

INSIDER: Medical
Phase-Shifting Materials May Dramatically Improve Surgical Robots

A new phase-changing material built from wax and foam that’s capable of switching between hard and soft states could allow surgical robots to shape-shift and move through the body to reach a particular point without damaging any of the organs or vessels along the way, say...

INSIDER: Photonics/Optics
Advancing Nonlinear Optical Systems

A research team at the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin has created a new nonlinear metasurface, or meta mirror, that may help advance the miniaturization of laser systems for biomedical research and other applications.

INSIDER: Electronics & Computers
Stretchy Yarn Made of Graphene

A collaboration between researchers at Penn State University, and Shinshu University in Japan say that they have developed a simple, scalable method of making graphene oxide (GO) fibers that are strong, stretchable, and can be easily crolled into yarn with strengths approximating that of Kevlar.

R&D: Materials

A team of scientists from the University of Texas, Dallas, along with colleagues at the University of Tokyo, Japan, have created biologically adaptive transistor devices that have the ability to...

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Features: Tubing & Extrusion

This article discusses ways to set up new projects for success and covers ideas for material selection, dimension and tolerance, and critical feature selection. Designing a silicone...

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INSIDER: Materials
Improving MRI with Nanoscale Composites

A team of researchers from Rice University, Houston, TX, and The Methodist Hospital Research Institute say that submicroscopic particles containing even smaller particles of iron oxide could make magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) a far more powerful tool to detect and fight disease. They created composite...

INSIDER: Materials
Nature-Inspired Model for Low-Friction Bearings

The natural mechanical properties of natural joints are considered unrivalled. Cartilage is coated with a special layer of lubrication that allows joints to move virtually friction-free, even under high pressure. Using simulations on supercomputers, scientists from Forschungszentrum Jülich in...

INSIDER: Medical
Wormlike Motion Lets Hydrogels Swim

Inspired by earthworms, which use peristaltic locomotion to wriggle, an engineering student at the University of Cincinnati's College of Engineering and Applied Science used a worm’s contracting and expanding motion to provide a way for gels to freely swim in liquids.

INSIDER: Materials
Introducing the Bionic Man

The NIH’s Bionic Man site helps viewers visually explore some of the latest bioengineering creations from research funded by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering. From prosthetics to artificial kidneys, these technologies are changing lives now and in the future.

R&D: Wearables

A team of engineers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, have demonstrated thin, soft stick-on patches that stretch and move with the...

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R&D: Sensors/Data Acquisition

Researchers at North Carolina State University, Raleigh, say that they have developed a new, stretchable antenna that can be incorporated into wearable technologies, such as health...

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Features: Materials

The plasticizers used to render PVC flexible constitute about a third of the vinyl compound by weight and have a significant effect on overall properties and performance. The most widely used...

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Products: Medical

Prima Power Laserdyne, Champlin, MN, announces the LASERDYNE 430 Series of precision laser systems with up to 20 kW QCW (quasi continuous wave) fiber lasers. This expands...

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Products: Materials

Momentive Performance Materials Inc., Columbus, OH, introduces its new fiber-reinforced liquid silicone rubber (LSR) to enhance the ergonomics and aesthetics of wearable medical devices. It can provide...

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Ask the Expert

Dan Sanchez on How to Improve Extruded Components
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Improving extruded components requires careful attention to a number of factors, including dimensional tolerance, material selection, and processing. Trelleborg’s Dan Sanchez provides detailed insights into each of these considerations to help you advance your device innovations while reducing costs and speeding time to market.

Inside Story

Inside Story: Selecting and Implementing Automation Solutions
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To find out more about selecting and implementing automation solutions, MDB recently spoke with Dave McMorrow, Technical Director, MMT Automation and Michael Wall, Technical Director, Somex Automation, an MMT company.

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