Materials & Manufacturing

Videos of the Month

See the videos of the month, including one on research that pioneers transformative approaches to intuitively control prosthetic devices; one on how medical professionals can map the radiation dose within the body, giving them new data to guide treatments in real time; one on a new smart material that is activated by both heat and electricity; and one on what bats can teach us about co-existing with viruses and preventing severe disease.

Product Focus: Tubing

See what the product focus is on this month: tubing from Putnam Plastics Corp., Microlumen, Sigma-Netics, and Junkosha.

Powering Wearable Devices with High-Performing Carbon Nanotube Yarns

The proposed novel approach holds promise for enhancing the thermoelectric performance of CNT materials from yarns to films and bulk structures.

Imperceptible Sensors Printed Directly on Human Skin

Researchers have developed a method to make adaptive and eco-friendly sensors that can be directly and imperceptibly printed onto a wide range of biological surfaces.

Programmable Materials Help Heal Broken Bones

Natural materials like bone, bird feathers and wood have an intelligent approach to physical stress distribution, despite their irregular architectures. However, the relationship between stress...

‘Smart Skin’ Monitors Biological Signals on Demand

Skin can send certain health-related signals, such as dry skin feeling tighter to indicate the need for moisture. But what if skin could be smarter, capable of monitoring and sharing...

Pharma Manufacturing Unlocking the Power of Data Through Advanced Tracking and Analysis

Industry innovation is helping pharmaceutical manufacturers gain key insights into their products and processes by enabling them to effectively interpret data from every test given, even at mass volumes.

Product Showcase

See the products in the Product Showcase, including Omnetics’ Nano-D connectors, Cadence's complex medical devices, Formacoat's medical device coating application, the Lee Company’s Full Isolation Dual Seal Precision Dispense Pump, Ulbrich’s Braid Wire Accelerator® Program, and much more.

How Inflation Is Driving Onshoring (and What That Means to Device Manufacturers)

The global economy is changing, and for the first time in more than half a century, economic reality is bringing manufacturing back to the United States. Global inflation, coupled with vulnerabilities in the supply chain exposed by the pandemic, makes manufacturing in the United States cheaper and less risky.

On-Skin Wearable Bioelectronic Device Uses Breathable, Stretchable Material

Researchers at the University of Missouri have made a significant breakthrough in their ongoing development of an on-skin wearable bioelectronic device. Zheng Yan’s lab recently added an important component to the team’s existing ultrasoft, breathable and stretchable material. The key feature: wireless charging — without batteries — through a magnetic connection.

Thermally Engineering Templates for Highly Ordered Self-Assembled Materials

Researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the University of Michigan Ann Arbor have developed a template material that carries almost no heat and therefore stops heat transfer between the template material itself and the solidifying eutectic material.

The Role of Photochemical Etching in Thermal Management

The PCE process efficiently manufactures precise metal parts for thermal management in micro electronic devices, ensuring high accuracy without stress or deformation. It handles diverse metals, creating tailored thermal solutions like heat sinks and TIMs for everything from smartphones to powerful computers.

Advancing Medtech Requires Advanced Battery Technology to Match

In the coming years, companies will continue to evolve ultrasonic metal welding technologies to answer the needs of an ever-changing field of medical devices and the batteries that power them. Developing new assembly technologies will maximize the performance and precision of ultrasonic metal welding to satisfy the new design, size, and power requirements of advanced-performance medical devices.

Elastomer Material Flexibility Optimizes Performance

When specifying a high-performance material for a medical device application, temperature, chemical environment and compatibility, hardness, compression set resistance, and certification considerations quickly build stringent material requirements. Expert suppliers consult with OEMs to think creatively, support product development, and collaborate to find solutions that will deliver necessary results.

Trelleborg Medical Solutions Expands Capabilities Through Innovation Center

Trelleborg Medical Solutions has launched an Innovation Center in Plymouth, MN. An expansion of the company's former Rapid Development Center, it is designed to...

Hair-Thin Semiconductor Fibers Woven into Fabrics

Scientists have developed ultra-thin semiconductor fibers that can be woven into fabrics, turning them into smart wearable electronics.

Research Could Advance Soft Robotics Manufacturing, Design

A team of Rice University researchers has developed an analytical model that can predict the curing time of platinum-catalyzed silicone elastomers as a function of temperature. The model could help reduce energy waste and improve throughput for elastomer-based components manufacturing.

Researchers 3D Print Key Components for a Point-of- Care Mass Spectrometer

Their device, which is only a few centimeters in size, can be manufactured at scale in batches and then incorporated into a mass spectrometer using efficient, pick-and-place robotic assembly methods.

Rapid Prototyping Method for Microscale Spiral Devices

A team of researchers from Tohoku University and Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) has achieved significant advancement in the field of microfluidics, allowing for precise and efficient manipulation of fluids in three-dimensional microscale environments.

3D Printing Method Builds Structures with Two Metals

Taking a cue from the structural complexity of trees and bones, Washington State University engineers have created a way to 3D print two types of steel in the same circular layer using two welding machines. The resulting bimetallic material proved 33–42 percent stronger than either metal alone, thanks in part to pressure caused between the metals as they cool together.

Optimizing Fluid Micro-Dispensing for Assembly of Life-Critical Medical Components

This article examines how one medical manufacturer upgraded its assembly process of life-critical components from manual fluid dispensing to more efficient automated dispensing.

From the Editor - Surge in Metal AM Systems Drives Growth in 3D Printing

Shipment of additive manufacturing (AM) systems for metal parts increased by 24.4 percent in 2023, according to Wohlers Associates latest report. See what Editor and Director of Medical Content Sherrie Trigg thinks about the matter.

High-Speed Microscale 3D Printing

3D printed microscopic particles — so small that to the naked eye they look like dust — have applications in drug and vaccine delivery, microelectronics, microfluidics, and abrasives for intricate manufacturing. Researchers at Stanford University have introduced a more efficient processing technique that can print up to 1 million highly detailed and customizable microscale particles a day.

Videos of the Month

See the videos of the month, including one on a smart material that's activated by both heat and electricity, one on new materials and applications for medicine, one on a new 3D inkjet printing system that works with a much wider range of materials, and one on the next generation of polymers for 3D printing.

Teleflex Expands New Hampshire Manufacturing Facility

Teleflex Incorporated, a global provider of medical technologies, has announced the completion of its 8,200-square-foot extrusion expansion at the Teleflex Medical OEM facility located in...

New 3D Printing Method Shows Promise for Porous Medical Implants

A method for 3D printing called vapor-induced phase-separation 3D printing, or VIPS-3D, can create single-material as well as multi-material objects. It could be useful for...

3D Printed Skin Closes Wounds

Fat tissue holds the key to 3D printing layered living skin and potentially hair follicles, according to researchers who recently harnessed fat cells and supporting structures from clinically procured human...

From the Editor - Study: The Post-COVID Impact of 3D Printing and Generative Design

As the COVID pandemic began to drive rapid changes in healthcare, innovative manufacturers and makers around the world began using 3D printing and generative design to fill a dire need for masks, swabs, ventilator components, and other medical equipment. Read on to learn more thoughts from Sherrie Trigg, Editor and Director of Medical Content.