Materials science and engineering

Sale of LORD Corporation leads to $1 billion-plus fund for education, research at Cleveland Clinic, Duke, MIT and USC

November 13, 2019

Oil and natural gas wells require concrete to seal the area between the well casing and the surrounding borehole, but because of the high temperatures and pressures at depth, it has been hard to study how these specialized cements harden. Now, a new method developed at MIT can help to fill in that missing knowledge.

New tools could improve the way cement seals oil wells

Techniques for observing concrete as it sets could facilitate the development of new cements.

November 12, 2019

Eight distinguished researchers spoke at the 2019 Materials Day Symposium. Pictured here (l-r) are MIT professors Carl Thompson, Asu Ozdaglar, Elsa Olivetti, and Ju Li.

Materials Day talks examine the promises and challenges of AI and machine learning

The ability to predict and make new materials faster highlights the need for safety, reliability, and accurate data.

November 5, 2019

NASA’s official mission patch for the upcoming space biofilms experiment, developed at MIT and the University of Colorado, which is scheduled to be sent to the International Space Station.

3 Questions: How to control biofilms in space

MIT and University of Colorado researchers are collaborating on an experiment to be sent to the International Space Station.

November 1, 2019

$The repeating patterns in a snowflake are a classic example of beautiful, geometric fractals. Now MIT scientists have discovered fractal-like patterns in the magnetic configurations of a quantum material for the first time.$

Scientists discover fractal patterns in a quantum material

The X-ray-focusing lens used in the experiment is based on a design used in lighthouses for centuries.

October 16, 2019

Susan Rosevear (center), education officer for MIT Materials Research Laboratory’s Materials Research Science and Engineering Center, instructs students from the Putnam Avenue Upper School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, how to build a simple direct current (DC) motor.

Cambridge middle school students explore materials science at MIT

Materials Research Science and Engineering Center welcomed area students for lessons in glassblowing, making motors, and making ice cream.

October 11, 2019

Recent graduate student Karly Bast shows off the scale model of a bridge designed by Leonardo da Vinci that she and her co-workers used to prove the design’s feasibility.

Engineers put Leonardo da Vinci’s bridge design to the test

Proposed bridge would have been the world’s longest at the time; new analysis shows it would have worked.

October 9, 2019

Traditional structure-based representations of the many forms of zeolites, some of which are illustrated here, provide little guidance as to how they can convert to other forms, but a new graph-based system does a much better job.

A new mathematical approach to understanding zeolites

Study of minerals widely used in industrial processes could lead to discovery of new materials for catalysis and filtering.

October 7, 2019

MIT researchers detect a single quantum vibration within a diamond sample (shown here) at room temperature.

Scientists observe a single quantum vibration under ordinary conditions

Studying a common material at room temperature, researchers bring quantum behavior “closer to our daily life.”

October 6, 2019

A new model predicts how cornstarch and water, a non-Newtonian fluid, can behave like a solid or liquid, depending on how fast it’s deformed. When swirled slowly in a glass, the mixture acts as a liquid. But when deformed quickly, it can behave as a rubbery solid, forming a glue-like string as (shown here in series) a hammer pulls a nail out of the mixture.

Oobleck’s weird behavior is now predictable

MIT engineers develop a model that predicts how the cornstarch-water mixture turns from liquid to solid, and back again.

October 5, 2019

This diagram shows an edge-on view of the molecular structure of the new coating material. The thin layered material being coated is shown in violet at bottom, and the ambient air is shown as the scattered molecules of oxygen and water at the top. The dark layer in between is the protective material, which allows some oxygen (red) through, forming an oxide layer below that provides added protecti...

A new way to corrosion-proof thin atomic sheets

Ultrathin coating could protect 2D materials from corrosion, enabling their use in optics and electronics.

October 4, 2019

MIT Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering Juejun (JJ) Hu

3 Questions: How artificial intelligence is supercharging materials science

Associate Professor Juejun Hu shines a light on the impact machine learning and AI are having on materials science and engineering.

October 3, 2019

A LEES researcher reviews a 200 mm silicon III-V wafer.

SMART develops a way to commercially manufacture integrated silicon III-V chips

New method from MIT’s research enterprise in Singapore paves the way for improved optoelectronic and 5G devices.

October 3, 2019

MIT physics graduate student Dahlia Klein (left) and postdoc David MacNeill showed that magnetic order and stacking order are very strongly linked in two-dimensional magnets such as chromium chloride and chromium iodide, giving engineers a tool to vary the material’s magnetic properties.

Controlling 2-D magnetism with stacking order

MIT researchers discover why magnetism in certain materials is different in atomically thin layers and their bulk forms.

September 30, 2019

The MIT.nano Immersion Lab will provide an array of software and hardware for NCSOFT seed grant recipients and other researchers at MIT who are investigating augmented reality, virtual reality, and the display and analysis of spatially related data.

MIT.nano awards inaugural NCSOFT seed grants for gaming technologies

Five software and hardware projects will launch the MIT.nano Immersion Lab Gaming Program.