Scientists have found a promising new way to manufacture one of industry’s toughest materials—tungsten carbide–cobalt—using advanced 3D printing. Normally, producing this ultra-hard material requires ...

Is there a way to stick hard and soft materials together without any tape, glue or epoxy? A new study published in ACS Central Science shows that applying a small voltage to certain objects forms ...

It was found that the hard material must be capable of conducting ions, and the soft material has to contain salt ions. The scientists believe that a chemical bond forms when the two materials ...

Tungsten carbide–cobalt (WC–Co) is prized for its hardness, but that same property makes it unusually difficult to shape. The current process is wasteful and expensive for the yield produced, and an ...

Bike locks don’t work well: More than two million bikes are stolen each year in North America alone. Even when a lock might slow down a thief, it’s fairly easy to finish the job in a crowded city, ...

Russian scientists have synthesized a new ultra-hard material consisting of scandium containing carbon. It consists of polymerized fullerene molecules with scandium and carbon atoms inside. The work ...

Making computer chips smaller is not just about better design. It also depends on a critical step in manufacturing called patterning, where nanoscale structures are carved into materials to form the ...

Space is tough on materials. Radiation, UV light, atomic oxygen and sharp temperature swings can degrade metals, polymers and coatings over time. This article looks at the current ways researchers are ...