Market trends and business perspectives
A high-energy shape memory polymer could someday enable robots to “flex their muscles”, according its developers.
When stretched or deformed, shape memory polymers return to their original shapes after heat or light is applied.
These materials show great promise for soft robotics, smart biomedical devices and deployable space structures, but until now they haven’t been able to store enough energy. [Read more…] about High-energy shape memory polymer could enable robots ‘flex their muscles’
Choosing materials is one of the most important decisions when designing and building a machine such as a robot, particularly one that moves around, like an autonomous warehouse robot or an automated guided vehicle.
Most of the machines this website features in its articles and advertising use metals for the vast majority of their components. Even the outer casing on most industrial robots tends to be a metal such as iron or steel.
However, according to an expert at Celanese, one of the largest materials companies in the world, the vast majority of components and parts that are currently made out of metal can actually be replaced with polymers or thermoplastics. [Read more…] about Celanese suggests replacing metal parts in robots with polymers
Dover Corporation, diversified global manufacturer and solutions provider with annual revenue of approximately $7 billion, has completed the acquisition of XanTec.
XanTec Steuerungs und EDV-Technik is a developer and supplier of automation and control solutions for industrial machinery of all types with particular focus on plastic and polymer processing machines across the globe.
XanTec now becomes part of the Maag Group, a global provider of integrated and customizable process technology solutions for the polymer, chemical, petrochemical, pharmaceutical and food industries within Dover’s Pumps & Process Solutions segment. [Read more…] about Dover acquires industrial automation company XanTec
nTopology has entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with Oak Ridge National Laboratory to advance the capabilities of additive manufacturing through integrated software toolkits and embed ORNL expertise into nTop software.
The plan is for these capabilities to be made available commercially to the broader advanced-manufacturing market.
The collaboration incorporates foundational nTopology software with ORNL-developed machine control capabilities on large-scale polymer additive manufacturing systems. [Read more…] about nTopology and Oak Ridge National Laboratory partner to develop additive manufacturing technologies
An automated method of conducting materials science research can increase productivity by 384 times when compared to a human, according to researchers.
The robot-plus-software system also makes it easier for people who are not expert researchers or scientists to create new materials.
A Rutgers-led team of engineers has developed an automated way to produce polymers, making it much easier to create advanced materials aimed at improving human health. [Read more…] about Automation increases productivity in materials science by 384 times, say researchers
