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The researchers are now testing whether it is possible – where two metal surfaces are in contact with each other – to apply a coating to the surfaces formed of hard particles and capsules filled with liquid lubricant. “We apply the lubricant using a thermal spray technique, where powder and capsules are fired at the surface using a flame,” says Sergio Armada of SINTEF Materials and Chemistry. “When the metal surfaces come into contact with each other, the coating is broken down in a controlled manner, releasing the contents of the capsules, and the lubricant will then prevent further friction.”
The researchers have carried out a number of tests on slide bearings in industrial settings, in which they have measured friction on surfaces with and without the capsules. When a coating without capsules was applied to the slide bearing, the friction coefficient was 0.7, while friction was reduced to 0.15 in bearings coated with a layer of capsules.
Researchers in Aalto University have developed a new concept for computing, using water droplets as bits of digital information. This was enabled by the discovery that upon collision with each other on a highly water-repellent surface, two water droplets rebound like billiard balls.
Image: Water droplets moving on a superhydrophobic surface collide with each other and rebound like billiard balls. © Aalto University
Henrikki Mertaniemi, Robert Forchheimer, Olli Ikkala, Robin H. A. Ras: Rebounding Droplet-Droplet Collisions on Superhydrophobic Surfaces: from the Phenomenon to Droplet Logic, In: Advanced Materials Early View, September 04, 2012, DOI: 10.1002/adma.201202980: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/adma.201202980
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=GTnVwyWaVQw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ygMdQ9NUbok
Researchers from Berlin, Louvain, and from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology present a new method to produce photonic crystals. The SPRIE – Sequential Passivation and Reactive Ion Etching – method can produce a three-dimensional photonic crystal within a few minutes, as it is based on conventional industrial processes. In principle, a three-dimensional structure can be generated in silicon using a freely choosable mask. This opens up new possibilities for meeting the requirements made on optical components in telecommunications.
“Our new SPRIE fabrication methods uses established technologies, such as etching and innovative methods like self-organization and combines them in a very creative manner,” says Martin Wegener, Professor of the Institute of Applied Physics and Institute of Nanotechnology of KIT, Germany, and coordinator of the German DFG Center for Functional Nanostructures (CFN). The SPRIE method