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Cool! New energy-efficient R290 enclosure air conditioners

Seifert Systems introduces PFAS-free SoliTherm^® SlimLine NEO air conditioners using eco-friendly R290 refrigerant. These units offer high energy efficiency (EER up to 3.6) and a compact, under-8-in. internal depth. Featuring maintenance-free design with external or recessed mounting options, they deliver up to 8,500 BTU/hr, providing flexible cooling solutions for varied industrial enclosure needs. Several models available based on size/cooling capacity needs.
Learn more and see all your options.

Surface inspection: From Army depot to factory floor

Born from U.S. Army requirements for rotorcraft inspection, the GelSight Modulus 3D surface measurement system has surpassed 100 units sold to commercial and Department of Defense customers. The handheld, micron-scale tool with interchangeable probe tips delivers fast, high-res measurements in places traditional tools can't reach.
Read the full article.

What is Cold Metal Fusion?

Cold Metal Fusion is an open industry standard for sinter-based metal additive manufacturing. It combines polymer SLS design freedom with reliable debinding and sintering workflows, enabling complex geometries, lightweighting, lattice structures, conformal cooling channels, and high-precision metal parts with predictable shrink behavior. Now available from TriMech Group, this process offers a faster, cost-effective way to produce strong, high-performance metal parts.
Learn more from TriMech Group.

Cool! Internal threading in hard materials now possible

INSACO has a new capability where they can machine an internal thread in ceramic, sapphire, quartz, and other very hard materials. This advance pushes the boundaries of what's possible to support advanced applications that demand high precision and complexity. Ultra-hard materials are alternatives for when metal can't do the job. Ideal for aerospace, medical, and industrial applications.
Learn more. Video available on right side of page.

ClampDisk micro fastener is new alternative for automotive and consumer electronics

Designed as a unique alternative in assemblies for the automotive and consumer electronics markets, the ClampDisk Press-on Fastener is a newer offering from PennEngineering that delivers a fast, simple way to achieve sheet-to-sheet clamped fastening while replacing the use of standard screws, nuts, and adhesives. ClampDisk eliminates over-installation, cross-threading, stripped screw heads, broken screws, and damaged product. This fastener can be removed easily with a sharp-edged tool.
See how ClampDisk works.

Simplify appliance glass assembly

Henkel's Technomelt PUR 9015 BV/WV is a polyurethane hotmelt adhesive providing high initial strength and long-term durability for glass and large-panel appliance assembly. It enables immediate handling, excellent substrate adhesion, and high thermal resistance, while supporting automated, cost-efficient production. It offers a flexible solution for high-reliability manufacturing.
Learn more.

Made-to-order stamped components for insert molding

Traditionally, OEMs source metal inserts and insert molding services separately. Not anymore. Plastics manufacturers and injection molders are now taking on more of the sourcing responsibility for insert molded parts, and they are partnering with Boker's, who has a long-term proven record for delivering precision stampings with quick turnaround times and ensuring metal inserts are mold-ready upon delivery. Boker's has immediate access to over 2,000 commonly specified and hard-to-find materials.
Learn more.

SDP/SI Shaftloc Fastening System

Shaftloc is a unique, reusable locking device for securely mounting mechanical components like gears and sprockets onto shafts without the need for keyways, set screws, or adhesives. Its simple, two-piece design offers a cost-effective alternative to traditional fasteners, providing high clamping force and vibration resistance. Installed with standard tools, Shaftloc is perfect for designers seeking flexible, hubless mounting solutions. Available in four styles.
Learn more from SDP/SI.

Epoxy engineered for heat-sink bonding

Master Bond EP54TC is a two-component epoxy engineered for heat-sink bonding and thermal management applications. Featuring the highest thermal conductivity in the Master Bond electrically insulating portfolio, it delivers exceptional heat dissipation while remaining electrically non-conductive and compliant with ASTM E595 NASA low outgassing requirements. It supports thin bond lines and efficient void filling to maximize thermal performance.
Learn more.

Metal 3D printing: Right at your desktop

From prototyping to tooling or batch production of end-use parts, the Studio System 2 from Desktop Metal brings metal 3D printing to any office, studio, or lab setting. This powder- and laser-free system consists of an easy-to-adopt two-step process: print using pre-bound metal rod feedstock and then sinter. It requires minimal training and operator intervention. Combined with next-gen Separable Supports and a software-controlled workflow, the Studio System makes metal 3D printing simpler than ever. This platform offers more materials than any other metal extrusion 3D-printing system on the market, including Inconel 625, titanium (Ti64), copper, tool steels, and stainless steels.
View the video and learn more.

Metal 3D printing: EOS adds four new materials

Industrial 3D-printing supplier EOS has added four new metal additive manufacturing materials to its portfolio: an iron-nickel alloy that boasts stability under fluctuating temps, a nickel alloy with high strength and extreme corrosion resistance, a low-alloyed steel prized for its high toughness and strength, and an industrial-grade stainless steel. Each has been optimized for EOS Laser Powder Bed Fusion systems.
Get all the details.

Application Note: Disc springs in mechanical braking system

Braking systems for off-highway equipment are commonly designed to be hydraulically actuated, but without an additional fail-safe system, this design alone has limited reliability. If a hydraulic seal is compromised, or the hydraulic cylinder loses pressure for any reason, the brakes fail. One solid mechanical back-up design uses SPIROL disc springs.
Read the full article.

Configurable welding platform for flexible manufacturing

Emerson's new Branson Polaris Ultrasonic Welding Platform offers a highly configurable, smart solution for advanced manufacturing. It features secure connectivity and real-time control to join diverse materials, from medical devices to food packaging. With adaptable power supplies and actuators, the system scales from benchtop lab trials to fully automated production lines, optimizing footprint and data storage to meet complex application needs.
Learn more.

SPIROL receives 2025 Supplier Excellence Recognition Award from Caterpillar

Kudos to SPIROL! The engineered fasteners manufacturer has received the 2025 Supplier Excellence Recognition Award from Caterpillar Inc. This prestigious award recognizes suppliers who demonstrate world-class performance and a sustained commitment to quality, delivery, and operational excellence.
Read the full article.

Eliminate cotters, bolts, nuts with SLIC Pin^®

The SLIC Pin (Self-Locking Implanted Cotter Pin) from Pivot Point is a pin and cotter all in one. This one-piece locking clevis pin is cost saving, fast, and secure. It functions as a quick locking pin wherever you need a fast-lock function. It features a spring-loaded plunger that functions as an easy insertion ramp. This revolutionary fastening pin is very popular and used successfully in a wide range of applications.
Learn more.

Engineers develop a way to determine how the surfaces of materials behave

Using machine learning, the computational method can provide details of how materials work as catalysts, semiconductors, or battery components.

By David L. Chandler, MIT

Designing new compounds or alloys whose surfaces can be used as catalysts in chemical reactions can be a complex process relying heavily on the intuition of experienced chemists. A team of researchers at MIT has devised a new approach using machine learning that removes the need for intuition and provides more detailed information than conventional methods can practically achieve.

For example, applying the new system to a material that has already been studied for 30 years by conventional means, the team found the compound's surface could form two new atomic configurations that had not previously been identified, and that one other configuration seen in previous works is likely unstable.

MIT researchers devised a machine-learning-based method to investigate how materials behave at their surfaces. The approach could help in developing compounds or alloys for use as catalysts, semiconductors, or battery components. [Credit: MIT News]

 

 

 

 

The findings are described in the journal Nature Computational Science in a paper by MIT graduate student Xiaochen Du, professors Rafael Gomez-Bombarelli and Bilge Yildiz, MIT Lincoln Laboratory technical staff member Lin Li, and three others.

Surfaces of materials often interact with their surroundings in ways that depend on the exact configuration of atoms at the surface, which can differ depending on which parts of the material's atomic structure are exposed. Think of a layer cake with raisins and nuts in it: Depending on exactly how you cut the cake, different amounts and arrangements of the layers and fruits will be exposed on the edge of your slice. The environment matters as well. The cake's surface will look different if it is soaked in syrup, making it moist and sticky, or if it is put in the oven, crisping and darkening the surface. This is akin to how materials' surfaces respond when immersed in a liquid or exposed to varying temperatures.

Methods usually used to characterize material surfaces are static, looking at a particular configuration out of the millions of possibilities. The new method allows an estimate of all the variations, based on just a few first-principles calculations automatically chosen by an iterative machine-learning process, in order to find those materials with the desired properties.

In addition, unlike typical present methods, the new system can be extended to provide dynamic information about how the surface properties change over time under operating conditions, for example while a catalyst is actively promoting a chemical reaction, or while a battery electrode is charging or discharging.

The researchers' method, which they call an Automatic Surface Reconstruction framework, avoids the need to use hand-picked examples of surfaces to train the neural network used in the simulation. Instead, it starts with a single example of a pristine cut surface, then uses active learning combined with a type of Monte-Carlo algorithm to select sites to sample on that surface, evaluating the results of each example site to guide the selection of the next sites. Using fewer than 5,000 first-principles calculations, out of the millions of possible chemical compositions and configurations, the system can obtain accurate predictions of the surface energies across various chemical or electrical potentials, the team reports.

"We are looking at thermodynamics," Du says, "which means that, under different kinds of external conditions such as pressure, temperature, and chemical potential, which can be related to the concentration of a certain element, [we can investigate] what is the most stable structure for the surface?"

In principle, determining the thermodynamic properties of a material's surface requires knowing the surface energies across a specific single atomic arrangement and then determining those energies millions of times to encompass all the possible variations and to capture the dynamics of the processes taking place. While it is possible in theory to do this computationally, "It's just not affordable" at a typical laboratory scale, Gomez-Bombarelli says. Researchers have been able to get good results by examining just a few specific cases, but this isn't enough cases to provide a true statistical picture of the dynamic properties involved, he says.

Using their method, Du says, "We have new features that allow us to sample the thermodynamics of different compositions and configurations. We also show that we are able to achieve these at a lower cost, with fewer expensive quantum mechanical energy evaluations -- and we are also able to do this for harder materials," including three-component materials.

"What is traditionally done in the field," he says, "is researchers, based on their intuition and knowledge, will test only a few guess surfaces. But we do comprehensive sampling, and it's done automatically."

Du adds, "We've transformed a process that was once impossible or extremely challenging due to the need for human intuition. Now, we require minimal human input. We simply provide the pristine surface, and our tool handles the rest."

That tool, or set of computer algorithms, called AutoSurfRecon, has been made freely available by the researchers so it can be downloaded and used by any researchers in the world to help, for example, in developing new materials for catalysts, such as for the production of "green" hydrogen as an alternative emissions-free fuel, or for new battery or fuel cell components.

For example, Gomez-Bombarelli says, in developing catalysts for hydrogen production, "Part of the problem is that it's not really understood how their surface is different from their bulk as the catalytic cycle occurs. So, there's this disconnect between what the material looks like when it's being used and what it looks like when it's being prepared before it gets put into action."

He adds, "At the end of the day, in catalysis, the entity responsible for the catalyst doing something is a few atoms exposed on the surface, so it really matters a lot what exactly the surface looks like at the moment."

Another potential application is in studying the dynamics of chemical reactions used to remove carbon dioxide from the air or from power plant emissions. These reactions often work by using a material that acts as a kind of sponge for absorbing oxygen, so it strips oxygen atoms from the carbon dioxide molecules, leaving behind carbon monoxide, which can be a useful fuel or chemical feedstock. Developing such materials "requires understanding of what the surface does with the oxygens, and how it's structured," Gomez-Bombarelli says.

Using their tool, the researchers studied the surface atomic arrangement of the perovskite material strontium titanium oxide, or SrTiO₃, which had already been analyzed by others using conventional methods for more than three decades yet was still not fully understood. They discovered two new arrangements of the atoms at its surface that had not been previously reported, and they predict that one arrangement that had been reported is in fact unlikely to occur at all.

"This highlights that the method works without intuitions," Gomez-Bombarelli says, "and that's good, because sometimes intuition is wrong, and what people have thought was the case turns out not to be." This new tool, he says, will allow researchers to be more exploratory, trying out a broader range of possibilities.

Now that their code has been released to the community at large, he says, "We hope that it will be inspiration for very quick improvements" by other users.

Published December 2023

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