Industry Updates
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Industry Updates
Published online: 8 October 2010 Ó ASM International 2010
Kansas Center to Make Polymers from Oils Produced by Algae Depending on what algae eat, they produce things like oils that could be converted into polymers. The field of renewable materials is both popular and relevant to the green chemistry movement that is receiving a lot of attention today. Algae research is an area that has a lot of potential. A $2 million allocation from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to develop materials from oil produced by algae has been awarded to the Kansas Polymer Research Center (KPRC) at Pittsburg State University, Pittsburg, Kan. The goal is to simplify the conversion process of using natural oils to create polymers for environmentallyfriendly products such as floor tile and foam seats for chairs. The research would take the Center’s work from a multistep to a single-step conversion process, which would save time, money, energy, and waste. For more information: Andrew W. Myers, Kansas Polymer Research Center (KPRC) and Business & Technology Institute (BTI), Pittsburg State University, Tyler Research Center, 1204 Research Road, Pittsburg, KS 66762; tel: 620/ 235-6092; fax: 620/235-4049; e-mail: [email protected]; web: www.btikansas.com/home/KPRC. Atomic Force Microscopy Used to Study Subsurface Structures Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is a powerful tool for imaging surfaces at resolutions down to fractions of a
nanometer. Researchers at the National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST), working with the National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA), National Institute of Aerospace (NIA), University of Virginia, and University of Missouri have shown that AFM can be modified to deliver valuable data about subsurface conditions, which could be particularly useful in the design and manufacture of nanostructured composite materials, such as carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in a polymer matrix. In traditional AFM, a delicate, needle-like point hovers just above the surface to be profiled and responds to weak, atomic-level forces, which restricts the instrument to the surface of a sample. Instead, the NIST team used an AFM designed to sense the stronger, longer-range electrostatic force, measuring the interaction between the probe tip and a charged plate beneath the composite sample. (Technically, they devised an electrostatic force microscope, or EFM.) The EFM technique for subsurface imaging is still being optimized. If the depth of nanostructures located from the film surface can be determined quantitatively, the technique will be a powerful tool for nondestructive subsurface imaging of high dielectric nanostructures in a low dielectric matrix. For more information: Minhua Zhao, Polymeric Materials Group, National Institute of Standards and Technology, 100 Bureau Drive, Stop 1070, Gaithersburg, MD 20899-1070; tel: 301/975-NIST (6478); e-mail: [email protected]; web: www.nist.gov/bfrl/building_ materials/afm_062310.cfm.
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J Fail. Anal. and Preven. (2010) 10:489–495
Electric force microscopy can
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