1-Mar-2017: DMRL AND JSHL Sign Licensing Agreement for Transfer of Technology of High Nitrogen Steel
Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory (DMRL), Hyderabad, a premier research laboratory of Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) and Jindal Stainless (Hisar) Limited (JSHL) signed the Licensing Agreement for Transfer of Technology of High Nitrogen Steel (HNS) for armour applications.
The Defence Minister noted that HNS technology is a step forward towards Army’s quest for lighter and high performance armouring material compared to the currently used materials. It also has potential for a number of civilian applications and for exports as well.
Transfer of Technology from defence R&D to industry is aligned with the ‘Make in India’ policy to foster conducive environment for industry’s potential growth in the strategic sectors. HNS being a dream material for any researcher should find wide applications for the industry.
DMRL has developed and established a number of frontline and path breaking technologies in the areas of metallurgy and material science.
HNS is not only tough but also has good strength. In addition to being nonmagnetic as well as corrosion resistant, the HNS cost is about 40 percent less compared to Rolled Homogenous Armour Steel (RHA). Very few countries in the world have developed this technology of HNS. This material has potential for a number of defence and civil applications like armouring, mine trawls, oil industries etc.
JSHL is a stainless steel manufacturer, with state-of-the-art facility at Hisar (Haryana), backed with strong production facilities including the triplex refining route, which is used for production of HNS.
15-2-2017: Thubber, a new rubber material with high thermal conductivity.
Scientists have developed a novel rubber material with high thermal conductivity and elasticity. The material is an electrically insulating composite that exhibits an unprecedented combination of metal-like thermal conductivity, elasticity similar to soft, biological tissue, and can stretch over six times its initial length.
Applications could extend to industries like athletic wear and sports medicine — think of lighted clothing for runners and heated garments for injury therapy. Advanced manufacturing, energy, and transportation are other areas where stretchable electronic material could have an impact, researchers said.
The key ingredient in “Thubber” is a suspension of non-toxic, liquid metal micro-droplets. The liquid state allows the metal to deform with the surrounding rubber at room temperature. When the rubber is pre-stretched, the droplets form elongated pathways that are efficient for heat travel.
30-Jan-2017: Scientists create artificial skin using pectin
Scientists have developed an artificial skin that can detect temperature changes. An advance that may diversify robotic and biomedical applications. The material could be grafted onto prosthetic limbs to restore temperature sensing in amputees. It could also be applied to first-aid bandages to alert health professionals of a temperature increase – a sign of infection – in wounds.
The substance responsible for temperature sensitivity was pectin, a long-chain molecule present in plant cell walls. Pectin is already used in food industry as a jellifying agent and its easy to obtain and also very cheap.
Scientists created a thin, transparent flexible film of pectin and water, which is as little as 20 micrometres thick(equivalent to the diameter of a human hair). Pectin molecules in the film have a weakly bonded double-strand structure that contains calcium ions. As temperature increases, these bonds break down and the double strands “unzip,” releasing the positively charged calcium ions.
Either the increased concentration of free calcium ions or their increased mobility results in a decrease in the electrical resistance throughout the material, which can be detected with a multimeter connected to electrodes embedded in the film.
The film senses temperature using a mechanism similar -but not identical – to the pit organs in vipers, which allow the snakes to sense warm prey in the dark by detecting radiated heat.
In those organs, ion channels in the cell membrane of sensory nerve fibers expand as temperature increases. This dilation allows calcium ions to flow, triggering electrical impulses. Existing electronic skins can sense temperature changes of less than a tenth of a degree Celsius across a five-degree temperature range.
The new skin can sense changes that are an order of magnitude smaller and have a responsivity that is two orders of magnitude larger than those of other electronic skins over a 45-degree temperature range. So far, the skin is capable of detecting these tiny changes across a range of temperatures roughly between five to 50 degrees Celsius, which is useful for robotics and biomedical applications.