Fabric has been dyed by the same wasteful method for over 100 years. This involves chemical agents being added to a dye bath and thrown away afterwards. A new process developed by EUREKA project E! 2625 EUROENVIRON ECDVAT (ElectroChemical Dyeing with Vat dyes) replaces environmentally damaging chemical reducing agents with electrons.
According to Prof. Dr. Thomas Bechtold of the University of Innsbruck’s Textiles Department, the new process can be more easily controlled. Using the conventio
Inventors at Oxford University have developed a new method to indirectly measure the surface tension of liquid by tracking reflected light intensity to assess the surface configuration. The procedure is reliable, repeatable, quick to set-up and use, contact-less and non-destructive.
Surface tension measurement is an important tool in the characterisation of surface-active liquids and mixtures. Although precise, traditional measuring methods suffer from several problems. With well-established
A new technique to detect localised corrosion in steel and other metals could help industry avoid major repair bills. In some cases, it could even help prevent serious safety problems in industrial plants and other building structures.
This technique differs from traditional methods as it is able to detect corrosion on a much smaller level. This means that preventative action can be taken earlier, saving money, time and possibly lives.
Funded by the Swindon-based Engineering and Ph
Australian scientists have produced a new high-speed welding technology that slashes hours from traditional joining of corrosion-resistant metals.
The Keyhole Welding process has been developed jointly by the Cooperative Research Centre for Welded Structures and CSIRO Elaborately Transformed Metals at Woodville in Adelaide, South Australia.
CSIRO’s Dr Ted Summerville says, ’This is a breakthrough, high-quality solution to the limited penetration of conventional TIG welding’.
Major blackouts such as those that hit North America last week can result from combinations of relatively small problems, such as trees growing too close to powerlines, according to Kevin Cryan, Business Development Manager with CSIRO Mathematical and Information Sciences.
“There seem to have been a number of factors that led to the recent disastrous blackouts but it’s been reported that one incident involved an overheated powerline sagging and making contact with trees,” says Mr Cryan.
New research into jet printing on textiles could lead to a faster, cheaper alternative to conventional ways of dyeing fabrics. Jet printing could also deliver valuable design benefits, such as a wider choice of colours and avoidance of the need to repeat patterns in a design.
The research is being carried out at Leeds University, with funding from the Swindon-based Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. Involving a number of industrial partners, the initiative is also bringing t
Reprogammable microarrays
Physicists at the Georgia Institute of Technology have demonstrated a new optical technique for controlling the flow of very small volumes of fluids over solid surfaces. The technique, which relies on changes in surface tension prompted by optically-generated thermal gradients, could provide the foundation for a new generation of dynamically reprogrammable microfluidic devices.
A paper describing the technique is the cover story for the August 1 iss
New data from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will assist in the design of optics for liquid immersion lithography, an old idea that recently has attracted new interest as a possible means of improving image resolution and thereby shrinking feature sizes of computer chips.
Conventional optical lithography has advanced sufficiently to achieve a resolution of 100 nanometers (billionths of a meter), but there are physical and technical limits to how much better it can
A revolutionary breakthrough in heat transfer technology that could improve process productivity and reduce energy consumption and waste, is being developed by Ashe Morris Ltd thanks to a £100,000 investment from NESTA (the National Endowment for Science, Technology & the Arts), the largest source of early stage funding in the UK.
Heat exchangers are used in many industrial, commercial and domestic applications and can be used to add or remove heat during chemical and biological manu
A new method for treating the smell of rotten eggs emitted by sewage plants, developed in conjunction by a researcher at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona’s Engineering School (ETSE) and a researcher from the University of California, could lead to worldwide savings of two million euros a year. The researchers have discovered a simple method for transforming the chemical odour filters currently installed in treatment plants into equally efficient, but cheaper and less toxic, biological filters.
What would you use to try and find an underground water leak, your ears or radar? Believe it or not the only way to find water leaks involves trying to hear the hiss of the leak through a device like a stethoscope. This antiquated system could soon be a thing of the past as a fast and full-proof method using radar is being developed thanks to an investment of £76,810 from NESTA (the National Endowment for Science, Technology & the Arts), the organisation that invests in UK creativity and innovation.
In this year’s competition of the international scientific association, EUNITE, three teams have succeeded in predicting the temporal development of the five response signals in the process control of a glass melting tank (with 29 input parameters) over a period of two weeks. The – weighted – deviation of the modelled values from the real values was 0.3 per cent. The winners will present their results at the EUNITE Conference from 10th to 12th July in Oulu, Finland. As an expression of its gratitude,
A new approach that makes paper from straw, which cuts production costs and is kinder to the planet, is one step closer to reality thanks to an investment award of £90,500 from NESTA (the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) – the organisation that nurtures UK creativity and innovation.
The innovation is the brainchild of a Surrey-based environmental company, BioRegional MiniMills Ltd. The driving force behind this company is a former nurse, Sue Riddlestone who became ver
Aircraft wheel and brake assemblies can become very hot during braking as the plane’s kinetic energy is transformed into heat by brake pads and dissipated into the surrounding components. The wheel, the tyres, the piston that clamps the pads into place and the metal housing of the brakes are all subject to sudden and intense heat. Now a new aluminium alloy eases manufacturers’’ fears of failure by handling the heat better.
The new alloy therefore forms a key component of a car
Explores abandoned mine
Carnegie Mellon University researchers, working with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), will demonstrate a prototype, autonomous wheeled robot today as it explores and maps a 3,500-foot corridor of an abandoned coal mine near New Eagle in southwestern Pennsylvania.
Named Groundhog, the robot was developed by students in the Robotics Institut
A new method to accurately measure quantities of a cheese-ripening enzyme in milk could reduce the time and cost of producing cheese, according to a report by Purdue University researchers.
Infrared spectroscopy was used in combination with statistical analysis to determine the concentration of plasminogen, a form of the enzyme integral to cheese manufacturing. The study, by co-authors Lisa Mauer and Kirby Hayes, both assistant professors in the Department of Food Science, is published in th
Feedback
