Category Archives: Materials Science

Challenges in Measuring Nanofiber Adoption

Posted on October 17, 2013 by flybrand1976

As part of recent INDA RISE Conference, we were asked to pull together a presentation on industrial scale manufacturing of nanofiber (“NF”) membranes.  As part of that presentation I wound up covering some observations on why it is tough to … Continue reading →

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Peak Printer and Newspaper as a Historical Accident

Posted on July 28, 2013 by flybrand1976

Market research firm Photizo Group provided a recent CompuWorld article on the current state of consumer printers with the graph on the right which shows that 2010 is expected to be ‘Peak Printer’ with just over 16 million global units … Continue reading →

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3D Printing: Chasm Crossing Applications

Posted on June 28, 2013 by flybrand1976

I’m a skeptic on 3D printing.  In talking with a good friend a few weeks ago, the challenge was made, “Okay, I get it that you’re a skeptic.  If you were managing that business, what would you do?”  Challenge accepted … Continue reading →

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Materials Science Reporting: Stronger, Lighter Elevator Cables

Posted on June 20, 2013 by flybrand1976

Reporting on innovations in the materials science field tends to follow the Gartner Hype Cycle – most early reports are vague, full of promises, and ultimately a few years later, nothing has been delivered.  The Economist’s recent article on innovations … Continue reading →

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Peak X: Applying Hubbert’s Peak Theory Beyond Natural Resources

Posted on June 17, 2013 by flybrand1976

Shell Oil Geologist Dr. M. King Hubbert (1903 – 1989) coined the phrase ‘Peak Oil’ based on his observations about petroleum production rates for a given geographic area.  Hubbert’s “Peak Theory” would be broadly stated as, “for a given geographic … Continue reading →

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Filtration Challenges: Too Many Circles in my Venn Diagram

Posted on April 12, 2013 by flybrand1976

When we are working with a customer to design a new porous material, the first two criteria we often look at are (1) the efficiency (how much of the particulate are we going to capture, usually expressed as a % … Continue reading →

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3D Printing: Not Past the Hype Until 2025

Posted on January 3, 2013 by flybrand1976

Tech News Today host Tom Merritt brought up the outlook for 3D printing in their year end Forecast Show – the technology continued go get a lot of press in 2012 and Mr. Merritt’s outlook for 2013 was optimistic but … Continue reading →

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Nonwovens and Battery Anodes: Applying the Materials Science Framework

Posted on May 12, 2012 by flybrand1976

Dr. Yi Cui of Stanford and founder of battery company Amprius, recently published a paper outlining a new structure for battery anodes.  Graphite is the most commonly used anode material, durability constraints have prohibited adoption of silicon, despite the fact … Continue reading →

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The Textile Supply Chain

Posted on May 6, 2012 by flybrand1976

Like most mature industries, the textile supply chain is large and complex. Materials which the lay person might view as substitutes can have dramatically different end applications. The savvy industry participant can sell the same good to different end users … Continue reading →

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Framework for Materials Science Innovation: Promoting Musso

Posted on November 29, 2009 by flybrand1976

The original .pdf of this paper is here.  The .pdf has several images and graphs that are not present here. Introduction This article was written to summarize and promote the concepts of Dr. Christopher Musso (bio is here [http://esd.mit.edu/people/alumni.html#musso]), as … Continue reading →

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