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A D V A N C E D
M A T E R I A L S
&
P R O C E S S E S |
A P R I L
2 0 1 5
7 OMG!
OUTRAGEOUSMATERIALSGOODNESS
Are you working with or have you
discovered a material or its properties
that exhibit OMG - Outrageous
Materials Goodness?
Send your submissions to
Julie Lucko at
PAINT CHANGES COLOR
WITH A CHARGE
LitCoat, Las Vegas, could revolu-
tionize the painting industry with its
new paramagnetic electroluminescent
paint, which changes color when in con-
tact with an electric charge. The new
color, called electroluminescence, also
gives off its own light. The basecoat ma-
terial, ELfarbe, is an environmentally
friendly nanocomposite polymer binder
system. It is used in all painting layers
and goes from the dielectric layer all the
way to the electroluminescent layer. For
the dielectric layer, ELfarbe is combined
with barium titanate powder, whereas in
the conductive layer it is combined with
graphene oxide or antimony-doped tin
oxide. In the electroluminescent layer,
ELfarbe is combined with phosphoric
pigment representing the color of a us-
er’s choice , .
PRINTING MUSICAL
INSTRUMENTS IN 3D
Before completing his medical de-
gree from the University of Connecticut
School of Medicine, real-life renaissance
man, Robert Howe, earned dual under-
graduate degrees in chemistry and mu-
sic through a joint program between
Case Western Reserve University and
the Cleveland Institute of Music.
Recently Howe has accelerated
his interest in studying music more
formally as Ph.D. candidate in UConn’s
School of Fine Arts. Along with his doc-
toral advisor, Richard Bass, Howe has
orchestrated a collaborative effort be-
tween musicians and engineers, using
technology typically exclusive to med-
ical science—micro-computed tomog-
raphy—to explore the makeup of 18th-
and 19th-century musical instruments.
Using the technology in this way
for the first time provides researchers
with precise measurements to within
thousandths of a millimeter for parts of
antique instruments such as the saxo-
phone and recorder. Their findings have
resulted in the unprecedented repli-
cation of instrument parts—using 3D
printing—that could allow instruments
hundreds of years old to be played once
again while providing security authenti-
cation for rare instruments held by col-
lectors and museums. .
THE HISTORY OF
PLASTIC MONEY
The Reserve Bank of Australia
(RBA) and CSIRO’s 20-year bank project
resulted in the polymer banknote—the
first ever of its kind, and the most secure
form of currency in the world. The proj-
ect commenced in 1968 and continued
until 1988 with the release of the A$10
bicentennial commemorative banknote.
Australia’s transition from the
pound to the dollar was a momentous
occasion. With cutting edge security
features such as watermarks and metal
thread, things couldn’t have been better
for the note-issuer, the RBA. But the new
notes were not infallible, and it didn’t
take long for counterfeiters to strike.
By the end of the year, a team of
amateurs from suburban Melbourne,
armed with simple office equipment
and a desire to make some money,
produced a batch of fake notes that
netted them almost A$800,000 (worth
A$9.6 million in 2013) worth of forger-
ies. Despite their initial success, author-
ities soon picked up on their activities
and the forgers went to jail in 1967.
After some preliminary planning,
the bank project began. Originally, sev-
en top Australian scientists were en-
listed to help the RBA develop a more
secure banknote. As well as being dif-
ficult to forge, the new notes were also
more durable than the traditional “rag
notes,” more environmentally friendly,
and less likely to carry dirt and disease.
These technical improvements were
made within the first 10 years of the
bank project, but behind-the-scenes
delays prevented the issue of these rev-
olutionary notes until the bicentennial
year 1988. In a defiant gesture to the
original counterfeiters, the first note is-
sued was a A$10. .
Sina Shahbazmohamadi, who received
his Ph.D. fromUConn in 2013, worked
with Howe and Bass to develop a new
method for using micro-computed
tomography to examine antique wind
instruments and then create new parts
using 3D printing technology. Courtesy of
Sean Flynn/UConn Photo.
The first polymer banknotes. One side
symbolized European settlement and the
other, the original discovery and settle-
ment of Australia 40–60,000 years earlier.
Courtesy of RBA/Wikimedia Commons.
Are you working with or have you
discovered a material or its properties
that exhibit OMG - Outrageous
Materials Goodness?
Send your sub issions to
Julie Lucko at