Nov_Dec_AMP_Digital

1 0 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 | N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 7 AFM REDESIGN BRINGS NEW MEASUREMENTS TO LIGHT Engineers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaith- ersburg, Md., redesigned the detection system of the atomic force microscope (AFM), pushing the instrument to an unprecedented level of both precision and speed. The researchers slimmed down the AFM’s probe to weigh a mere trillionth of a gram, then integrated it with a nanoscale optical disk resona- tor. Because the two components are just 150 nm apart, the probe’s infini- tesimal movements alter the resonant frequencies in the disk, translating tiny mechanical motions into amplified optical signals. The new system can register a displacement as small as a TESTING | CHARACTERIZATION CONSORTIUM SETS SIGHTS ON NEXT-GEN PROCESS CONTROL A European collaboration of 12 research institutions and 15 compa- nies, coordinated by Helmholtz-Zen- trum, Germany, launched an initiative to develop imaging-based industrial process control. The group, “Smart To- mographic Sensors for Advanced In- dustrial Process Control” (TOMOCON), seeks to capitalize on today’s ultra- fast parallel-data processing capabili- ties to create real-time sensors for machines and processing plants sim- ilar to those used in self-driving cars. Doctoral education and industrial The National Science Foundation awarded $23.2 million over the next six years to The Cornell Center for Materials Research, Ithaca, N.Y. The award will fund three projects: Mechanisms, Materials, and Devices for Spin Manipulation; Structured Materials for Strong Light-Matter Interac- tions; and 2D Atomic Membranes for 3D Systems, which will create 2D materials that self-fold into highly responsive 3D structures. ccmr.cornell.edu . BRIEFS Inspection and nondestructive testing provider Versa Integrity Group Inc., New Orleans, will acquire Carbon Steel Inspection Inc. (CSI), Pittsburgh. CSI special- izes in eddy current services and products for refining, chemical, and power generation customers, and will operate as a subsidiary of Versa. versaintegrity.com . training will be offered to 15 research- ers, and topics of inquiry will include sensor technology, process tomogra- phy, industrial process control, compu- tational physics and process model- ing, human-machine interaction, and massive parallel-data processing. TOMOCON will also undertake four technical demonstrations in close collaboration with industry partners. Smart tomographic sensors will be cre- ated for use in inline fluid separation for the chemical and petrochemical indus- tries, and magnetic tomography sen- sors will be developed to control mold injection in high-speed continuous steel casting. In addition, ultrasound-con- trolled industrial crystallization will be investigated, along with the drying of impregnated polymer foams via tomog- raphy-controlled microwave heating. www.hzdr.de. Illustration of a newly fabricated atomic force microscope probe integrated with an optical, disk-shaped resonator. Courtesy of NIST. Magnetic tomography developed at Helmholtz-ZentrumDresden-Rossendorf is an important prerequisite for controlling mold injection in continuous steel casting. Courtesy of HZDR/F. Bierstedt.