Congress has finalized the first three of twelve parts of the FY’12 federal budget. So far, things look relatively promising for STEM R&D. Credit: Congressional Budget Office.

In November Congress approved three parts of President Obama’s $3.5 trillion budget request for FY 2012, which began Oct. 1, 2011.

Why only three? To make the budget job more manageable, the budget is divided into 12 chunks, which the Congress considers in no particular order. A story (see article summary) in Science by Jeffrey Mervis (Nov. 25, “First Spending Bill Giveth—And Taketh Away”) breaks down what the approved-to-date budget means for the STEM R&D community.

The overall $3.5 trillion request included $148 billion for federal support of R&D, but that is spread across about two dozen federal entities. November’s three “minibus” appropriations funded the departments of Commerce, Justice, Agriculture, Transportation and Housing, as well as the independent agencies NSF, NASA and the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy.

While the behemoth budgets for DOE and DOD have yet to be worked on, these first three approvals bode well (enough) for the materials science R&D community. The budgets of NIST (a Commerce agency), NASA and NSF all saw increases over FY 2011. NIST’s research programs received a nice 12% increase (from $507 M to $567 M), while NSF got only a 2.5% bump (from $6.86 B to $7.03 B, but that’s enough to fund more than a few research programs).

In a surprising outcome, the OSTP, which had a puny $6.6 M FY’11 budget, took a 32% hit and received only $4.5 M for FY’12. According to Mervis’ story, this seems to be a tit-for-tat move on the part of Representative Frank Wolf (R-VA), who has been squabbling with OSTP over the Obama Administration’s interactions with China regarding high-technology sectors, including space.

Mervis quotes Charles Vest, president of the US National Academy of Engineering, “OSTP sits at the center of the federal government’s thinking and planning for science and technology that are at the absolute heart of what our nation has to do to remain competitive and to lead in the 21st century.”

What it means for OSTP and its 90 employees is unclear. In the article, OSTP’s director, John Holdren, says the smaller budget “will mean a lot of belt tightening and, inevitably, some reduction in the range of domains in which OSTP maintains a major presence.”

Since they were unveiled last summer, OSTP has been the leading voice for new White House initiatives that are of keen interest to the materials science and engineering community—the Materials Genome Initiative and the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership.

Cyrus Wadia, OSTP assistant director for clean energy and materials R&D, said in an email, “We do not foresee the budget cut having an impact on the MGI.” He may be right. Both the MGI and the AMP were envisioned as multi-agency, decentralized efforts, which should work to OSTP’s advantage as it adjusts to doing its job with a whole lot less.

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Here’s what we’re hearing (from press releases, news stories and blogs)

Lancaster Products introduces the Model K-3.5 Hi-intensive industrial mixer

Lancaster Products has added the new model K-3.5 Mixer to our K-Series of Counter Current Hi-Intensive Industrial Mixers—a line of rugged, economical mixers—to its product line. With a working volume of 6 cu. ft., or 170 liters, the Model K-3.5 Mixer is designed primarily for limited or prototype production. This particular K-3.5 mixer was recently delivered for use in mixing precision - glass batch, where highest quality batch mix is of greatest importance. Some of the other industries that can benefit from the use of the Lancaster K-Series Mixers are: catalysts, proppants, refractories, ceramics, batteries, utilities, soaps, wherever the utmost in mixing or mix-pelletizing is required.

Momentive Specialty Chemicals Inc. and UPC Technology Corporation sign joint venture agreement for phenolic resins production in China

Momentive Union will build its first manufacturing plant in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, China, adjacent to an existing UPC Technology Chemical manufacturing complex. The new plant will produce a full range of specialty novolac and resole phenolic resins, sold under industry-leading trade names including Bakelite resins and Durite resins. These materials are used in applications including refractories, friction, abrasives and electronics.

A brighter way to make solar cells

A new optical furnace developed by researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado, heats up solar wafers by focusing light on them-a much more efficient process that uses about half the energy of a conventional furnace. More importantly, the new design also uses light to remove certain impurities from the silicon wafers, a step that can improve the power output of finished cells.

Western Lithium’s Nevada project could support low-cost lithium production

Canada’s Western Lithium USA Corp said a pre-feasibility study for its flagship project in Nevada showed it could support low cost lithium production and could potentially double production in four years. The company, which produces high quality lithium carbonate—used in lithium-ion batteries, ceramics and glass—said the initial startup capital for the Kings Valley Lithium project is expected to be about $248-million.

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Microscopic, star-shaped flakes of functionalized graphene oxide plug holes in pores in a test of the material’s ability to serve as a filter cake in fluids used to drill oil wells. The single-atom-thick flakes of treated carbon are pliable but among the strongest materials known. Credit: Tour Group/Rice University.

Functionalized graphene oxide plays part in next-generation oil-well drilling fluids

Graphene’s star is rising as a material that could become essential to efficient, environmentally sound oil production. Rice University researchers are taking advantage of graphene’s outstanding strength, light weight and solubility to enhance fluids used to drill oil wells. The Rice University lab of chemist James Tour and scientists at M-I SWACO, a Texas-based supplier of drilling fluids and subsidiary of oil-services provider Schlumberger, have produced functionalized graphene oxide to alleviate the clogging of oil-producing pores in newly drilled wells. The patented technique took a step closer to commercialization with the publication of new research this month in the American Chemical Society journal Applied Materials and Interfaces.

New ‘3-D’ transistors promising future chips, lighter laptops

Researchers from Purdue and Harvard universities have created a new type of transistor made from a material that could replace silicon and have a 3-D structure instead of conventional flat computer chips. The approach could enable engineers to build faster, more compact and efficient integrated circuits and lighter laptops that generate less heat than today’s. The transistors contain tiny nanowires made not of silicon, like conventional transistors, but from a material called indium-gallium-arsenide. The device was created using a so-called “top-down” method, which is akin to industrial processes to precisely etch and position components in transistors. Because the approach is compatible with conventional manufacturing processes, it is promising for adoption by industry, said Peide “Peter” Ye, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Purdue.

Senate passes Udall-Schumer ‘Buy American’ solar amendment for Defense Dept.

U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) hailed the passage of an amendment they sponsored to close loopholes that put American manufacturers of solar technology at a disadvantage to foreign competitors. The Buy American Solar Amendment, which passed as part of the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act, will ensure that “Buy American” requirements apply to all photovoltaic (solar) devices that supply power Department of Defense property or facilities. The amendment was also cosponsored by Sens. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Joe Manchin (D-W.V.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.).

Much-needed perspective on the GM Volt battery fires

No electric car has ever caught fire under real-world conditions, but the battery packs of two Chevy Volts have in test crashes. The controversy that followed could have been predicted, unfortunately. For all our talk of embracing innovation, there is always someone ready to declare that the growing pains of disruptive new technologies are in fact their death knell.

China’s solar industry

Suntech Power is the world’s largest maker of solar cells and panels. It reached this position through a combination of clever advances in manufacturing equipment with judicious use of cheap labor, a strategy apparent when Technology Review took a tour of the company’s factories this fall.

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SGS ClimaCoat : The innovative windshield combining comfort and respect for the environment (pdf)

Saint-Gobain Sekurit has developed sgs ClimaCoat, an all-weather windshield. In winter, at the push of a button, this latest-generation glazing deices and demists the windshield in less than two minutes, even when outside temperatures fall as low as minus 5°C (23°F). In summer, its mirror effect reduces the amount of heat that enters the passenger compartment by reflecting the sun’s rays. This also gives the driver better visibility and improves safety and comfort for all vehicle occupants, while reducing CO₂ emissions.

Mazda introduces ‘i-ELOOP’ capacitor-based regenerative braking system for passenger vehicles

Mazda Motor Corporation has developed a passenger vehicle regenerative braking system, called ‘i-ELOOP’, which will begin to appear in Mazda’s vehicles in 2012.  The regenerative braking system is unique because it uses a capacitor that temporarily stores large volumes of electricity. Compared to batteries, capacitors can be charged and discharged rapidly and are resistant to deterioration through prolonged use. ‘i-ELOOP’ efficiently converts the vehicle’s kinetic energy into electricity as it decelerates, and uses the electricity to power the climate control, audio system and numerous other electrical components. In real-world driving conditions with frequent acceleration and braking, ‘i-ELOOP’ improves fuel economy by approximately 10 percent.

Advance could challenge China’s solar dominance

Chinese solar-panel manufacturers dominate the industry, but a new way of making an exotic type of crystalline silicon might benefit solar companies outside of China that have designs that take advantage of the material. GT Advanced Technologies, one of world’s biggest suppliers of furnaces for turning silicon into large crystalline cubes that can then be sliced to make wafers for solar cells, recently announced two advanced technologies for making crystalline silicon. The new approaches significantly lower the cost of making high-end crystalline silicon for highly efficient solar cells.

Nanostart interviews ItN Nanovation’s head of R&D about ESA mission to Mercury

The high-performance ceramics of Nanostart-holding, ItN Nanovation AG, will be able to demonstrate their unique characteristics during an ESA mission to Mercury, which is currently in preparation.
A Nanostart Investments reporter spoke to Dr. Frank Meyer, head of research and development at ItN Nanovation AG, about the orbiter, its mission and how the ItN high-performance ceramics will be contributing to the success of the overall mission.

Versatile ALON optical ceramic in energy applications

Surmet Corporation of Burlington, Mass. has won a Phase I SBIR program from the US Department of Energy entitled: “Durable ALON Windows for High Power RF Accelerator Applications.” ALON, aluminum oxynitride, is a synthetic ceramic with an excellent combination of mechanical, physical, electrical, chemical and optical properties. It is transparent from the ultraviolet to the mid-wave infrared. Because it is transparent in its polycrystalline form, it can be produced using conventional powder processing techniques in large sizes and complex geometries.

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Ultralight metallic microlattices

A team of researchers from UC Irvine, HRL Laboratories and the California Institute of Technology have developed the world’s lightest material—with a density of 0.9 mg/cc—about 100 times lighter than Styrofoam. Their findings appear in the Nov. 18 issue of Science. The new material redefines the limits of lightweight materials because of its unique “micro-lattice” cellular architecture. The researchers were able to make a material that consists of 99.99 percent air by designing the 0.01 percent solid at the nanometer, micron and millimeter scales. The material’s architecture allows unprecedented mechanical behavior for a metal, including complete recovery from compression exceeding 50 percent strain and extraordinarily high energy absorption.

Researchers find way to create cheap thermoelectric materials

A team led by Dr Ole Martin Løvvik of Oslo University’s Centre for Materials Science and Nanotechnology in Norway has been studying the thermoelectric effect at the nanoscale for several years. The key to the problem is that a good thermoelectric material ought to have high thermal resistance but low electrical resistance. Therefore, perhaps counter-intuitively, it is important to prevent heat dissipation through the material. The fabrication method involves cooling down blocks of semiconducing materials to -196°C with liquid nitrogen to make them more brittle and less sticky, then grinding them down into nanoscale particles using a ‘mill’. These particles are then essentially compressed back together in a controlled fashion, leaving the essential nanoscale barriers.

Cheers and applause as £4 million neutron instrument is lowered into place

Engineers and scientists at the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council’s ISIS neutron source faced nervous moments on Friday (11 November 2011) when a new £4 million instrument that took five years to design and build, was lifted and lowered into its fixed position by a 30 tonne crane. Polaris, a ‘super microscope’ is one of the most advanced neutron instruments in the world. It will measure objects on the nanometre scale, a million times smaller than a speck of dust. The giant camera will make images of the atomic structure of materials and will be able to watch chemical reactions in real time. Measuring the positions of atoms in a material allows you to understand completely why a material behaves the way it does.

Architecture and ceramics: A material for all the ages

Architecture and Ceramics: A Material For All The Ages is currently running through Dec. 17, 2011 in the HGA Gallery, Rapson Hall of the Goldstein Museum of Design (University of Minnesota). Architecture and ceramics are fundamental cultural forms. The kinship between architecture and ceramics draws upon the physical materials they use and the formal and conceptual problems they address. Ultimately, however, what binds them together is their shared connection with human use, and human life-and art. This exhibition uses photographs to illuminate the rich and complex relationship between architecture and ceramics from the ancient world to the present.

Engineers test wireless LED contact lens on a living eye

Engineers from the US and Finland have tested a wireless contact lens featuring a working LED light on a living eye for the first time. Although the proof-of-concept device only contained a single pixel, it could pave the way for lenses that display emails and text messages directly to the wearer’s eyes or provide real-time health monitoring information such as glucose levels. The lens—developed by researchers at the University of Washington and Aalto University—consists of an antenna that receives power in the form of radio waves, an integrated circuit to store the energy and a transparent sapphire chip containing a single blue LED.

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