NIST - Tech Explorist

Schematic of the coating layers in a typical automobile composite body. Mar and scratch damages from a variety of object impacts are shown. Credit: Eastman Chemical Co./ K. Irvine, NIST

To improve auto coatings, new tests do more than scratch the surface

Technology September 21, 2018

Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a new suite of tests for simulating scratching processes on automobile clearcoats. Data from...

A prototype of the smart mirror. Laser light bounces off the highly reflective surface of a silicon plate, visible in the middle of a thick black ring of plastic. Credit: Jennifer Lauren Lee/NIST

Introducing the Smart Mirror

Technology September 18, 2018

Lasers assume jobs in many assembling forms, from welding auto parts to making engine segments with 3D printers. To control these tasks, makers must...

(a) Video of methane flame and picture of a plastic skeleton, Visualization 2. (b) False-colored rendered 3D 1-million-point cloud of the plastic skeleton as mapped in 3D through the flame.

NIST shows laser ranging can see 3D objects melting in fires

Technology August 9, 2018

Using laser detection and ranging (LADAR) system melting 3D objects, scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have set an example of a precise,...

Schematic of the setup for photo-thermal induced resonance (PTIR), which includes an infrared laser source and atomic force microscope (AFM) cantilever with a sharp tip that touches the sample and vibrates in response to the sample’s light-induced expansion. PTIR can determine the folding pattern (called for example α-helix, β-sheet) of peptides (amino acid chains) in water with nanometer-scale resolution. Credit: NIST

First nanometer-scale measurements of the folded structure of biomolecules in liquids

Technology July 24, 2018

Scientists have previously developed a spectroscopy technique to measure a material's topography and chemical composition with nanometer-scale. Now NIST scientists came up with little improvement...