DESIGNING THE FUTURE

cover | Embracing Disruption
currently is looking to train prospective
entrepreneurs interested in producing
and distributing the product. 11
Lasers
Nuclear fusion has kept the sun
shining for billions of years. Now scientists
want to recreate that power on Earth and
finally tap into fusion’s unbeatable energy
efficiency. Giant lasers at the National
Ignition Facility in Livermore, California,
could help along that breakthrough by
focusing their power on a tiny hydrogen
fuel pellet, ideally releasing more
energy than what the lasers require. Still
more alternatives involve the magnetic
confinement of high-temperature plasma
involved in fusion, or even a rebranded
form of cold fusion. 12
5 Metamaterials
Metamaterials are artificial materials
engineered to provide properties which
3
2
1
may not be readily available in nature. 13
Potential applications include remote
aerospace, sensor detection, smart solar
power management, high frequency battle
communications, ultrasonic sensors, even
shielding structures from earthquakes. 14
Nano-nickel Material
A new nano-nickel material is being
developed using nanotechnology, which
is significantly stronger and cheaper
than titanium. Imagine how this will
impact the titanium suppliers for
Boeing’s 787, currently comprised of 15
percent titanium. 15
Invisibility Cloak
More than one research effort is
looking to develop “invisibility cloak”
technology, one of which is using 3D
metamaterials that negatively refract
visible and near-infrared light and
U-shaped nano-rings that manipulate
light. The latest news comes out of
Michigan Technical University where
Nuclear Fission
In the 1930s, a handful of brilliant physicists figured out how to
coax apart an atom of uranium to produce energy of unimaginable
magnitude. The discovery would lead directly to the nuclear
bomb and change warfare forever (again). Nuclear fission isn’t all
doomsday and destruction, however; love it or condemn it, nuclear
power plants also rely on fission science.
Flight
With apologies to the balloonists and hang gliders of the 1800s, it
was the Wright Brothers’ 12-second flight in 1903 that really set the
world on a new course. Getting to another continent now takes a
few hours, instead of weeks or even months. Flight has brought the
planet together like nothing else, for better or for worse.
The Internet
Most of us can remember that moment in the ‘90s when we first
chatted online or listened to the blips and beeps of dial-up access.
The technology behind the Internet was actually in place by the
1980s, but didn’t gain a public face until the first worldwide Web
site was published by Swiss-based laboratory CERN in 1991. The
rest is history, which, like everything else, is all documented on the
Internet.
Courtesy of Live Science, www.livescience.com, February 2010.
they have found ways to use magnetic
resonance to capture rays of visible light
and route them around objects, rendering
them invisible to the human eye. 16
Smart Metal
Summer electrical blackouts,
resulting from the extra load placed on
electricity supplies, are familiar to most.
A new “smart” metal being developed by
researchers at the University of Maryland
could help cool homes and refrigerate food
175 percent more efficiently than current
technology, not only giving strained
electricity networks a bit of relief, but also
drastically cutting summer electricity bills
and greenhouse gas emissions. 17
Liquid Armor
As part of a project to create
future body armor, offering soldiers
greater ballistics protection and ease
of movement, scientists and engineers
at BAE Systems have developed a
liquid which hardens when struck. The
technology, dubbed “liquid armor” by
its developers, harnesses the unique
properties of shear thickening or dilatant
fluids that lock together when subjected
to a force. It is designed to enhance the
existing, energy-absorbing properties of
material structures like Kevlar. 18
This season of technological
development is interesting, particularly
because of the sheer breadth of
potentially disruptive technologies being
introduced. They do not necessarily need
to redirect an entire industry; but each
expands the arena of opportunity and
therefore disrupts what we believe to be
true or even possible. PM
For the complete bibliography, please
contact the MPMA office.
B Kyle is the vice president of business
development at the Saint Paul Port
Authority in St. Paul, Minn. She can be
reached at blk@sppa.com.
10 | PRECISION MANUFACTURING September | October 2010