Scientists have developed a process for mixing unmodified lignin with general-purpose rubber and other components that yields high-performance renewable thermoplastics containing up to 41 percent of lignin content. The Oak Ridge National Laboratory-led research team tested two combinations of materials using different lignin varieties resulting in samples that were either “stretchy” or demonstrated tensile strength comparable to glassy plastic such as acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, or ABS.
For an ExxonMobil-funded study, Oak Ridge National Laboratory chemists helped characterize shale that holds onto methane gas tightly. Conducting the first direct measurements of methane density in tight shale, the researchers used small-angle neutron scattering to study features smaller than 10 nanometers—a plethora of petite pores produced when hydrocarbons “cooked” and matured to make methane.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory will lead the 13th international conference on Thermal Performance of the Exterior Envelopes of Whole Buildings XIII on December 5-8 in Clearwater, Florida, an event that attracts building envelope experts from around the world to share state-of-the-art research and technology applications. One topic of interest will be a mold growth index model workshop, explaining the model’s development and application and providing examples of how MGI usage could vary depending on building materials.
The summertime temperatures in the North Slope and Seward Peninsula of Alaska rarely reach higher than 50 degrees F and the perpetually dark winters fall below minus 20 F. It is a brutal environment for any researcher studying the Arctic ecosystem, much less a supercomputer modele...
Accelerator physicist Sarah Cousineau has dedicated her career to unraveling the world’s mysteries through physics. A large part of solving those mysteries, she says, means getting the next generation of physicists ready for the same challenge.
Cousineau is a group leader in th...
As a boy growing up in China, Xiaobing Liu knew all about Oak Ridge and the World War II Manhattan Project. He had no idea that he would one day work at DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Secret City’s successor. Liu is a lead researcher in geothermal heat pump (GHP) techn...
By exploiting some exotic quantum states, researchers have conceptually designed a sensor that features unparalleled sensitivity. In a paper published in Physical Review A, Ali Passian of Oak Ridge National Laboratory and George Siopsis of the University of Tennessee describe ...
The development and maturation of automated data tools for cancer research, part of the objectives outlined in the White House’s Cancer Moonshot initiative, could give medical researchers and policymakers an unprecedented view of the U.S. cancer population—at a level of detail typi...
Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers have produced the next generation of the National Hydropower Map – a visualization tool that provides updated statistics on overall capacity and performance on the nation’s hydropower fleet. The map is part of the lab’s National Hydropower ...
Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have further validated the accuracy of the ORNL-developed Autotune building energy model calibration software, an open source system that can inform contractors to make smarter retrofit decisions. Through two case studies, the research t...