Materials

Carbon capture from air typically requires large amounts of solvent and sorbent that are energetically costly to regenerate. It also suffers from degradation, is environmentally unsustainable, and very expensive.

The incorporation of low embodied carbon building materials in the enclosure is increasing the fuel load for fire, increasing the demand for fire/flame retardants.

ORNL has developed enzymatic routes to synthesize amide oligomers with defined sequence for polymerization into new materials.

ORNL contributes to developing the concept of passive CO2 DAC by designing and testing a hybrid sorption system. This design aims to leverage the advantages of CO2 solubility and selectivity offered by materials with selective sorption of adsorbents.

Electrochemistry synthesis and characterization testing  typically occurs manually at a research facility.

Materials produced via additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, can experience significant residual stress, distortion and cracking, negatively impacting the manufacturing process.

Carbon fiber is used in a wide range of manufacturing that utilize composite materials, from aerospace to golf clubs, as it has high strength and is lightweight. The process for manufacturing carbon fiber is complex and requires several stages.

A nondestructive method to measure a localized thermal expansion coefficient (LTEC), for anisotropic materials.

An optical metrology method measures anisotropic strain values when the composite is locally heated, which ultimately measures the local fiber orientation at a microscale resolution.

Next generation batteries for electric vehicles (EVs) and other manufacturing needs require solid-state batteries made with high-performance solid electrolytes. These thin films are critical components but are difficult to manufacture to meet performance standards.