Laser Processes Promise Better Artificial Joints, Arterial Stents
Purdue mechanical engineering doctoral student Shaoyi Wen, at left, and technician Andrew Hecht review data using a "laser deposition" system. The system works by depositing layers of a powdered mixture of metal and ceramic materials, melting the powder with a laser and then immediately solidifying each layer to form parts. New technologies will be needed to meet the huge global market for artificial hips and knees. (Purdue News Service photo/Andrew Hancock)
Researchers are developing technologies that use lasers to create arterial stents and longer-lasting medical implants that could be manufactured 10 times faster and also less expensively than is now possible.
New technologies will be needed to meet the huge global market for artificial hips and knees, said Yung Shin, a professor of mechanical engineering and director of Purdue’s Center for Laser-Based Manufacturing.
The worldwide population of people younger than 40 who receive hip implants is expected to be 40 million annually by 2010 and double to 80 million by 2030. In addition to speeding production to meet the anticipated demand, Shin said another goal is to create implants that last longer than today’s. (more…)
Possibly Related Posts:
- Princeton Scientists Say Einstein’s Theory Applies Beyond the Solar System
- New Asteroid Threat Reports Highlight Legal and Institutional Issues
- Wikipedia Quality Depends on How Authors Collaborate
- Can We Detect Quantum Behavior in Viruses?
- Scavenging Energy Waste to Turn Water Into Hydrogen Fuel
Laser with Controlled Polarization Allows Photonic and Communication Innovation
Researchers (left) Federico Cappaso and (right) Nanfang Yu from Harvard University. (Credit: Eliza Grinnell, Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences)
Applied scientists at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) in collaboration with researchers from Hamamatsu Photonics in Hamamatsu City, Japan, have demonstrated, for the first time, lasers in which the direction of oscillation of the emitted radiation, known as polarization, can be designed and controlled at will. The innovation opens the door to a wide range of applications in photonics and communications. Harvard University has filed a broad patent on the invention.
Spearheaded by graduate student Nanfang Yu and Federico Capasso, Robert L. Wallace Professor of Applied Physics and Vinton Hayes Senior Research Fellow in Electrical Engineering, both of SEAS, and by a team at Hamamatsu Photonics headed by Dr. Hirofumi Kan, General Manager of the Laser Group, the findings will be published as a cover feature of the April 13 issue of Applied Physics Letters. (more…)
Possibly Related Posts:
- Princeton Scientists Say Einstein’s Theory Applies Beyond the Solar System
- New Asteroid Threat Reports Highlight Legal and Institutional Issues
- Wikipedia Quality Depends on How Authors Collaborate
- Can We Detect Quantum Behavior in Viruses?
- Scavenging Energy Waste to Turn Water Into Hydrogen Fuel
Loading... 
