In a few highly specialized laboratories, scientists bombard matter with the world’s most powerful electrical pulses or zap it with sophisticated lasers. Other labs squeeze heavy-duty diamonds ...

Pressure vessels are the names given to closed containers that house gases or liquids at a significantly different pressure to ambient pressure. Given that safety and reliability are two key factors ...

Interfaces play a key role in the science and engineering of materials and often determine the performance of engineering systems. Examples span the range from the mechanical properties of composites ...

In a demonstration that defies basic assumptions in physics, researchers have created liquid sodium at room temperature. As a member of the alkali metals—the first column in the periodic table—sodium ...

Rubber and metal are usually thought to sit at opposite ends of the stiffness spectrum, but a new composite material developed at Iowa State University could switch from the flexibility of the former ...