Plastics

As the demand for lightweight materials increases in the automotive and aerospace industries, so does the demand for suitable processing methods. Can we minimize material use? Can we obtain high-strength welds without damaging temperature sensitive composites?

Metal Matrix Composites (MMCs) have been known and explored for a very long time, but new innovations and an increased demand for high-performance lightweight materials means that they are finally ready to make it beyond their previous false starts.

These coming quarters are crucial decision times for many transparent conductive film (TCF) companies. Some are losing patience with their programmes, questioning if and when their efforts will turn into notable revenues.

Stretchable and conformal electronics are more than just novelties. This article by IDTechEx analysts Dr Khasha Ghaffarzadeh and James Hayward, first published in SID Information Display, describes how many of the simpler and less glamorous aspects of stretchable and conformable devices have already been commercialized or are very close to being commercialized.

This article raises the problems faced in five industries, driving the organizations involved to look at printed electronics solutions.

Exploring the commercialization of flexible electronics, one of the key focus points of this year's Printed Electronics USA event on November 15-16 in Santa Clara, CA.

Cast your mind back a few years and you will find a conductive ink business that appeared very mature and slow moving. Then everything began to change...

Cast you mind back a few years and you will find a conductive ink business that appeared very mature and slow moving. The boom years of the photovoltaic industry were ending, the dominant big suppliers seem well entrenched, and the technology was, at best, only incrementally improving, with new technologies such as nanoparticle inks failing to get traction. Then everything began to change.

IDTechEx analyst Dr Laura Baers gives an overview of solar fuels and explains why artificial photosynthesis is still difficult to bring to market.

IDTechEx are delighted to be back in Berlin on 10-11 May for the annual 3D Printing Europe event and offers the opportunity for key innovators and end-users across several verticals to share their insights and expertise in the leading edge of additive manufacturing