Quantum precision reached in modeling molten salt behavior
Power blackouts need not interrupt normal routines such as keeping phone circuits and hotel electric systems operating. Using energy sources produced through the concept of distributed generation, Verizon Communications and a Hilton Hotel outside of Gary, Ind., may soon be able to operate reg...
Military helicopters, combat vehicles and limousines could be made safer with an improved armor developed by researchers at ORNL. Tests at the lab show that tiles made of ORNL's boron carbide ceramic and facings made of polymer matrix composites provide superior armor-piercing bullet-stopping abilit...
A potentially inexpensive miniature sensor able to detect tiny amounts of airborne plastic explosives in just seconds could make it possible to safeguard virtually all airports and key public facilities in the United States. The ORNL micromechanical system (MEMS) has several advantages over conventi...
Transmission - Three times the efficiency Next-generation power lines that are lighter and can transmit far more electricity will likely play a role in modernizing the nation's power grid. The new transmission lines, made of 3M Nextel 610 ceramic fibers embedded in an aluminum matrix, are un...
Ridding natural gas of sulfur and other impurities means cleaner air, and it is the focus of a project that would take advantage of two technologies developed at ORNL. The goal is to build and demonstrate a low-cost regenerative desulfurizer based on the carbon fiber composite molecular sieve and el...
A mere 25 degrees can make a big difference in the operating efficiency of a turbine engine, and researchers at ORNL are helping Rolls Royce to demonstrate a technique called phosphor thermography. The technique could be used in the future to optimize turbine designs. Using special optics, a laser a...
If researchers can duplicate in the field what they have done in the lab, uranium that contaminates soil and water could be immobilized at a fraction of the cost of other methods of decontamination. The goal of Matthew Fields and other researchers in ORNL's Environmental Sciences Division and at Sta...
With the acquisition of a Silicon Graphics, Altix 3000 system, ORNL scientists will have another powerful resource to analyze large sets of data and perform other research vital to science. The new system features 256 just released Intel Itanium2 processors, 2 terabytes of global shared memory and 1...
People living in the north-central section of the United States have been treated to earlier hints of spring, according to findings of T.J. Blasing and colleagues in ORNL's Environmental Sciences Division. Over the last 25 years, the rapid temperature increases typical of late winter are occurring a...
Getting single molecules of semiconducting polymers to orient themselves vertically on a glass surface is more than just a novelty, says Mike Barnes of the lab's Chemical Sciences Division. It turns out that the discovery could have applications in a number of areas, including for nanoscale electron...