RESEARCH/RESEARCHERS

Los Alamos Announces ing of Aligned Magnetic Composites;' was surveyed have their initial training in phys• Progress on Acoustic sponsored by Grumman Corporation in ics. Another third began their careers in a Heat Engines an ongoing effort to reduce the expense of different field, but have taught physics reg• producing high quality electronic materials ularly throughout their teaching career. The simplicity and reliability of a series of on earth. The remaining third can be classified as experimental acoustic heat engines have Small ingots of a MnBi compound were "draftees;' with training in other fields and led researchers at Los Alamos National melted. Each ingot was 80 mm long and 5 little previous experience in the teaching of Laboratory to begin seeking practical appli• mm in diameter and weighed less than 20 physics. cations. g. The furnace they were melted in had The report concludes that three sets of Like their precursors, the Los Alamos heating elements programmed to move factors appear to have the greatest impact engines rely on two simple principles un• along the length of the ingot at certain on the presence and robustness of physics derstood for centuries: the nature of how speeds. As the ingot was heated and programs in high school. They are: sound vibrates and the fact that changing cooled, tiny MnBi rods were formed as 1. school size, geographic location, and temperatures make materials expand and magnetic particles embedded within the urban or rural setting; contract. They convert heat to work or use composite material. The magnet's strength 2. the demographic character of the stu• work to pump heat in a way similar to con• is determined by the pattern, size, and dent body, especially its socioeconomic ventional refrigerators and steam turbines. composition of these rods. Rods formed in and racial composition; and But until recently, the engines tended to be a finer, more uniform pattern should pro• 3. the level of commitment of the school complex mechanical machines requiring a duce a stronger magnet. administration to rigorous science educa• lot of maintenance. The Los Alamos en• Astronaut George Nelson, who led the tion, as measured by such variables as gines are much simpler in design, can be experiments, conducted similar proce• years of science required for graduation, smaller than an adult's arm, and have no dures during earlier shuttle flights. A large level of funding provided for physics moving parts. body of data on MnBi has been produced, classes and laboratories, and level of ad• According to Greg Swift, the Los Ala• not only from the shuttle missions, but ministrative support perceived by teach• mos researcher spearheading the project, from earth experiments and from short ers. the engines are little more than pieces of space flights aboard sounding rockets. For A number of factors conspire to keep metal or fiberglass tubing, resembling a further information contact Miriam Reid, physics enrollment from increasing, ac• sawed-off piece of an organ pipe. At their Grumman Corporation, Bethpage, NY cording to the study. One is the scarcity of heart is a series of tiny parallel metal or 11714, telephone (516) 575-3999. Source: trained teachers. Another is low minimum glass plates that act as a heat exchanger. Electronic Materials Technology News, Octo• graduation requirements in science (which One type of engine converts the heat to ber 1988, p. 3. in a large majority of states is still only one sound. Air passing over the hot end of the or two years) combined with the continued plates warms and expands, and then cools AIP/AAPT Survey Identifies tradition of teaching science: biology first, and contracts about 400 times per second chemistry second, physics last. Even when it reaches the other side. Following a Shortcomings, Needs of High School Physics Programs schools with formal programs to increase similar process, another engine converts enrollment-15% of the national total• sound from a radio speaker into cool tem• Only about 20% of U.S. high school stu• appeared to be making little headway in peratures. dents enroll in physics classes-though attracting more students to physics. At its current stage of development, the nearly all of them have access to such pro• Studies have shown that although most heat engine is not as powerful as gasoline grams. That is one finding in a recent re• other countries retain a much smaller pro• or electrically powered engines, but the ad• port on secondary schools issued by the portion of their students in secondary vantages of simplicity and reliability might American Institute of Physics (AlP) in.col• school, those who are retained face much make it ideal for powering satellites or for laboration with the American Association more rigorous standards than in the U.S. being the energy source behind submarir:e of Physics Teachers (AAPT). In many countries, science requirements sonar systems. It's this type of acoustic The study, Physics in the High Schools: typically extend across all years of the heat engine (except larger and using differ• Findings from the 1986-87 Nationwide Survey grades equivalent to our high school, and ent materials) that Swift says might be• of SecondanJ School Teachers of Physics, pro• physics is one of the courses required of all come the grandfather of future vides detailed information on schools, and students. In fact, in many developed coun• "cryo-coolers" for reliably cooling super• on the training, experiences and attitudes tries a substantial proportion of students conductors. of the nearly 20,000 high-school-level phys• take two years of physics, compared to just ics teachers. The study's objective was to one percent of U.S. high school students furnish findings that would be relevant to Discovery Astronauts who do so. Even more startling: perform• the daily classroom needs of those teachers ance tests recently administered to this Manufacture Metal Alloys as well as to contribute to current discus• small number of second-year or advanced• in Experiments Funded sions. concerning the scientific literacy of placement physics students-the "cream by Grumman Corporation the nation's workplace and citizenry. of the crop" of this country's high school Among the findings: physics programs-showed that the Amer• Hoping that space will provide eco• • In the spring of 1987, 623,000 students icans placed near the bottom of the interna• nomic advantages in the manufacture of were enrolled in high school physics in the tional ladder in their knowledge of certain expensive-to-produce metals and u.s. physics. alloys, astronauts aboard the space shuttle • Although 96% of all high school students Using the data acquired in this survey, Discovery in October melted ingots of attend schools where physics is available, AlP plans to issue future reports on spe• manganese bismuth-a process which only about 20% of all high school gradu• cific aspects of high school physics, such as produces stronger magnets. ates actually take physics. the status of women teachers, schools with The experiment, called "Orbital Process- • Approximately one-third of the teachers

8 MRS BUllETIN/JANUARY 1989 RESEARCH/RESEARCHERS

heavy minority enrollments, and parochial laboratory to private industry when existing program to develop and market schools. Finally, in order to continue moni• Argonne licensed it exclusively to Ameri• high T, superconductors in usable form. toring changes in physics programs and can Superconductor Corp., Boston, Mas• Under the license agreement, American among the ranks of teachers, a new round sachusetts. [See "Argonne and American Superconductor has exclusive rights to de• of data collection is planned for 1989-90. Superconductor Sign" in this section.] velop and market a technology, developed Copies of the current survey are availa• Gruen also helped develop SARISA by Argonne scientist Dieter Gruen [See ble from the AlP Division of Education and (surface analysis by resonance ionization "D.M. Gruen Named" in this section], Employment Statistics, 335 East 45th of sputtered atoms), a laser-based system that involves coating a wire with the right Street, New York, NY 10017-3483. For more that can detect surface impurities as small proportions of yttrium, barium, and cop• information, contact AlP at (212) 661-9260, as 500 parts per trillion in the outer atomic per, then heating the wire in the presence ext. 326 or AAPT at (301) 345-4200. layer of semiconductors, metals, and metal of oxygen to oxidize the coating. The proc• Editor's Note: See Postenninaries in this issue oxides. Unlike some other widely used de• ess, on which a patent is pending, yields a fiJr some additional opinions 011 physics educa• tection methods, it does almost no damage wire coated with yttrium-barium-copper tion. to a material's surface. oxide. Tests of this approach at Argonne Another invention Gruen helped to de• have shown promise, but more work is Lewis, Argonne Sign velop is the excimer laser technique used in needed before the process yields a practical Agreement for Joint such intraocular surgery as repairing de• superconducting wire. The licensing High Tc Effort tached retinas and lensectomies. Unlike agreement, which will allow American Su• other lasers used inside the eye, the xenon• perconductor to continue that work, is NASA's Lewis Research Center and chloride excimer laser cuts tissue with lit• only the beginning of Argonne's potential Argonne National Laboratory have signed tle, if any, burning. It uses fiberoptics, to commercialize inventions in the area of an agreement to begin a joint research ef• glasslike fibers 1 mm or smaller in diameter superconductivity, according to laboratory fort to develop high temperature super• to deliver the laser beam to a precise point officials. conductivity (HTS) materials and inside the eyeball. The other agreement involves Argonne's technology. Both parties said the program Gruen's contributions to research lead• investigations of "sputter-deposited" and could provide significant economic bene• ing to advances in other laser technologies "bonded" high T, superconductors. fits and maintain a world leadership role were cited in October when he and three American Superconductor will fund re• for the United States in this field. fellow Argonne chemists received the Ma• search to apply superconductors to sur• The objective of the agreement is to ex• terials Sciences Research Award from the faces of other materials in hopes of making ploit recent rapid advances in HTS tech• U.S. Department of Energy. [See report in composites that combine desirable electri• nology for significant space and the December MRS BULLETIN, p. 20.] cal properties of superconductors with aeronautical applications. Research and Gruen worked on the practical physical properties of underlying technology development will be under• at Oak Ridge, Tennessee during World War materials. In return the company will ex• taken for applications where HTS could be II and joined Argonne in 1947. In addition pand its access to key research personnel at an enabling technology or substantially to MRS, he is a member of the American Argonne, where some 100 staff members improve existing systems. Chemical Society and is author or co• perform basic and applied research on new Initially, research will concentrate on ad• author of more than 250 publications. Born superconductive materials. Argonne's is vanced studies and critical exploratory ex• in Waldorf, Germany, Gruen holds a bach• the largest publicly funded superconduc• periments to identify the most promising elor's degree in chemistry from Northwest• tivity research program in the United applications for further development. ern University and a doctorate in chemical States. Among the first candidate applications physics from the . will be superconducting magnetic energy storage, space electromagnetic propulsion, NASA Lewis Receives microwave power transmission, aero• Argonne and American R&D Awards propulsion applications, and electromag• Superconductor Sign First NASA's Cleveland-based Lewis Re• netic launch systems. Public-to-Private High Tc search Center recently received two R&D Agreement 100 Awards, one for a long-life nickel• D.M. Gruen Named hydrogen cell and the other for a A new technology for making supercon• Inventor of Year microprocessor" based system to detect and ducting wire is the subject of an exclusive accommodate sensor failures in control Dieter M. Gruen, associate director of licensing agreement announced recently systems. The awards are given annually by the Materials Science Division at Argonne by Argonne National Laboratory and Research & Development magazine for the National Laboratory and a member of the American Superconductor Corp., Cam• 100 most significant technological develop• Materials Research Society, was recently bridge, Massachusetts. ments of the past year. named Inventor of the Year by the Patent The agreement is the first to license su• Lewis received the first award for the Ad• Law Association of Chicago. perconducting technology from a govern• vanced IPV (individual pressure vessel) Gruen is holder or co-holder of 14 pat• ment laboratory to private industry. The Nickel-Hydrogen Cell, Yardney Whittaker ents for analytical instrumentation, surgi• technology was developed at Argonne and Model YNHC-050-12. Hughes Aircraft cal devices, heat pumps, and high T licensed exclusively to American Super• Company, Malibu, California, was the superconductive current carriers. He has conductor. joint recipient of this award. The primary additional patent applications on file. Under a separate agreement, American function of the cell is to provide electrical Gruen is sole inventor of a new technol• Superconductor will provide $100,000 to energy storage for long-term low Earth or• ogy for making superconducting wire. It fund Argonne research on other supercon• bit spacecraft missions. Improvements in recently became the first superconducting ducting technologies. The licensing andre• the cell involve cycle life; thermal, electro• technology transferred by a government search agreements are part of the firm's lyte, and oxygen management; and nickel

10 MRS BULLETIN/JANUARY 1989 RESEARCH/RESEARCHERS

ciences, chemistry, chemical engineering, toxicology, geosciences, cognitive, neural and behavioral sciences·, materials science, manufacturing sciences, electrical engineer• ing, mechanical engineering, naval architec• ture and ocean engineering, aeronautical and astronautical engineering, and ocean• VERSATILE ography. Only U.S. citizens or nationals are eligi• NISLIDE®POSITIONERS ble. Applications are encouraged from women and minorities, and persons with Stackable • 2" to 90" long • 5 widths disabilities. Ten percent of the awards will be set aside for members of ethnic minority High strength 2024 ...... _ groups under-represented in the advanced aluminum alloy "• levels of U.S. science and engineering. track Applications are available from Battelle• Columbus Division, Graduate Fellowship Program, P.O. Box 12297, Research Trian• gle Park, NC 27709; telephone (919) 549- Precision fit, 8291. Applications must be filed by March improved, low 1,1989. friction polymer bearings, Conference Offers produce smooth travel and . . no side play Opportunity for Involvement 7 different screw p1tches-1n in Pre-College and Public standard or high precision grades Science Education New catalog G has over 950 UniSiide assemblies Including rotary tables & unique coarse and fine The Fourth National Technological Liter• motion design acy Conference, February 3-5, Washing• ton, DC, offers an opportunity for MRS CALL 800/642·6446 except NYS members to become personally involved in P.O. BOX38 issues surrounding pre-college and public E. BLOOMFIELD, NY 14443 science education. This topic found its way ~E L .M£X . INC · Telephone 716/ 657-6151 into many presentations at the 1988 MRS Fall Meeting in Boston, including the Ple• nary Address by Lester Thurow and Prof. Merton Flemings' report on the National Academies' Materials Science and Engi• electrode expansion. U.S. Defense Department neering Study. The second award recognizes the DIAl Announces New Graduate During the Washington conference Sensor Failure Accommodator, a device some 1,500 teachers, professors, science that detects and isolates the occurrence of Fellowship Program policy experts, and public interest groups sensor failures and accommodates for this The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) are expected to discuss all aspects of the failure in control systems. Lewis received recently announced plans to award ap• interaction of science and technology with this award jointly with Pratt & Whitney proximately 150 new three-year graquate society. Aircraft, Commercial Products Division, fellowships in April 1989 under the Na• Dr. George Bugliarello, president of East Hartford, Connecticut, and Systems tional Defense Science and Engineering Polytechnic University of New York, will Control Technology, Palo Alto, California. Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship Program. coordinate sessions on education as a tech• The DIAl is based on analytical redun• The $10 million program reflects concern nology which solves society's problems. dancy, which uses a detailed mathematical that a declining number of U.S. citizens Dr. James Rutherford, head of education model of a process to interrelate the "nor• have been pursuing advanced degrees in for AAAS and former assistant director of mal" readings of different sensors. The de• science and engineering fields that are im• both the National Science Foundation and vice determines whether the indication of portant to national defense. In engineer• U.S. Department of Education, will a given sensor is consistent with those of ing, for example, more than 50% of U.S. present the results of a national study on other sensors, within prescribed limits. doctoral degrees are now awarded to for• "What Every American Should Learn The DIA 1 algorithm consists of three ele• eign citizens. The new program will more about Science and Technology:' ments: (1) logic for detection of hard fail• than double the number of DOD science Prof. Rustum Roy, Pennsylvania State ures; (2) logic for detection of soft failures; and engineering graduate fellowships to University, will coordinate a science policy and (3) the accommodation filter, which be awarded in 1989. In addition to the 150 session on setting priorities for R&D. In• contains the mathematical system model NDSEG fellowships, about 140 fellow• vited speakers include Congressmen and produces estimates of process out• ships will be awarded in 1989 through ex• George Brown and Don Ritter, GM re• puts. isting programs. search vice president Robert Frosch, and All the inventions receiving an R&D 100 The fellowships will go to students who Oak Ridge National Laboratory director Award are described in the October 1988 intend to pursue doctoral degrees in math• Alvin Trivelpiece. These "speakers and issue of Research & Development magazine. ematics, computer science, physics, bios- many others are expected to be involved

12 MRS BULLETIN/JANUARY 1989 RESEARCH/RESEARCHERS

such issues as "big" science vs. "little" sci• of Michigan, Purdue University, and the fast, efficient, parallel software for solving ence, basic vs. applied science, and how to National InstitUte of Standards and Tech• complicated fluid dynamic flow problems. redistribute funding among disciplines. nology, will develop the scientific knowi• The algorithm is a public-domain pro• MRS members are invited to attend and edge to design the next generation of gram, availaple free from the principal in• contribute. For information contact: Na• cement-based materials with improved vestig~tor or Argonne. tional Association for Science, Technology, properties. • 32SMART, an intelligent, programma• and Society, 117Willard Building, Pennsyl• . The goal is to design stronger, lighter ard ble, self-checking 32 stepper-motor posi• vania State University, University Park, PA less costly materials that are more energy tion controller that occupies one-tenth the 16802. Call (814) 865-9951 for information efficient. The materials would be used in space and is one-t_enth the cost of current on registration and housing. new construction and in restoration and units. repair of existing structures, including • Oriented, highly anisotropic conducting Applications Due for SPIE highways, bridges, power plants and polymers that are lightweight and flexible Educational Grants and waste disposal systems. with copper-like conductivity. The center will bring together such disci• • Mobile beryllium monitor, which pro• Scholarships plines as civil engineering, materials sci• vides the simple, rapid, on-site, and sensi• Applications are being accepted by the ence, chemistry, physics, electrical tive method of measuring beryllium International Society for Optical Engineer• engineering, and geology to develop the particles collected by air sampling filters. ing (SPIE) for $58,000 in 1989 scholarships fundamental scientific knowledge. • Optical microrobot single-cell manipula• and grants ranging in size from $500 to The NSF-funded center will be based at tor· and analysis systein that accurately $5,000. the Technological Institute; Northwest• transports, sorts, and analyzes single cells The SPIE Education Committee will ern's school of engineering and applied by usin·g a laser. judge applications on the basis of their po• science. Surendra P. Shah, professor of tential for long-range contributions to op• civil engineering at "Northwestern, will be Argonne National Laboratory tics and optical engineering. Awards will director, and J. Francis Young, professor of Argonne's. winning developments in not be made on the basis of need. engineering at the University of Illinois, 1988 include: . Applications will be considered for any will be associate director. Shah and Young • Linear predictive spectral analysis (LP• activity in the field of optics. A course of are both inembers of the Materials Re• SPEC) software, which compensates for study in optics or optical engineering and search Society: Young was a co-chair 'for the the limitations of fast Fourier transform student travel to meetings of professional 1988 MRS Fall Meeting just held in Boston. (FFf) analysis. and technical societies are appropriate uses The Center for Advanced Cement-Based • Fourier transform electron paramagnetic for scholarship and grant awards. Re• Materials is ~ne of 11 Science and Technol• resonance (FTEPR) spectrometer, which quests for the purchase of equipment, · ogy Centers recently established by the measures the weak magnetic properties of while less suitable, will also be considered. NSF. Total fundiT)g for all the centers is ap• a material's most energetic electrons, ~­ Applications must be received at SPIE proximately $24.7 million during the first covering all the frequencies in a signal. headquarters by April 25, 1989. The rec• year of the NSF awar9s. • pH sensor for high-temperature/high• ommendations of the Education Commit• pressure aqueous environments that fea• tee will be acted upon by the Board of Los Alamos and Argonne tures unattended, trouble-free operation Governors during the annual SPIE meet• and a thermodynamically well-defined ing in San Diego August 6-"11, 1989. Candi• National Labs Receive measurement of chemical composition. dates will be notified of the outcome M·ultiple R&D Awards • Neutron stress monitor, which permits shortly after. Los Alamos National Laboratory and rapid, accurate calculation of interf\al When requesting forms, applicants Argonne National Laboratory together stresses in composite materials as affected should specify whether they are students received 12 of the 1988 R&D 100 Awards by temperature or external load. Measure• or representatives of a college or university presented recently by Research and Develop• ments can be made in air, a vacuum, or because each requires a different form. For ment Magazine. The awards were known special gaseous environments. Among the further information contact Warren j. formerly as IR-100 Awards. principal·investigatcirs for the monitor are Smith, Chairman, SPIE Education Com• two MRS members, Saurin Majumdar and mittee, SPIE, P.O. Box 10, Bellingham, WA Los Alamos National Laboratory John Faber. 98227-0010; telephone (206) 676-3290, fax Los Alamos received awards for the fol• • Compact helium-dilution refrigerator, (20(>) 647-1445. lowing achievements: providing a reliable, quiet, and inexpen• • Nuclear material solution assay system, sive device for achieving temperatures NSF Funds Center for which accurately measures the mass of near absolute zero. uranium 235 in a small sample of a Advanced Cement-Based uranium-bearing solution. Spac:;e Shuttle Materials at Northwestern • Photoinjector, an optically pulsed injec• Superconductivity Testing A Center for Advanced Cement-Based tor for rf linear accelerators, which gener• Slated for 1990 · Materials will be established at Northwest• ates current densities 30 times higher than e•:n University with a $·1.75 million grant those of conventioral injectors, and uses a The United States plans to synthesize or• from the U.S. National Science Founda• laser to produce an electron beam of ex- ganic superconductors in a gravity-free tion. The award is for the first year of a five• treme br:ightness. · state as part of its International Mictqgrav• year program expected to total about $10 • High-temperature molten salt reference ity Laboratory materials test project (IML- million. electrode, the first reproducible design to 1) aboard a space shuttle beginning in 1990. Northwestern scientists, in collaboration provide a reliable method of monitoring On a separate shuttle, to be launched in with researchers at ·the University of Illi• and controlling molten salt processes. 1991, rese

14 MRS BULLETIN/JANUARY 1989 RESEARCH/RESEARCHERS

wide to receive the award. The Packard fellowship program is in• tended to spur the careers of young scien• tists and engineers and encourage them to Janis Quality! stay in a university setting. The award, a $100,000 grant annually for five years, is in• tended to support expenses such as scien• SuperVaritemp tific instruments, research supplies, and scholarships for graduate research assist• Cryostat Systems ants. The Packard roundation, located in Los Altos, California, plans to give 20 more fellowships each year until 1992, when it 0 1.5 -300 K temperature will reach its goal of supporting 100 science range. and engineering faculty members. 0 5 Watt cooling capacity. 0 Optical access along any Modifying Plastics for Biomedical Applications direction. Researchers at Los Alamos National 0 0.75" O.D. tails for Laboratory (LANL) and the University of magnetic measurements. New Mexico (UNM) School of Medicine are studying chemical infusion and graft 0 Fast sample interchange. polymerization as ways to improve po• 0 Automatic temperature lyurethane for use in human implants. The investigations, part of the Biocompatible control . Materials Research Project, were summa• 0 Low helium consumption. rized at the recent American Chemical So• ciety Meeting in Los Angeles by Debra 0 Reliable proven Wrobleski, a chemist in LANI..:s Materials performance. Science and Technology Division and a member of the Materials Research Society. Polyurethane is potentially valuable for JANIS RESEARCH COMPANY, INC. implanting in the body, but it can cause 2 "-1 Drive, P.O. Box 696, • Tel : (508) 657-8750 Telex: 200079 blood clots and bacterial infections. Re• Wilmington, MA 01887 U.S.A. FAX: (508) 658-0349 searchers are trying to improve the mate• rial by altering its surface so it does not react adversely with blood or other fluids. The infusion technique allows new chemicals to be incorporated into the sur• Processing Test (FMPT) project. jects, the United States, Japan, the Euro• face of the material, retaining the material's In the IML-2 project, the United States pean Community, and Canada will strength and flexibility while reducing its will rent a laboratory in a space shuttle to perform tests in a total of four experimental tendency to react with blood or other flu• another country, and scores of experi• modules to be built on a space station. Ja• ids. The graft polymerization process in• ments are planned. Japan has proposed an pan will own one of those modules. volves attaching a new substance to the experiment on the growth of organic metal -Information from Superconductor Week, surface of the polyurethane, "so a different crystals, including organic superconduc• October 3, 1988 polymer is actually being presented to the tors. Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Indus• fluid;' according to Wrobleski. tries will build an experimental organic M.L. Mecartney Receives The researchers are using a variety of in• metal growth system to make organic su• Packard Foundation fusing and grafting materials for the pro• perconductors in the IML-1 program and ject. Differences in the treated samples are an electric continuous heating furnace to Fellowship probed to measure their "wetability;' a sur• produce superconducting alloys as part of Martha L. Mecartney, assistant chemical face property that can indicate biocompa· the FMPT project. engineering and materials science profes• tability. Testing and evaluation of both In the FMPT project, Japanese astro• sor at the University of Minnesota, will re• methods of treating the surfaces will con• nauts will conduct tests involving 22 mate• ceive a five-year, $500,000 Fellowship in tinue for several months. rials and 12 life sciences topics. Among Science and· Engineering from the David The researchers are also studying the ef• other things, the astronauts are expected to and Lucile Packard roundation. The award fect of incorporating antibacterial agents make homogeneous superconducting al• will support Mecartney's research on the into the material. Bacterial infection has loys in weightlessness and bring them structure of ceramic materials, especially been a persistent problem in artificial down to earth to make them into cable and the role of defects in controlling their prop• hearts that have been implanted so far. The tape-type conductors. erties. research could be important in other In the coming decade, the IML-1 and Mecartney, a member of the Materials biomedical applications, such as implant• FMPT projects are scheduled to launch Research Society, joined the faculty at the ing catheters that supply medication or re• three or four missions apiece, each lasting University of Minnesota in 1985. She is one placing arteries. at least nine days. rollowing these pro- of only 20 university researchers nation-

16 MRS BULLETIN/JANUARY 1989 RESEARCH/RESEARCHERS

Modified Instrument Can Improve Chemical Analysis A commercial instrument modified at Los Alamos National Laboratory may lead to an improved way to analyze the com• plex chemicals found in genetic material and in the environment. The device, an -trap mass spectrome• ter, is unusual because, despite its compact size, it can identify the types and amounts of complex chemical found in living organisms. The spectrometer could be used to ana• lyze the complex chemicals found in fossil fuels, a necessary step before researchers can develop synthetic fuels. In addition, it could be used to detect trace amounts of environmental pollutants. The instrument's modified electrode as• sembly consisting of three stainless steel electrodes which trap the chemicals to be analyzed. The modified assembly is half the size of the original one-a paradoxical advantage in that the smaller the electrode assembly, the better it is at trapping the large molecules found in living organisms, fossil fuels, and chemically complex pollu• tants. Although some commercial spec• trometers have this broader capability, none is as compact as the LANL version, which is about the size of a personal com• puter. Solar Turbines, Inc. to Test Advanced Particle Collection Device • . ••'IIIIC property miiiiiUnllllllll'lll Under a U.S. Department of Energy con• 7000 N:; Suei**:N'MIIItr. tract, Solar Turbines Inc., San Diego, Cali• -IAIUI1R the magnetic ausceptibillty of ferro• fornia, will test a way of capturing fly ash paramagnetic and dlamagnatic materials particles so small that five million of them bulk and thin film superconductors It lncorpo• would barely cover a dime. an option that measures AC and DC resistance Solar Turbines will team with Manufac• wrsus temperature for all types of materials turing and Technology Conversion Inter• And soon Lake Shore w1ll Introduce a noncontact national, Inc . (MTCI) of Sante Fe Springs, eddy current techmque employ1ng AC res1stance to California to build and test an "acoustically charactenze superconductors enhanced cyclone collector:' The cleanup Sc1ent1sts and engmeers contmue to rely on Lake device will use high-intensity sound to Shore products for prec1se control and measurement of cause small particles to stick together in a temperature from O.OSK ( 273 C) to BOOK (527 C), snowball effect. Eventually they will be• both 1n zero f1eld and 1n magn t1c held enwonments to come large enough to be captured by a con• 19 tesla or h1gher ventional particle collection device. Lake Shor The cho1ce for cryogeniC 1 mp rature The use of sound waves to overcome this measurement and control. and now, Iran port measur - problem was most recently explored by m nts - AC suscept1b1hty and AC and DC r s1st nee. Gerhard Reethof at Pennsylvania State University's High Intensity Sound Labora• tory under a prior DOE contract. Scientists found that oscillating sound waves (150- 160 dB at 1,000-3,500 Hz) cause the gas to vibrate. Very small particles are caught up in the waves, while large ones are less af• LakeShore fected . The vibrating small particles collide I N C with each other and agglomerate with the larger ones to form clusters that can be col• lected with commercially available equip• s lui 01 llfld ment. 0 M