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Siemens Meet at the Machine: Be productive from day one of new CNC machine delivery

Traditionally, many programming, validation, and training activities begin only after a machine is installed. Not anymore. Meet at the Machine is Siemens' new initiative uniting machine builders, software, and automation for next-level CNC through a continuous digital thread across engineering, programming, virtual validation, and execution. By pairing a Digital Twin with Digital CNC powered by SINUMERIK, manufacturers can prepare, validate, train, and optimize workflows before your specialized machine's physical delivery! TRAK Machine Tools is the launch partner -- see what they are doing.
Learn more.

How to master metal powder management in 3D printing

What's the real cost of "good enough" powder tracking for powder-bed fusion 3D-printing machines? According to Tim Wischeropp, CEO and Co-Founder of amsight, the technology is rife with hidden costs. Every cycle, every handling step, every exposure, and every mixing decision plays a part. Surprisingly, though, with the right strategy, users can turn their losses into a competitive edge. Learn how.
Read the full article.

Aluminum oxide filament for FDM printers

Virtual Foundry, the company that brought us 3D-printable lunar regolith simulant, has a new product called Aluminum Oxide Filamet™, giving users the power to print alumina parts using the FDM printers they already own. This composite 3D-printing material allows researchers, engineers, and makers to bypass expensive ceramic tooling and produce pure ceramic components in-house. Print using a 0.6-mm hardened-steel, standard-flow nozzle on virtually any open-architecture printer.
Get all the material specs.

New metal extrusion retrofit system helps manufacturers get into ShAPE

A new invention from the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory could soon help manufacturers more easily adopt the lab's patented Shear Assisted Processing and Extrusion (ShAPE™) technology, enabling faster manufacturing of superior extrusion products while reducing costs and energy use.
Read the full article.

Pneumatics: Dual guide rod cylinders and exhaust silencers

Automation-Direct has expanded its guided actuator lineup with compact 12-mm dual guide rod cylinders from Metal Work. Ideal for packaging and material handling, these double-acting cylinders feature 10-mm to 250-mm strokes, magnetic pistons, and integral sensor slots. Additionally, new durable acetal plastic silencers are now available in multiple NPT/BSPP sizes to reduce pneumatic exhaust noise.
Learn more.

Expanded injection molding capabilities

Pexco LLC has acquired Recto Molded Products and Legacy Extrusions, expanding its capabilities in complex injection molding, tooling, assembly, and engineered thermoplastic solutions for OEM manufacturers. The Cincinnati-based companies bring more than a century of manufacturing expertise, advanced production technologies, and value-added services that strengthen Pexco's ability to support customers from product design through full-scale production. Injection molding presses ranging from 55 to 500 tons.
Learn about Pexco and its value-added manufacturing services.

Custom 3D-printed steering wheel for jet dragster

Jet dragsters use General Electric J85 engines -- the same turbines pulled from U.S. military F5 Freedom Fighters -- mounted to a custom 26-ft chassis. The racers achieve quarter-miles in 5.5 sec, but standard metal parts can fail custom ergonomic needs. Traditional manufacturing of low-volume aluminum steering wheels demands long, 8-day lead times, high costs, and multi-piece assemblies. Larsen Motorsports solved this by replacing metal with continuous fiber 3D printing using the Markforged X7. Embedding continuous carbon fiber into an Onyx nylon matrix allowed them to target specific load paths, delivering a custom steering wheel that is stiffer, lighter, and faster to produce than aluminum.
View the video.

Application Spotlight: Light-duty ring in an air vent nozzle

Explore how a light-duty Spirolox^® retaining ring is used in an airplane air vent nozzle to regulate airflow. This application spotlight shows how the ring fits into a groove in the plastic housing, securing the nozzle during rotation. Designed for light loads and axial positioning, it offers a simple, economical solution that is easy to install and remove.
View this informative Smalley video.

Fasteners for automotive and agricultural equipment

Norm Fasteners has acquired an automotive fastener manufacturing plant in Plymouth, MI, expanding its North American footprint beyond sales, engineering, and logistics. The local facility produces metric fasteners (M4-M24) and engine bolts. Norm’s portfolio includes wheel bolts, studs, custom fasteners, and licensed MAThread^® and TAPTITE^® products, serving diverse automotive and industrial assembly needs.
Learn more or contact Belgin Tunce for more information.

3M Cooling Film for vehicle roofs launched

New 3M Cooling Film is a roof-applied heat-management solution designed to help keep vehicle cabins cooler, reduce cooling demand, and improve operational efficiency. The aftermarket product uses advanced thermal management technology to reflect more than 85% of solar radiation. Interior vehicle temperatures can be reduced by up to 10 degrees F with this product. Installs like graphics by professional installers using 3M adhesive technologies. Initially designed for fleet and rail operators.
Learn more.

Test your knowledge: High-temp adhesives

Put your knowledge to the test by trying to answer these key questions on how to choose the right high-temperature-resistant adhesive. The technical experts from Master Bond cover critical information necessary for the selection process, including questions on glass transition temperature and service temperature range. Some of the answers may surprise even the savviest of engineers.
Take the quiz.

New Air Holster Safety Air Gun Mount

EXAIR's new Model 5930 Air Holster provides a simple and convenient way to keep Safety Air Guns secure and within easy reach at workstations throughout a facility. Designed to give operators a designated location for their air gun when not in use, the Air Holster helps prevent misplaced tools while keeping work areas organized and efficient. Its practical design makes it an ideal addition to manufacturing, assembly, maintenance, and other industrial workstations where Safety Air Guns are frequently used.
Learn more.

Southco access hardware in rail applications

Discover how Southco's rail access hardware solutions help improve safety, reliability, and operational efficiency across modern rail networks. The video showcases a range of rail applications where Southco's access hardware plays a critical role, including driver cabins, lighting systems, tray tables, headrests, armrests, and other passenger and operator touchpoints. Designed to support dependable performance in demanding moving environments, Southco's solutions help operators streamline maintenance processes, minimize downtime, and enable more proactive asset management.
View the video.

Multi-zone tension leveler for hard-to-flatten alloys

Redex USA's Levelflex^® is a modular, multi-zone tension leveler engineered for continuous processing lines, including coating and heat treatment of aluminum alloys and where flatness is critical to coating adhesion and downstream formability. By stretching material within 95% of its yield strength, it corrects stubborn flatness defects in fewer passes. It comes in open-loop pure stretch or closed-loop tension measurement modes to optimize surface integrity and eliminate crossbow.
Learn more.

Hold any shape with ID and OD Form Holding Clamps

These simple OD and ID clamping solutions from Fixtureworks clamp onto your part in one easy operation, eliminating the need for custom fixtures. They allow users to clamp onto the inner or outer diameter of small-size, irregularly shaped work parts fast. Lots of options.
Learn more.

Scientists create 'super ice' that is 10 times stronger and far harder to shatter

Ice is cheap, abundant, and surprisingly strong, but it has one major weakness: Cracks can race through it, causing it to shatter without warning.

Now, scientists have developed a new material that could overcome that problem. Called BioPykrete, the reinforced ice is about 10 times stronger than ordinary ice and can absorb roughly 70 times more energy before breaking.

Testing the strength of "super ice": A sample measuring 2 cm across and 1 cm high is placed in the compression-testing machine, which applies increasing pressure until the material begins to deform or break. [Credit: Chen Adar]

Rather than shattering suddenly, it bends and breaks more gradually, a quality that could one day make it useful as a building material in some of the coldest places on Earth.

The research, published by Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces, was led by Prof. Ido Braslavsky of Hebrew University's Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food, and Environment.

Building a stronger kind of ice
The idea of reinforcing ice is not new. During World War II, researchers experimented with Pykrete, a mixture of ice and wood pulp that was stronger and slower to melt than ordinary ice.

The team took that idea down to the molecular level.

They mixed ice with cellulose nanocrystals, extremely small, stiff particles made from cellulose, the natural material that gives plants their structure. As the mixture froze, the particles formed a three-dimensional network around microscopic sections of ice.

The scientists then designed a protein that could attach to both materials. One part of the protein binds to ice, while the other binds to cellulose. Acting like a molecular glue, the protein helps hold the entire structure together.

"We wanted to go beyond simply mixing fibers into ice and instead control how the different materials connect at the molecular level," Braslavsky said. "The result changes not only how strong the ice is, but also how it breaks. Instead of suddenly shattering, it can absorb much more energy and deform gradually."

Keeping small cracks from becoming big ones
In ordinary ice, even a tiny crack can spread quickly and cause the entire structure to fail. In BioPykrete, the cellulose network and protein connections appear to slow down those cracks and prevent them from moving freely. Once a crack begins to propagate through the ice, it will encounter the cellulose network that acts as an obstacle to further propagation. The molecular glue, a chimeric protein with one domain that binds ice and another that binds cellulose, anchors the cellulose network to the ice. This anchoring increases the energy required to deform or tear the network, making it a more effective barrier to crack propagation. As a result, crack growth is arrested or redirected, helping to keep cracks small and confined.

Inside the "super ice": (a-c) Scanning electron microscope images of freeze-dried samples reveal the network formed by tiny cellulose crystals. The top row shows the material magnified 40 times and the bottom row 90 times. (d) The graph compares the size of the network's pores when the antifreeze protein AFPIII was added alone and when it was joined to the cellulose-binding protein CBM3a. Eight sample sections were analyzed for each material. [Credit: Chen Adar]

Laboratory tests found that BioPykrete was about 10 times stronger under compression than pure ice, reaching strength levels similar to conventional concrete. It also absorbed around 70 times more energy before failing.

The engineered protein played an important role: adding it doubled both the strength and the energy the material could absorb compared with a similar ice-and-cellulose mixture that did not contain the molecular bridge.

Could we one day build with it?
The researchers imagine BioPykrete being used mainly in Arctic and Antarctic regions, where transporting concrete, steel, and other construction materials can be expensive and difficult.

Because the material is made mostly from ice and plant-based cellulose, it could potentially provide a biodegradable, lower-carbon footprint alternative for certain structures in extreme cold conditions.

However, no one will be building homes, military bases, or landing sites from BioPykrete just yet. The material is still a proof of concept and must undergo further testing. Scientists need to learn how it performs over long periods, how it responds to repeated freezing and thawing, and whether it slowly changes shape under constant pressure.

Future studies will also examine how cracks move through the material and test new proteins and freezing methods that could make this "super ice" even stronger.

Source: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Published September 2026

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