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AFRL scientists, engineers promote STEM careers at WPAFB Spring Job Shadow Day

Students visiting Wright-Patterson Air Force base March 11, 2024, for the base’s spring Job Shadow Day had the opportunity to tour a Headquarters Flight Test Operations facility, where participating mentors demonstrated how small, Unmanned Aircraft Systems such as Raytheon’s Silver Fox, the Bix3 and DJI S1000 Panini (pictured) are used by AFRL’s Sensors Directorate when flight-testing sensors. WPAFB’s Educational Outreach Office offers two job shadow days per year every spring and fall to high school juniors and seniors in an effort to showcase and promote STEM- and non-STEM-related career opportunities on base. (U.S. Air Force photo)

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AFRL engineer awarded Military Additive Manufacturing Lifetime Achievement Award

Dr. Mark Benedict, Additive Manufacturing lead for the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Materials and Manufacturing Directorate and chief technical adviser at America Makes, is the 2023 recipient of the Military Additive Manufacturing 3D Printing Lifetime Achievement Award. (U.S. Air Force photo / Jonathan Taulbee)

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Dr. Benji Maruyama, principal materials research engineer based in the Air Force Research Laboratory, or AFRL’s, Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, displays a model of a carbon nanotube structure in his research lab in 2016. Carbon nanotubes are of great interest to materials scientists due to their strong, lightweight structure, ability to conduct heat and electricity better than many other materials, and promising implications for reducing the effects of climate change. In the spring of 2023, Maruyama was named a Materials Research Society, or MRS, fellow largely due to his extensive efforts to promote and develop carbon nanotube research. The MRS, currently 13,000 strong, has named less than 2% of its current members as fellows. “Carbon nanotubes are these wonderful materials that are super stiff, super strong, lightweight, electrically and thermally conductive,” Maruyama explained. “They have all these great properties that we can harness to make all kinds of things that we need, more sustainably — but, we don’t have the science yet to make them at scale, meaning at millions of tons per year. If we can do it at scale, we might just be able to reduce global CO2 emissions by, say, 20% to 40%, which allows us to meet 2050 goals.” (U.S. Air Force photo / Marisa Novobilski)

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AFRL successfully field-tests AI robot to improve DAF manufacturing capability

A multidisciplinary development team, comprised of Air Force Research Laboratory, or AFRL, depot, industry and academia representatives, observes the successful first demonstration of an autonomous robotic incremental metal forming prototype, nicknamed AI-FORGE, at Warner-Robins Air Logistics Complex, Georgia, in late January 2023. Personnel from AFRL’s Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, Ohio State University, the Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing Institute, Yaskawa Motoman, and CapSen Robotics collaborated to develop the robotic blacksmithing system, which uses incremental forming, a heat-assisted metalworking process that permits users to manufacture small lots of customized manufactured parts for military aircraft. During its initial test run, the artificially intelligent system operated autonomously without human interruption for over six hours.

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AFRL re-ups affiliation with longtime liquid crystal industry partner to meet DOD needs

The image depicts AlphaMicron Inc., or AMI’s prototype progression over the course of 20 years. AMI’s first dimming proof of principle prototype from 1997 was eventually integrated into a Full Complex Curvature Helmet F-35 Visor prototype for the U.S. Department of the Air Force in 2017 to help mitigate pilots’ difficulties managing light transmission during flight. The initial collaboration between AFRL and AMI resulted in the creation of e-Tint, an electronic tint-on-demand liquid crystal technology that can be applied to flexible plastic substrates, such as pilot visors, instead of traditional glass. e-Tint switches from clear to dark faster than an eye can blink — about 0.1 of a second— and is fail-safe in a power outage. This technology was used to create the world's first electronic switchable eyewear which was field tested by the U.S. Army and is now being issued to soldiers through the Approved Protective Eyewear List.  In addition to current applications, the technology is being developed for augmented reality applications and see-through displays, where simultaneously controlling ambient and display light is important, said AMI’s Chief Technology Officer and Chief Executive Officer Dr. Bahman Taheri.(U.S. Air Force photo)

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AFRL re-ups affiliation with longtime liquid crystal industry partner to meet DOD needs

The graphic illustrates how reorienting liquid crystal (yellow) causes dichroic dye (red) to reorient along with it, which changes the transmission of light. In 1997, the U.S. Department of the Air Force identified a need for controlling visor tint in pilot eyewear. Visor tint was affected by light transmission when pilots would go above or below the clouds, as sudden washes of intense sunlight mid-flight impacted their ability to read and track the data on their aircraft-mounted and head-mounted displays. To address this safety issue, AFRL partnered with Kent State University-based AlphaMicron Inc., or AMI, a global leader in liquid crystal technology, to find a solution based on AMI’s proprietary polarizer-free, guest-host liquid crystal system known as e-Tint. AMI’s Chief Technology Officer and Chief Executive Officer Dr. Bahman Taheri likens this system to a molecular version of a Venetian blind. (Courtesy photo / AlphaMicron Inc.)

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AFRL researchers contribute to prestigious scientific journal ACS Nano

The graphic illustrates how the high-energy electron beam from a scanning electron microscope is used to functionalize transition metal dichalcogenides, or TMDs. Air Force Research Laboratory, or AFRL, researchers from the Materials and Manufacturing Directorate contributed this work to the February 2023 ACS Nano publication “Precision Modification of Monolayer Transition Metal Dichalcogenides via Environmental E‑Beam Patterning.” TMDs are a specific class of two-dimensional layered materials essential for the development of emerging sensing and electronic technologies for the Department of the Air Force and commercial market. The example shows hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O) atoms as they are added to TMD atomic layers consisting of sulfur (S), selenium (Se), Molybdenum (Mo) and tungsten (W) to functionalize them. The electron beam removes atoms from the TMD, causing a chemical reaction that emits light and heat which can be harnessed for use in sensing and other technologies. (U.S. Air Force graphic)

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AFRL researchers contribute to prestigious scientific journal ACS Nano

The image depicts a novel precision patterning method using the United States Department of the Air Force emblem on monolayer MoSe2, a two-dimensional material made of atomic layers. Air Force Research Laboratory, or AFRL, researchers from the Materials and Manufacturing Directorate contributed this work to the February 2023 ACS Nano publication “Precision Modification of Monolayer Transition Metal Dichalcogenides via Environmental E‑Beam Patterning.” The publication introduced an innovative process of altering and tailoring the optoelectronic properties of transition metal dichalcogenides, or TMDs. Researchers can control and manipulate the atomic properties of these materials to draw lines, shapes and desired patterns to demonstrate how the material’s thermal and optical properties can be manipulated for sensing and other technologies. (U.S. Air Force graphic)

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US Rep. Mike Turner visits Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, tours AFRL facility

Air Force Research Laboratory’s, or AFRL, Materials and Manufacturing Directorate Director Darrell K. Phillipson, left, stands with Congressman Mike Turner at the Wright Brothers Institute in Riverside, Ohio, Feb. 13, 2023. Turner, a longtime supporter of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and other Ohio military installations, toured AFRL’s Materials and Manufacturing Directorate the morning of Feb. 13, where he was welcomed by AFRL Executive Director Timothy Sakulich and representatives from AFRL’s Photonics, Electronics and Soft Matter Division. (U.S. Air Force Photo / Richard Eldridge)

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AFRL Materials and Manufacturing Directorate hosts annual awards ceremony

Darrell Phillipson, director of the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, or RX, right, congratulates Capt. Khaimook Klooster as she accepts the Military Award for Company Grade Officer of the Year while Master of Ceremonies Dr. Jonathan Spowart, far left, observes at the 70th Annual RX Awards Ceremony at the Air Force Institute of Technology’s Kenney Hall, Jan. 27, 2023. The Military Award recognizes the outstanding contributions of military members who demonstrate a daily commitment to excellence in their primary job duties and acknowledges the additional obligations placed upon military by virtue of wearing the uniform. (U.S. Air Force photo / Jonathan Taulbee).

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AFRL Materials and Manufacturing Directorate hosts annual awards ceremony

The Air Force Research Laboratory’s Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, or RX, Director Darrell Phillipson, far left, and Chief Scientist Dr. Richard Vaia, far right, pose with award recipients, from left to right, Dr. Matthew Dickerson, Dr. Lisa Rueschhoff and Dr. Abigail Juhl at the 70th Annual RX Awards Ceremony Jan. 27, 2022, at the Air Force Institute of Technology’s Kenney Hall. The team of Dickerson and Rueschhoff tied with Juhl for the directorate’s most prestigious honor, the Charles J. Cleary Scientific Achievement Award, for the first time in the organization’s history. The Cleary Award acknowledges exemplary research published or accepted for publication, in a recognized, refereed journal. (U.S. Air Force photo / Jonathan Taulbee).

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World-renowned AFRL researcher inducted into Engineering and Science Hall of Fame

Dr. Nicholas “Nick” J. Pagano, an internationally recognized composite materials researcher, speaks to local high school science, technology, engineering and math students at the Engineers Club in Dayton, Ohio, Nov. 10, 2022, following his induction into the Engineering and Science Hall of Fame. The lecture, in which Pagano discussed his experiences and motivation for his career, was part of the hall’s Inductees Lectures program to "Listen to and question those who have made history." (Courtesy photo)

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World-renowned AFRL researcher inducted into Engineering and Science Hall of Fame

Dr. Som Soni, left, former Air Force Research Laboratory scientist Dr. Nicholas “Nick” J. Pagano, center, and Engineering and Science Hall of Fame Board of Trustees President James Mattice, right, pose in the Engineers Club in Dayton, Ohio, Nov. 9, 2022, following Pagano’s induction ceremony. Soni, Pagano’s longtime friend and colleague, wrote the nomination package to highlight Pagano’s extensive achievements and contributions to the composite materials research field over 40 years. (Courtesy photo)

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World-renowned AFRL researcher inducted into Engineering and Science Hall of Fame

Dr. Nicholas “Nick” J. Pagano, longtime Air Force Research Laboratory employee and world-renowned composite materials researcher, sits for his official portrait at the Engineers Club in Dayton, Ohio, Nov. 9, 2022. Pagano was inducted into the Engineering and Science Hall of Fame for his pioneering contributions in modeling performance of composite materials and his image will be enshrined in the hall at the Engineers Club of Dayton. (Courtesy photo)

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AFRL division wins award for cold spray robot

Air Force Research Laboratory, or AFRL, senior general engineer and technical adviser Harry Pierson, far left, accepts the 2022 Defense Manufacturing Technology Achievement Award with the Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing, or ARM, Institute project team. From left: David Barron, Alex Klinger, Chris Adams, Shane Groves, Andy Strat, Nihad Alfaysale and Stuart Lawrence at the 2022 Defense Manufacturing Conference in Tampa, Florida, Dec. 6, 2022. The team, comprised of government, industry and academia employees, won the award for its creation of an augmented reality-enabled cold spray robot system nicknamed “ARRI” that applies thermal coatings to refurbish worn aerospace parts. The award is given annually to teams that demonstrate significant achievements in world-class defense manufacturing technology capability and technical accomplishment. (Courtesy photo)

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AFRL launches wearable biomolecular sensors program for DOD, transfers technology to Sensate Biosystems

Case Western Reserve University Nutrition Professor and BioSIS founder Dr. Mark Chance, left, discusses advancements in wearable biomolecular sensor technology with Air Force Research Laboratory, or AFRL, Senior Materials Engineer and Technical Lead Dr. Lawrence Drummy, right, Aug. 18, 2022, during the Biomedical Sciences for the Department of Defense Mission Symposium at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. AFRL partnered with the Nano Bio-Materials Consortium and Case Western Reserve University to create wearable biomolecular sensors that measure biomarkers in Airmen and Guardians, and has transferred that technology to Sensate Biosystems, a spinoff company of Case Western Reserve University. (Courtesy photo)

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AFRL accepting applications for fully funded graduate internship program

Graduate student intern Brittani Huegen works in the Air Force Research Laboratory, or AFRL, Liquid Metals Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, Nov. 29, 2022, preparing an electromyography measurement using liquid metal-based electrodes. Huegen, a fifth-year Duke University Ph.D. candidate in electrical engineering, began her internship with AFRL’s Materials and Manufacturing Directorate in September 2022. AFRL is accepting applications for this fully funded graduate student internship program Dec. 1, 2022 through Jan. 20, 2023. (U.S. Air Force photo / Jonathan Taulbee)

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AFRL teams with industry to expand alternative natural rubber supply

The initial planting of Kok-saghyz dandelion, commonly known as TK, is shown at the Amherst Greenhouse in Harrod, Ohio, July 28, 2022. The Air Force Research Laboratory kicked off a multimillion-dollar, multiyear program in spring 2022 with BioMADE, Farmed Materials and The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company to develop a domestic source of natural rubber from this dandelion species. (U.S. Air Force Photo / Jonathan Taulbee)

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AFRL teams with industry to expand alternative natural rubber supply

The Kok-saghyz dandelion species, captured July 28, 2022 at the Amherst Greenhouse in Harrod, Ohio, accumulates rubber in its roots which can be extracted for further use. The Air Force Research Laboratory entered a multimillion-dollar, multiyear program in spring 2022 with BioMADE, Farmed Materials and The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company to develop a domestic source of natural rubber from this species of dandelion for use in the production of U.S. Department of the Air Force aircraft tires. (U.S. Air Force Photo / Jonathan Taulbee)

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AFRL’s Computed Tomography lab enhances efficiency with state-of-the-art infrastructure improvements, imaging capability

Air Force Research Laboratory Commander Maj. Gen. Heather Pringle receives a tutorial from ARCTOS contractor and Computed Tomography, or CT, operator Chad Schmidt inside the new CT suite Nov. 9, 2022, at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, while AFRL Technical Lead John Brausch and Materials and Manufacturing Directorate Director Darrell Phillipson, far right, observe. The Computed Tomography Laboratory was recently renovated to include an additional CT machine and a brand-new CT suite in which to house the equipment. (U.S. Air Force photo / Jonathan Taulbee)

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