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160909-F-ZS991-006

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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Project Arc team works to make technical Airmen more operationally relevant

Project Arc Engineer 1st Lt. Andrew Foor welds together supporting parts for the hardening of a low-cost threat emitter Oct. 18, 2022, at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona. Foor, an electrical engineer by trade, worked with his teammate to help Luke Air Force Base modernize its ranges with emerging, high-impact technologies. (U.S. Air Force photo)

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Project Arc team works to make technical Airmen more operationally relevant

Project Arc Engineer 2nd Lt. Jacob Geil takes a measurement on the ram air scoop fan assembly Sept. 22, 2022, as part of an initiative to embed engineers at operational wings to solve technical problems. As part of the Project Arc program, Geil and his teammate were stationed at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, for six months to help develop, test and transition Airmen and commercial solutions. (U.S. Air Force photo / Staff Sgt. Christopher Tam)

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Project Arc team works to make technical Airmen more operationally relevant

Project Arc Engineer 1st Lt. Kevin Tran tests an early prototype of a corrosion prevention system for space launch infrastructure Sept. 21, 2022, at Cape Canaveral Air Force Base, Florida. Tran and his teammate were stationed at Cape Canaveral with a mission to test and integrate technologies that will enable assured access to space for the 45th Space Launch Delta. The corrosion prevention tool would save $300K a year at Space Launch delta alone and is currently in the Spark Tank quarterfinals. (U.S. Air Force photo)

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AFRL partners with New Mexico Army National Guard in STEM aviation event

New Mexico Army National Guardsman Chief Warrant Officer 3 Anita Guderjohn, with the 168th Medevac Company, talks to students participating in the DOD STARBASE STEM Camp, inside an Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, June 14, 2022. Guderjohn provided a tour of the aircraft and answered questions about their mission, and how she became a pilot. STARBASE New Mexico is a DOD program managed by the Air Force Research Laboratory.

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Aerospace Systems Directorate team collaborates with partners to build innovative airframe, test in state-of-the-art facility

Under the Design for Manufacture of Attritable Aircraft Primary Structure (DMAAPS) program, an Aerospace Systems Directorate team of researchers and engineers tested a low cost attritable aircraft fuselage and wings design, September 14, at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. (Courtesy Photo)

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AFRL interns showcase their work in annual poster session at Wright-Patterson

The in-person poster sessions meant masks and social distancing because of COVID-19. (U.S. Air Force photo/Micah Hung)

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AFRL interns showcase their work in annual poster session at Wright-Patterson

Wright State University student intern Alexander Vehre explains his poster. Vehre is an undergraduate majoring in mechanical engineering. (U.S. Air Force photo/Micah Hung)

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AFRL’s Aerospace Systems Directorate granted patent for innovative control surfaces technology

AFRL showcases an illustration of the location of morphing control surface on a representative half-span wind tunnel model, Sept. 2, 2021, at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. This illustration highlights the innovations the Aerospace Systems Directorate team achieved in advancing aileron technologies. (Courtesy Image)

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From left to right, AFRL Vice Commander Col. Paul Henderson, Materials and Manufacturing Directorate Chief Scientist Dr. Richard Vaia, and Deputy Director Col. Michael Warner cut the ribbon to open the renovated Materials Characterization Facility at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. (U.S. Air Force photo/Spencer Deer)

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Testing done at Wright-Patterson made Perseverance and the search for life on Mars possible

This image taken by NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance shows tracks from the rover’s first drive. It also shows an area that was scoured clean by the craft’s descent stage rockets — the lighter-colored area shown near the center-top. Testing done at AFRL’s Materials and Manufacturing ensured the landing craft’s protective coating would survive being blasted by that debris. (Photo courtesy of NASA)

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A gauge stand measures the effect of an explosion during the snow mitigation test on March 18, 2021, at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska. The foil pieces are used to measure the blast caused by the explosion. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Danielle Sukhlall)

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U.S. Air Force Airmen from the 354th Civil Engineer Squadron Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) flight, the Iceman Spark Innovation team, Air Force Reach Laboratory innovation team, and other partners set off an explosion for the EOD snow mitigation test on March 18, 2021, at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska. The experiment tested the use of snow to mitigate the damaging effects of explosions in an arctic environment. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Danielle Sukhlall)

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210318-F-GH181-1001

U.S. Air Force Airmen from the 354th Civil Engineer Squadron Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Flight prepare bags for the snow mitigation experiment on March 18, 2021, at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska. The experiment tested the use of snow to help mitigate explosive effects. Because of Alaska’s arctic environment, the usual method of using water to reduce blast wave peak pressures is often impractical. Therefore, Icemen Spark and EOD sought to use a more readily available material: snow. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Danielle Sukhlall)

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Diane Buhrmaster, engineer at the Air Force Research Laboratory's Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, received the 2020 Brigadier General Wilma Vaught Visionary Leadership Award in the Civilian Category. (U.S. Air Force courtesy photo)

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AFRL researchers demonstrate record-breaking RF isolator performance in ultra-compact device

From the left to right, Drs. Derek A. Bas, Piyush J. Shah and Michael R. Page. In the tweezers, Bas is holding a chip that contains an array of four isolators. A state-of the-art commercial RF isolator has a much greater size and weight than the AFRL device. (U.S. Air Force photo/Dr. Michael Wolf)

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AFRL partners with Cornell to use micro-beam scanning technology for inspecting composite materials

During COVID-19 restrictions, the research team established protocols and routines that allow remote sample manipulation and data acquisition. From left to right: Dr. Hilmar Koerner, Cornell staff scientists Drs. Louisa Smieska and Arthur Woll, and AFRL Materials and Manufacturing research scientists Dr. Edward Trigg and Mr. Andrew Abbott. The black command window with code lines (upper left) shows the UNIX-based software package for instrument control and data collection SPEC. Users can run their own software packages written in the programming language python to position the sample stage and to program automated sample movement. The camera image (AXIS) in upper right shows a close-up of the sample stage in the beamline hutch. While beamline staff mount the samples, everything else is being done remotely from the comfort of either office or home. (Courtesy photo)

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An experimental high-speed conformal warhead awaits testing at the Holloman Air Force Base High Speed Test Track in new Mexico. (Courtesy photos)

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Dr. Richard A. Vaia, Chief Scientist at AFRL's Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, is a member of the National Academy of Engineering Class of 2020. (U.S. Air Force photo)

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