Tech Briefs

TECH BRIEFS is where Design Engineers come for new ideas & actionable solutions to their toughest challenges. as well as top universities and companies.

As informed sources proliferate and compete for the attention of time-strapped engineers, Tech Briefs’ unique, compelling content ensures your marketing message will be seen and read. Our coverage includes NASA and major federal R&D labs (Department of Energy, Department of Defense, etc.) Our mission is to report "engineering solutions for design and manufacturing." Go to techbriefs.com for expanded editorial coverage. If it is an engineering breakthrough that will help to create great products, it’s reported in Tech Briefs.

09/03/2026

Simulations That Are Positively Radiant

With the Artemis program sending astronauts beyond the relative protection of low-Earth orbit, spaceflight requires assurances that the many forms of radiation out in space, whether cosmic rays or solar wind, won’t harm astronauts.

Tech-X Corp., based in Boulder, CO, produces simulation software to help projects with high-level engineering needs. Now a division of Silvaco, the company’s flagship software includes VSim, for simulating plasma and vacuum electronics, and RSim, which can trace its origins to NASA needs.

RSim is designed to simulate radiation. Built upon the open-source Geant4 system developed by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), and plugged into a configurable graphical user interface, RSim can accurately model how radiation moves through space in all dimensions.

Learn more: https://ow.ly/Z5UQ50ZIMoe

09/02/2026

A Practical Solution to the Issues Surrounding Conventional Li-ion-based Batteries

A team is developing a two-part method of controllable chemical “pre-zincification” which allows for impressive structural stability and rechargability with minimal volume variation during cycling.

“Our material, a chemically pre-zincified compound named ZLVP, survives over 5,000 charge-discharge cycles with almost no capacity loss — equivalent to years of daily use — and operates at a voltage of 1.51 V, which is among the highest reported for polyanionic-type zinc-ion battery cathodes,” said Author Liangyu Li, Researcher, Wuhan University.

Learn more and read an exclusive Tech Briefs interview with Li: https://ow.ly/c7o650ZIe63

09/01/2026

50 Years of Tech Briefs: The Readers Behind the Legacy

For five decades, Tech Briefs has brought engineers and innovators the technologies shaping the future. Its greatest impact, however, is reflected in the people who read it.

To celebrate this milestone, we invited readers to share how the magazine sparked new ideas, helped solve critical challenges, and influenced their careers. From longtime subscribers who have been with us for decades to those who discovered Tech Briefs more recently, their stories reveal the lasting impact that a single insight, article, or breakthrough can have.

We are honored to share these stories below and grateful to every reader who has made Tech Briefs part of their journey.

Read them all: https://ow.ly/BWri50ZHE46

08/31/2026

New Semiconductor Tech Boosts Edge AI in Autonomous Systems

Researchers have developed a programmable dynamic memtransistor — a semiconductor device whose time-response characteristics can be adjusted to multiple states and retained, as well as an integrated array based on the device.

"A simple way to think about the PDM is as a programmable chameleon. Just as a chameleon can adapt its response to different surroundings, our device can be given a different 'sense of time,' retaining incoming information over shorter or longer timescales. Some PDMs can be programmed with short temporal responses to capture rapidly changing information, such as heartbeats, neural signals, speech, and video frames, while others can be programmed with longer temporal responses suited to slower changes, such as environmental temperature or gradually varying sensor signals from industrial equipment. By combining these different temporal responses in one array, the system can process information spanning multiple timescales at the same time."

Learn more: https://ow.ly/sNEj50ZHgIp

08/28/2026

Speed and Heat Now Dictate How 3D-Printed Smart Materials Move

The work provides the first demonstration of switching molecular alignment between two orthogonal directions using a single 3D-printable smectic LCE ink, simply by tuning the printing speed and temperature.

"LCEs are soft materials that can contract or expand when heated, and the direction of this movement depends on how the liquid crystal molecules are aligned. In conventional LCE 3D printing, the molecules usually align along the printing path, so the range of possible motions is limited.

"In our smectic LCE, the molecules can align either parallel or perpendicular to the printing direction depending on the printing speed and temperature. This happens because the layered smectic structure can either remain intact or break down under different flow conditions. By controlling these printing conditions, we can switch the molecular alignment by about 90 degrees without changing the material or using a complicated printing path.

"As a result, different parts of the same printed structure can be programmed to either contract or expand when heated. This allows us to create much more complex shape changes, including surfaces that transform from flat into wrinkles, dimples, or even a human-face pattern and then return to their original shape."

Learn more: https://ow.ly/rK9y50ZGuVj

08/27/2026

Self-Healing, Recyclable Biosubstrate Solves Durability Issues in Soft Sensors

Soft sensors convert movement, temperature, and moisture into electrical signals. Repeated bending and friction can cause their metal conductors to peel from the underlying polymer, while physical damage, such as cuts, can disable the device. Commonly used petroleum-derived substrates are also environmentally unfriendly as they are difficult to recycle.

Researchers at the College of Design and Engineering at the National University of Singapore (NUS CDE) have developed a soft, stretchable substrate that repairs itself, grips metal conductors firmly and can be remolded or broken down after use. It could make wearable patches and electronic skin used in applications such as health monitoring and virtual reality more durable while enabling the recovery of valuable components, thus reducing electronic waste.

The new material, called an intrinsically dynamic biosubstrate (IDBS), was developed by researchers led by Assistant Professor Zhai Wei, Department of Mechanical Engineering, NUS CDE.

"IDBS functions through a triple-dynamic polymer network, where its molecular bond architecture directly governs macroscale performance. Polymerized lipoic acid provides rapidly exchanging disulfide bonds that enable autonomous self-repair and thermally triggered recyclability, while phytic acid introduces higher-energy ester crosslinks that suppress depolymerization and confer mechanical strength, alongside reversible hydrogen bonds that dissipate energy for stretchability and, upon thermal dissociation, expose polar groups driving the thermally enhanced self-adhesion (TESA) effect for robust metal-substrate coupling.

"Under mild heat or ethanol, disulfide cleavage enables controlled degradation. The synergistic integration of these three bond types - differing in exchange kinetics and binding strength - unifies mechanical robustness, rapid self-repair, durable metal adhesion, recyclability, and degradability within a single biosubstrate, properties typically mutually exclusive in conventional polymer substrates of soft sensors."

Learn more: https://ow.ly/5N2R50ZG1E2

08/26/2026

How AI Is Getting Better at Flying and Fighting in F-16s

The U.S. Air Force's X-62 VISTA has become one of the world's most important flying laboratories for artificial intelligence, helping researchers develop and test AI agents capable of controlling fighter aircraft in increasingly complex scenarios. Recent flight campaigns demonstrated the ability of AI software to process live sensor data, autonomously track targets, and execute advanced mission tasks, while DARPA's VENOM program is now extending those lessons to modified operational F-16s.

In this video, we explore how the X-62 VISTA evolved from teaching AI to fly basic maneuvers to enabling increasingly sophisticated autonomous capabilities that could shape the future of human-machine teaming in air combat.

Watch now: https://ow.ly/cRne50ZFyaK

08/25/2026

A New Insect-Inspired Material Harnesses Resonance for Soft Robots

Researchers have developed a new dielectric elastomer that intrinsically amplifies its own motion through resonance, enabling large-amplitude actuation without the rigid supporting structures traditionally required for soft robotic systems. The study introduces a materials-based strategy that could simplify the design of lightweight, energy-efficient soft actuators for robotics and biomimetic technologies.

Many flying insects achieve rapid wing motion by exploiting resonance, allowing them to generate large movements while consuming relatively little energy. Replicating this mechanism in artificial soft materials has remained a longstanding challenge because conventional dielectric elastomers typically produce only limited in-plane deformation and rely on external frames or pre-strain to generate sufficient inertial forces for resonant motion.

In the new study, researchers developed space charge-driven dielectric elastomers (SC-DEs) that achieve resonance amplification directly within the material itself. Rather than depending on external mechanical structures, the material generates asymmetric electric fields through space-charge accumulation, producing self-induced bending that naturally excites resonant motion.

Learn more: https://ow.ly/H4LF50ZFa5f

08/24/2026

How Digital Tools and Bonding Innovation Are Advancing Military Vehicle Design and Production

On this episode of the Aerospace & Defense Technology podcast, Season 16's focus on military ground vehicle systems continues with a look at the manufacturing and design technologies enabling more efficient vehicle production.

The guest on this episode is Bill Perez, Senior Product and Application Strategy Manager at Click Bond. The interview explains how Click Bond is using digital tools to modernize manufacturing and installation, and work around digital twins, AI, and human-augmented production.

Listen now: https://ow.ly/j0qy50ZEB33

08/21/2026

How Much Do You Know About the History of Elevators?

An elevator is considered an engineering marvel as it combines mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, safety systems, computer controls, and architectural design to move people and goods efficiently through buildings of all sizes.

From hydraulic to vacuum elevators to machine-room-less and intelligent elevators, test your knowledge about the history of elevators in this quiz: https://ow.ly/m4JX50ZClRE

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