The U.S. Departments of Energy and Defense teamed up to create a series of weld filler materials that could dramatically improve high-strength steel repair in vehicles, bridges and pipelines. This novel weld wire could help revitalize America’s aging infrastructures, which in 2021 received a C- grade from the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Scientists have measured the highest toughness ever recorded, of any material, while investigating a metallic alloy made of chromium, cobalt and nickel, or CrCoNi. Not only is the metal extremely ductile — which, in materials science, means highly malleable — and impressively strong — meaning it resists permanent deformation — its strength and ductility improve as it gets colder. This runs counter to most other materials in existence.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers serendipitously discovered when they automated the beam of an electron microscope to precisely drill holes in the atomically thin lattice of graphene, the drilled holes closed up. They expected the heat to make atoms easier to remove, but they saw the opposite effect.

The presence of minerals called ash in plants makes little difference to the fitness of new naturally derived compound materials designed for additive manufacturing, an Oak Ridge National Laboratory-led team found.

More than 300,000 students, teachers, and families across the country have been engaged in learning about what bioenergy can do to reduce carbon emissions and provide good jobs through a collaborative approach to science outreach adopted by the Center for Bioenergy Innovation (CBI) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.