R&D 100 Awards

The R&D 100 awards program is designed to honor significant commercial promise in products, materials or processes developed by the international research and development community. Each year, R&D Magazine recognizes the world's top 100 scientific and technological advances with awards for innovations showing the most significant commercial potential. Since 1989, MST Division researchers have consistently been among those honored with this prestigious award.

2003
Flexible Superconducting Tape
Flexible Superconducting Tape is a technology based on transmitting electricity with no resistive losses. The Superconductivity Technology Center team developed a superconducting tape that carries high currents in high magnetic fields at liquid-nitrogen temperatures. At such temperatures, the tape carries current with no resistance and is flexible enough to be wrapped into a tight coil with no loss of superconductivity. This innovative tape design can carry 200 times the electrical current of copper wire. More information.

2001
Supercritical carbon dioxide resist remover
The Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Resist Remover (SCORR) process is a novel method for processing computer chips using supercritical carbon dioxide and a nontoxic, nonhazardous organic solvent modifier to remove the photoresist coating. The SCORR system works without the use of toxic chemicals and has the potential to save the semiconductor manufacturing industry tens of millions of gallons of water a day. More information.

2000
ANDE -- Advanced Nondestructive Evaluation System
ANDE is a detector system that uses ultrasonic interferometry and resonance to quickly identify the contents of sealed containers. ANDE works by sending sound waves into a container, which set up standing waves inside the contents and produce resonance. The resonance can be detected either by a contact method or by the unit's laser vibrometer and then analyzed. Because each chemical produces a unique resonance spectrum, the results of ANDE's analysis can be compared against a database of known chemicals to determine the container's contents in less than 30 seconds. ANDE's primary application is in national security since it can be used to identify chemical warfare agents and other toxic chemicals at distances of up to 15 feet. It can also be used for law enforcement and environmental monitoring or adapted for industrial and medical applications.

Electro-exploded metal nanoparticles
Los Alamos scientists have helped develop a novel method for creating nanoscale metal powders -- powders one-billionth of a meter in diameter -- that significantly enhance the effectiveness of rocket fuels and improve lubricants, wear-resistant coatings and batteries. Conventional metal powders are typically in the micron-scale range. Electro-exploded metal nanoparticles can be as much as 500 times smaller, or approximately one ten-thousandth the diameter of a human hair. Since electro-exploded metal nanoparticles are smaller in diameter than even the ultrafine metal powders currently available, their surface area per volume, and reactivity, is immensely greater. More information.

1999
Acoustic Stirling heat engine
The Acoustic Stirling Heat Engine consists of a long, baseball-bat-shaped resonator with an oval "handle" on one end. Filled with compressed helium and constructed of inexpensive steel pipe, the device creates acoustic energy in the form of sound waves by applying heat to the compressed helium contained within the system through a heat exchanger located on the "handle." The intense acoustic energy can be used directly in acoustically powered refrigerators or to generate electricity. The power production process is environmentally friendly and up to 30 percent efficient. Typical internal combustion engines are 25 to 40 percent efficient. Because the acoustic Stirling heat engine contains no moving parts and is constructed of common materials, it requires little or no maintenance and can be manufactured inexpensively.

Real-time, puncture-detecting, self-healing materials
This material technology provides instant detection of punctures or other breaches of personal protective equipment, such as gloves, bodysuits, biohazard suits and boots, or of containment vessels, such as hazardous waste drums, chemical drums and radiation sources. The flexible product consists of five layers of material with conducting layers separated by insulating layers. A weak electrical current flows through the conducting layers and is connected to a signal alarm device. Any puncture of the material completes an electrical circuit between the two conducting layers and sounds an alarm to immediately notify the user. One of the conducting layers is a modified form of carbon-filled butyl rubber which flows into small cracks and pinhole punctures to simultaneously protect the user. This was a joint entry between Los Alamos and North Hand Protection, Charleston, SC.

Sulfur Resistant Oxymitter 4000 oxygen sensor
The Sulfur Resistant Oxymitter 4000 is a sulfur resistant oxygen sensor for automatically controlling the combustion process in heavy-duty, industrial boilers found in power plants, refineries, cement kilns and pulp and paper mills. The ceramic-based device can replace current oxygen sensors that often do not survive in corrosive sulfur-rich environments. Because traditional sensors have not worked well, boiler operators have compensated by burning excess fossil fuel. This wastes expensive fuel and creates environment problems and pollution. By being able to better control the air-to-fuel ratio many of these problems can be avoided as fuels burn more efficiently and produce less sulfur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen and greenhouse gases. This was a joint entry between Los Alamos National Laboratory and Rosemount Analytical Inc. More information.

1998
Underground radio
Underground Radio is the first portable radio receiver able to support two-way voice communication through hundreds of meters of solid rock. It achieves high sensitivity and low noise by using a detector made of high-temperature superconductor material, which loses all electrical resistance at liquid-nitrogen temperatures or below. Underground Radio’s signals are indicated by a flashing light, or messages can appear on a pager-like alphanumeric display. With a bandwidth of several kilohertz—more than 1 order of magnitude larger than that of other through-the-earth radio systems—Underground Radio can also be used for voice communication. More information.

1997
Plasma source ion implantation for enhancing materials surfaces
This process uses a plasma - an electrically neutral, gaseous "soup" of charged particles - to implant ions of nitrogen, carbon or other elements into metallic surfaces. Implanting these ions makes the original material harder and more resistant to wear. The implantation process allows ions to bury themselves into the surface of target materials, changing the physical and chemical properties of a thin, near-surface layer of the material. The bonding process can be tailored for specific needs. More information.

1994
Directed light fabrication of complex metal parts
This process is an automated method of fabricating three-dimensional metal parts by fusing metal particles in the focus of a laser beam. The resulting parts are 100% dense, have excellent structural properties, and exhibit near-net shape.

Ultrasensitive ultrasonic transducer
This transducer provides unprecedented "flat" acoustic response from 10 kilohertz to 12.5 megahertz, enabling complete, unambiguous acoustic measurements.

1992
Plastic dye-laser rods
These dye-doped plastic rods may replace the toxic liquid dye-solvent solution used in some types of tunable liquid-dye lasers. One of the greatest drawbacks to liquid-dye lasers is the fact that they use large amounts (2 to 20 liters) of alcohol solvent, a flammable substance requiring special storage. In addition, the purged dye-solvent solution is a regulated hazardous waste. With our plastic dye-laser rods, the laser can be tuned to different wavelength in less than two minutes and the rods are environmentally benign.

1991
Optical high-acidity sensor
Mining, metal, and many chemical industries generate large amounts of highly acidic waste. For efficient processing, for economical recycling of acids, and for reduction in the amount of waste discharged to the environment, these industries need an accurate, on-line method of measuring acid concentrations. In harsh chemical environments, our optical high-acidity sensor is faster, simpler, and more effective than any other technique on the market for measuring acidity.

1990
Molybdenum disilicide/silicon carbide composites
Molybdenum disilicide is an intermetallic compound that is extremely resistant to high-temperature oxidation but ductile at high temperatures. Silicon carbide, a ceramic reinforcement, strengthens the molybdenum disilicide at high temperatures. Our composites are fifteen times stronger than the current superalloys used at elevated temperatures (1200°C to 1800°C) and forty times more fracture resistant at high temperatures than current structural ceramics. In very aggressive oxidizing environments—environments where other materials would disintegrate—our composites remain intact.

1989
Conductive latex materials
This simple, efficient, and inexpensive process allows conducting polymers to be applied as easily as any other latex coating. In our unique process, a solvent, often water, and a polymer, either polypyrrole or polyaniline, are mixed. The conducting polymer is coated with a surfactant, a polymer chain that reduces the tension between the polymer and the solvent. Because of the solubility of the surfactant in water, the coated polymer particles are suspended in the solvent. These latex forms can be used in all applications that involve depositing a layer by spraying, painting, applying a film, or wrapping.