openMaterials

Pa++tern, created by Daito Manabe + Motoi Ishibashi, is a combination of an installation and an esoteric programming language for embroidery in which a series of industrial sewing machines are controlled by twiterers. Here’s the process: using a simple environment, users create a short program for an embroidery pattern and send it over to the [...]

A mini documentary on RepRap Mendel shot at the University of Bath.

Here’s a very interesting article from physorg.com on spray-on liquid glass: Spray-on liquid glass is transparent, non-toxic, and can protect virtually any surface against almost any damage from hazards such as water, UV radiation, dirt, heat, and bacterial infections. The coating is also flexible and breathable, which makes it suitable for use on an enormous array [...]

Researchers at Stanford University seem to have done it again. This time, a paper titled “Highly Conductive Paper for Energy Storage Devices,” published on the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, describes a technique for using ordinary paper and coating it with a special ink, composed of carbon nanotubes and silver nanowires, to create [...]

Sugru is a brand new material developed specifically to “hack things better.” Here are some of its extraordinary properties: Cures at room temperature Sugru is like modeling clay when you take it from its pack. Once it’s exposed to air, it cures to a tough flexible silicone overnight using the moisture in the air. Working time = [...]

A simple switch made with QTC sheet. Quantum tunnelling composite (QTC) is a smart flexible polymer, with extraordinary electrical properties, used for pressure switching and sensing. In its normal state it’s a near-perfect electrical insulator, but when deformed QTC becomes a metal-like conductor capable of passing very high currents. In fact, a QTC button measuring 4mm [...]