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In This Issue:
Administration Seeks $715 Million for NIST in FY 1999
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Budget
Administration Seeks $715 Million for NIST in FY 1999
President Clinton has submitted to Congress a fiscal year 1999 budget request for NIST of $715 million--a 6.3 percent increase above the FY 1998 appropriations of $672.9 million. The proposed budget will fund the operation--in close partnership with the private sector--of NIST's civilian technology support programs that focus on the country's technology infrastructure. These are critical jobs that neither government nor industry can accomplish separately but are vital to the nation's global competitiveness and economic future.
NIST leverages its funds to deliver broad-based economic benefits for all types of industries and all sizes of companies. Included in the FY 1999 request are three separate appropriations: $291.6 million for Scientific and Technical Research and Services (including $286.3 million for the NIST Measurement and Standards Laboratories and $5.4 million for the National Quality Program); $366.7 million for Industrial Technology Services (including $259.9 million for the Advanced Technology Program and $106.8 million for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership); and $56.7 million for Construction of Research Facilities (including $16.7 million to maintain and improve existing facilities and $40 million for the planned Advanced Measurement Laboratory) to help bring NIST's 30- to 45-year-old research facilities up to the state of the art and meet U.S. industry and science needs well into the next century.
More data on the proposed budget are found in "FY99 Technology Administration Budget Highlights," a document available by faxed request to (301) 926-1630 or on the World Wide Web at http://www.nist.gov.
Media Contact:
Michael Newman (301) 975-3025
Optical Technology
New Optical Properties Consortium Looking for Members
NIST's Optical Technology Division is inviting companies to join a new consortium on optical properties of materials. The consortium, being organized in response to requests from industry, NASA and the Department of Defense, will address critical needs for high-accuracy optical measurements, new standards development and evaluation, and dissemination of optical properties of materials data.
Optical properties of materials, such as ultraviolet to infrared transmittance, reflectance, absorptance, light scattering and refractive index, are critical to producing and characterizing devices and materials. A wide range of industries, including pharmaceuticals, communications, semiconductor production and optical components manufacturing, could benefit from improved measurement accuracy, new standards and calibrations for optical properties of advanced materials currently under development.
The diverse industrial sectors interested in optical properties previously had no single source at NIST for assistance, explains consortium leader Raju Datla. The consortium's goal is to provide information that will help reduce manufacturing cost and improve product quality for both military and civilian markets. The Optical Technology Division will interact closely with other parts of NIST as well where specific expertise exists to satisfy the needs of the consortium.
For more information, contact Raju Datla, B208 Physics Bldg., NIST, Gaithersburg, Md. 20899-0001, (301) 975-2131.
Media Contact:
Linda Joy (301) 975-4403
ATP
New Study Demonstrates Significant Impact on Industrial R&D
A new study by the NIST Advanced Technology Program reveals important new details on the program's role in promoting innovative industrial R&D, including evidence that the program has stimulated and accelerated the pace of technology development, that the research is enabling significant technological breakthroughs rather than simple incremental advances, and that industry is actively pursuing commercialization of ATP-sponsored technologies.
The comprehensive study of more than 200 projects funded from 1993 to 1995 draws on data collected by the ATP's novel computer-assisted Business Reporting System, which gathers quarterly and annual data from individual companies participating in ATP projects. Significant findings in the study include:
- Eighty-six percent of ATP-funded organizations indicate they already are ahead in their R&D cycle as a result of ATP funding--and many of the projects had only completed their first year. Of those, 39 percent believed they would not have started the project at all without ATP support.
- The companies surveyed have identified more than 1,000 potential applications of the ATP-supported technologies and have developed commercialization plans for nearly 800 of those. Twenty-nine percent of the resulting applications are expected to have performance improvements of 100 to 500 percent or more, providing evidence that industry is pursuing "discontinuous" or "breakthrough" innovations--suggesting relatively high-risk R&D.
- Speed to market is considered "critical" or "important" for 98 percent of the commercial applications, and even at the early stage of R&D for most of the projects analyzed, about 15 percent had enabled advances that generated early revenues. Acceleration in time to market by two years or more is anticipated for 62 percent of planned commercial applications.
The results are documented in Development, Commercialization, and Diffusion of Enabling Technologies, Progress Report for Projects Funded 1993-1995 (NISTIR 6098), one of a series of evaluation and analysis studies commissioned by the ATP. Copies of the report may be obtained from the ATP Economic Assessment Office, (301) 975-4332, atp@nist.gov.
Media Contact:
Michael Baum (301) 975-2763
Chemistry
Clay Complexes Avoid Aggregation, Prevent Aggravation
The potential of using clay as the filler in certain composite materials is well understood and appreciated. (See NIST Update, Oct. 14, 1997, for its effectiveness as a fire retardant. Go to http://www.nist.gov, click on "News" and then "Update Archive.") But clay is most effective when it is fully dispersed into its constituents--negatively charged platelets about 1 nanometer thick and 20 to 200 nanometers in diameter--and bonded into a matrix using an appropriate cationic organic intermediary.
This configuration maximizes the surface contact between the clay and the polymer, minimizes the amount of clay mineral needed to affect material properties, and ensures that the material is homogeneous at length scales only slightly larger than a clay platelet. The resulting material is a nanocomposite. Unfortunately, clay platelets tend to form large aggregates in the presence of organics and thus do not disperse homogeneously.
Scientists in NIST's Physical and Chemical Properties Division have prepared micelle-like clay/surfactant complexes that are stable and that resist platelet aggregation. These complexes have been polymerized to form nanocomposites. The scientists verified the homogeneous nanoscale dispersion of platelets using dynamic light scattering.
For two papers (listed together as no. 50-97) describing this research, contact Sarabeth Harris, MC 104, NIST, Boulder, Colo. 80303-3328, (303) 497-3237, sarabeth@boulder.nist.gov.
Media Contact:
Fred McGehan (Boulder) (303) 497-3246
Building Research
Project Summaries Offer Glimpse of Tomorrow's Better Homes
Just about anyone who lives or works in a building (and that's just about everyone) has a stake in the projects described in NIST Building and Fire Research Laboratory Project Summaries 1997. The recently released annual report describes research in three fields: high-performance construction materials, automation techniques to speed construction, and systems to reduce fire and wind-related damage to dwellings. It also lists BFRL life-cycle cost analysis programs.
Among the 165 listed projects: computer information systems concerning new high-performance concrete; guidelines for the repair or rehabilitation of earthquake-damaged welded steel frames; standards for air quality of residential ventilation systems; methods to test aircraft interior materials for fire safety; computer simulations to predict building fire hazards; "environmentally friendly" alternative refrigerants for heat pumps; and economic analysis methods, data and software for energy and water conservation projects. Each of the research summaries includes a project description, recent results, the name of a BFRL contact person, and where appropriate, the names of outside government or industry sponsors.
For a copy of NIST Building and Fire Research Laboratory Project Summaries 1997 (NIST SP 838-13), contact Noel Raufaste, B250 Building Research Bldg., NIST, Gaithersburg, Md. 20899-0001, (301) 975-5905, noel.raufaste@nist.gov.
Media Contact:
John Blair (301) 975-4261
Environment
NIST To Evaluate Evaluators of Water Quality Testing
NIST recently announced draft guidelines to accredit commercial vendors to evaluate drinking and wastewater analysis laboratories. Rather than continuing to monitor the proficiency of water testing laboratories itself, as it has done for many years, the Environmental Protection Agency is allowing commercial and state laboratories to conduct proficiency testing with oversight from NIST and the EPA.
NIST is providing draft guidelines, Chemical Calibration: Providers of Proficiency Testing, to commercial vendors and interested states that wish to provide proficiency testing for laboratories testing drinking water and wastewater. The draft handbook covers the technical requirements of this program.
NIST will accept public comments on the draft until April 30, 1998. The handbook outlines how commercial and state laboratories can demonstrate their capabilities and technical competence to perform proficiency testing studies that meet state and EPA requirements. It is expected that prospective proficiency testing study providers will be able to apply for accreditation from NIST's National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program beginning in June 1998.
Questions concerning the NIST role in this overall effort should be sent to Reenie Parris, B158 Chemistry Bldg., NIST, Gaithersburg, Md. 20899-0001, (301) 975-3103. The draft guidelines are available on the World Wide Web at http://www.cstl.nist.gov/nist839/. Draft copies also can be requested by sending a fax to (301) 926-8671.
Media Contact:
Linda Joy (301) 975-4403
U.S.
Department of Commerce
Technology Administration
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Editor: Michael Newman
HTML conversion: Crissy Wines
Last Updated: February 20, 1998
