Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Projects/Programs

Displaying 26 - 42 of 42

Nanotube Quality Control

Completed
Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) is widely used to gather data on nanotube chemistry. By monitoring weight loss as a function of temperature, one can determine decomposition kinetics and use this data to closely approximate the distribution of impurities present in a few milligrams of material

NIST Tools for Cannabis Laboratory Quality Assurance

Ongoing
Since the 1970s, cannabis (marijuana and hemp) and its constituent, Δ 9-tetrahydrocannabinol or THC, have been classified as Schedule I controlled substances. Seized evidence is tested by forensic laboratories, which verify the identity of the plant through macro- and microscopic evaluation and the

Photopolymer Additive Manufacturing

Ongoing
NEWS September 2021: NIST and Radtech have launched a Photopolymer Additive Manufacturing Alliance (PAMA) to advance strategic goals for research, sustainability, and regulation in PAM. PAMA is on a mission to make photopolymer additive manufacturing (PAM) more accessible and to increase the safe

Pipeline Safety

Ongoing
The U.S. operates more than 2.5M miles of natural gas, petroleum and hazardous liquid pipelines, crossing all 50 states and operated by more than 3,000 companies. Fluid hydrocarbon fossil fuels remain the world leading source of energy. The safest and most reliable means of transporting these fuels

Reference Fluid Thermodynamic and Transport Properties Database (REFPROP)

Ongoing
REFPROP is a computer program, distributed through the Standard Reference Data program of NIST, that provides thermophysical properties of pure fluids and mixtures over a wide range of fluid conditions including liquid, gas, and supercritical phases. It contains critically evaluated mathematical

Refrigerants and Working Fluids

Ongoing
We apply a wide range of experimental apparatus to the task of measuring the properties of working fluids. Many of these instruments are the same as those used in our work on standard reference fluids, and our data for working fluids approach the accuracy of the reference fluids. Thermodynamic

Reliability Metrologies for Advanced Electronic Interconnects

Completed
High-performance devices, such as microprocessors and memory chips, are typically composed of structures with strict dimensional tolerances and geometries and are made up of various materials, all in close proximity in a three-dimensional system. Material interactions lead to reliability issues such

Renewable Energy and Fuels

Ongoing
Fuel volatility and chemical characterization. We specialize in the Advanced Distillation Curve (ADC) method, developed at NIST, which is a powerful tool for the measurement of distillation curves to characterize complex fluids. We have applied this to simple hydrocarbons, gasolines, diesel fuels

Resonating Platforms for Microbial, Environmental, and Materials Sensing

Ongoing
The high sensitivity of resonating piezoelectric crystals to surface perturbations has led to quartz crystal microbalances (QCMs) being widely used to measure changes in mass of thin films and adhered nanoparticles or cells. This project proceeds beyond this traditional sensing approach with quartz

Scanning Probe Microscopy for Advanced Materials and Processes

Ongoing
With a nanometer-sharp probe capable of delicate interaction with a limitless array of materials, SPM methods such as Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) can aid in characterizing a wide range of materials in diverse environments from vacuum to biological serums. The atomic force microscope is operated in

Standard Reference Measurements

Ongoing
State-of-the art property measurements have been the hallmark of the Fluid Properties Group for more than four decades. Many of these measurements have been carried out on one-of-a-kind instruments developed at NIST. In some cases the older instruments are still among the very best of their kind

Standards Development to Ensure Reliable Breath Analysis in the Field

Ongoing
Numerous volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have been identified in human breath. These compounds can be produced by the body or by organisms in the body (e.g., bacteria or viruses) and provide a non-invasive window into human health. Inexpensive point-of-care devices are being developed to diagnose

Vapor Sampling in the Field

Ongoing
Breath sampling of cannabis users. Several versions of breath collection devices are being marketed for the detection of THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol) in the breath of cannabis users. THC is not directly correlated to intoxication but may indicate recent smoking or vaping. THC and other

Vapor Sampling to Support Public Safety and Forensics

Ongoing
Vapor pressures of unstable, reactive compounds. Over the last decade, our group has investigated a variety of low-volatility compounds including taggants (found in explosives), biofuels, terpenes and cannabinoids. Dynamic vapor microextraction (DVME), developed at NIST, is a small-volume dynamic

X-Ray Computed Microtomography

Ongoing
Impact XCT gives information that cannot be obtained any other way from opaque materials and objects. It gives us an “eye inside” so that features, of a certain size range, can be seen. The Division’s XCT instruments can reconstruct 3D images with a voxel size down to about 0.5 micrometers, at the