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Materials

5 metallic cylindrical shapes

Materials Genome Initiative (federal government wide)

Phase Field Diagram

photo of NIST SRM 2385, spinach, on background of spinach leaves

Standard Reference Materials

Plastics, carbon nanotubes, high-strength alloys, artificial bone and joint replacements are just some of the emerging materials for which NIST develops testbeds, defines benchmarks, and develops formability measurements and models.

News and Updates

image of a brown box with a label that reads Standard Reference Material 1224 and a silver metal disk next to it with a stamped numbers 1224 on the disk

SRM Story: SRM 1224 Carbon Steel, AISI 1078 (disk form)

A composite image of multiple creatures, including green beetles, crabs, lobster, scorpion and a mantis shrimp.

Bioinspired Materials Can Take a Punch

A black and white image of the aluminum alloy under a microscope. Most of the image is light grey, but there are many small black spots that have lines extending out from them like cracks.

Rare Crystal Shape Found to Increase the Strength of 3D-Printed Metal

Blog Posts

A researcher wearing safety glasses stands in the lab, reaching into a metal device on the lab table.

When Concrete Cracks: How Science Can Save Buildings

Trey Diulus poses sitting in the lab with a large, complex scientific instrument in the foreground.

Curiosity to Career: Encouraging Students to Pursue STEM Education

A researcher wearing safety gear kneels at the open door of a lab fridge, displaying a tray of samples.

Sinking Our Teeth Into Science: How Biomedical Engineering Can Help Make Us Healthier

Feature Stories and Explainers

Many different rectangular pieces of webby material are all wrapped up in a big ball. The pieces are each colored differently so that you can tell them apart in the bunch. These are meant to represent a graphene melt.

Materials by Design

Illustration says "Body Armor" with images of bullets, vests and chemical formulas.

How Do You Test Body Armor?

two packages of NIST SRM 1474b, one in a labeled foil packet and the other in a labeled brown glass bottle

Standard Reference Materials

View materials publications

View materials research projects

View upcoming materials events

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