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Material Measurement Laboratory

Materials Science and Engineering Division

MSED works across diverse stakeholder communities to foster innovation through the development of measurements, models, data, and standards needed to advance technology and facilitate manufacturing in industrial sectors such as electronics, transportation, civil infrastructure, biopharmaceuticals, energy and the environment.

Four metal parts on a build plate produced using metal additive manufacturing
AM Bench 2022
Image with Deployment in the middle surrounded by a woven strand comprised of Discovery, Property Optimization, Development, Systems Design and Integration, Certification and Manufacturing.
The Materials Genome Initiative
nSoft consortium

Welcome to the Materials Science and Engineering Division

The Materials Science and Engineering Division performs leading-edge measurement science research, working closely with our stakeholders to impact a broad range of science and technology areas. Our core areas of competence are grounded in the discipline of materials science and engineering (structure-property-processing relationships) with specific focus on metallurgy, polymer science, and functional materials. This expertise has expanded in recent years to include nanoscale materials (2D materials), complex fluids (colloids, emulsions), advanced devices (electronic, magnetic, energy), and advanced manufacturing (additive, biomanufacturing).

Projects and Programs

NIST Priority Area MSED Project or Program
Advanced Manufacturing

Additive Manufacturing of Metals

Advanced Materials Design: Structural Applications

Polymer Additive Manufacturing and Rheology

Automotive Lightweighting

Dynamic Plasticity:  Non-Equilibrium Mechanics

Hardness Standardization and Measurements 

Fundamentals of Polymer Mechanics 
Advanced Microelectronics and Packaging

Low Dimensional and Magnetic Thin Film Materials

Advanced Materials Design:  Electronic Applications 

Electrochemistry 

Metrology for Nanolithography

Particles, Tubes, and Colloids
Biomanufacturing

Polyelectrolyte Solutions and Gels

Fluid Suspensions and Emulsions 

Resonant Soft X-ray Scattering (RSoXS)

nSoft 
Circular Economy:  Plastics Recycling

Macromolecular Architectures

Polymer Additive Manufacturing and Rheology 

Polymer Analytics
Climate and Energy

Polymer Membranes

Electrochemistry 

Flexible and Printed Electronics
Physical Infrastructure Polymer Composites
Innovative Measurement Science

Resonant Soft X-ray Scattering (RSoXS)

Magnetic Materials Metrology / Thermal MaGIC 

Measuring Intermolecular Interactions with Electro-Acoustic Spectroscopy 

Stroboscopic Transmission Electron Microscopy 

Software, Data and Computational Tools

JARVIS-ML overview

JARVIS-ML

Ongoing
JARVIS-ML is a repository of machine learning (ML) model parameters, descriptors, and ML related input and target data. JARVIS-ML is a part of the NIST-JARVIS
OOF3D Logo

Object Oriented Finite Elements (OOF)

Ongoing
OOF is a collaborative effort between the Information Technology Laboratory and the Material Measurement Laboratory at NIST. The intended audience of the OOF

CHiMaD Phase Field Community

Ongoing
CHiMaD Phase Field Website Repository See the live website at pages.nist.gov/chimad-phase-field. In January 2015 a group of phase field
MGI-Logo

Materials Data Repository

Ongoing
The NIST Materials Data Repository is open to the research community interested in developing best practices in the management of materials data. We are

Zeno

Zeno is a software tool which computes physical properties for a particle or molecule. ITL has accelerated the software by a factor of 10,000x.
View All Projects/Programs

STAKEHOLDER IMPACTS

MSED leads two consortia, one focused on soft materials manufacturing (nSoft) and another on automotive lightweighting (NCAL). These consortia are emblematic of our efforts to create an environment for industry partners to work collaboratively with our researchers on common problems.

nSoft

This consortium delivers technology and expertise within neutron-based measurement science to U.S. based industrial researchers. The impact of the consortium is based on close and extended collaboration, where member companies often have staff positioned on the NIST campus for extended periods of time. Members, having participated on-site at the NIST Center for Neutron Research, gain the expertise in the use of equipment and software targeted toward their sector of manufacturing. 

Researchers at the NIST Center Lightweighting Lab

Lightweight Materials for Automobiles

Automotive companies are increasingly using lightweight materials to improve vehicle fuel economy. However, incorporating those materials into new vehicles is
Scientist puts material down below a tube. Background: computer screen

Helmet Materials for Head Health

Athletes, warfighters and even children riding their bikes all can benefit from better protective gear to prevent head injuries. The Head Health Challenge

News and Updates

Contacts