News and Updates

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MMSD Staff Release 2025 Version of SRD31, Phase Equilibria Diagrams (PED)

November 25, 2025

Phase Equilibria Diagrams (PED) Version 6.0 of SRD31 is now commercially available with a new custom windowing system that improves and streamlines use of the...

MMSD Staff Release Version 5.2 of SRD31, Phase Equilibria Diagrams (PED)

September 25, 2024

The third Series-5 release of SRD31 is now commercially available and provides users with processing information for more than 200 material systems not...

What Laser Color Do You Like?

October 13, 2020

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Maryland have developed a microchip technology that can convert...

$an opalescent close up of Roman glass. There is a clear semi-circular fracture in the center of the piece.$

Spotlight: George Quinn and Roman Glass Fractography

May 2, 2020

Cracking the code for artifacts of antiquity — NIST guest researcher George Quinn is applying his expertise in fractography to ancient Roman glass. Our world is...

MML Releases Updated Phase Equilibria Diagram Database (NIST SRD31)

November 27, 2019

Version 4.4 of Phase Equilibria Diagrams (Standard Reference Database 31) is now available to the research community. The database provides maps of the...

NIST Releases Expanded "Fractography" Guide for Analyzing, Understanding Brittle Material Failures

September 16, 2016

Studying the fractures of industrially important materials such as ceramics and glasses provides important clues on why these materials can fail and how to make...

3-millimeter-long capacitors (top photo), NASA photo showing cracks(bottom)

New NIST Method May Find Elusive Flaws in Medical Implants and Spacecraft

February 29, 2016

Medical implants and spacecraft can suddenly go dead, often for the same reason: cracks in ceramic capacitors, devices that store electric charge in electronic...

Among Apes, Teeth Are Made for the Toughest Times

December 15, 2009

The teeth of some apes are formed primarily to handle the most stressful times when food is scarce, according to new research performed at the National...

Synthetic Cells Shed Biological Insights While Delivering Battery Power

October 20, 2009

Trying to understand the complex workings of a biological cell by teasing out the function of every molecule within it is a daunting task. But by making...

NIST Hosts Two International Materials Research Meetings in June

June 2, 2009

For the materials research community, all roads will lead to the Gaithersburg, Md., headquarters of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)...

Vise Squad: Putting the Squeeze on a Crystal Leads to Novel Electronics

May 5, 2009

A clever materials science technique that uses a silicon crystal as a sort of nanoscale vise to squeeze another crystal into a more useful shape may launch a...

Scanning electron microscope image of typical titania nanotubes for a photocatalytic cell to produce hydrogen gas from water.

Discovery of an Unexpected Boost for Solar Water-Splitting Cells

April 21, 2009

A research team from Northeastern University and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has discovered, serendipitously, that a residue of a...

Finite Element Model and Color Mapping of Cranium

Toothsome Research: Deducing the Diet of a Prehistoric Hominid

February 10, 2009

In an unusual intersection of materials science and anthropology, researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and The George...

NIST materials scientists Cherno Jaye (r.) and Dan Fischer adjust a sample chamber for NIST's soft x-ray materials characterization beamline at the National Synchrotron Light Source.

Slippery Customer: A Greener Antiwear Additive for Engine Oils

July 22, 2008

Titanium, a protean element with applications from pigments to aerospace alloys, could get a new role as an environmentally friendly additive for automotive oil...

Optical micrographs of contact damage in silicon from cyclic stress showing progressive damage

Job-Related Stress: NIST Demonstrates Fatigue Effects in Silicon

November 27, 2007

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated a mechanical fatigue process that eventually leads to cracks and...

$Optical profilometer image of the broken surface of a glass rod shows height of peaks and valleys of the fracture surface in millionths of a meter.$

Ceramics