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Manufacturing

Process improvement

News and Updates

2025 MBE & QIF Summit

2025 MBE & QIF Summit Update

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The 2025 MBE & QIF Summit event is returning to MxD (Manufacturing x Digital) headquarters in Chicago, IL, April 15 - 17, 2025. The 2025 event will bring the...

Blog Posts

Four people stand talking in a converted factory space near a large interior window through which a complex, high-tech manufacturing line is visible.

From the Machine Shop to Cutting-Edge Technology: How NIST Helps Grow American Manufacturing 

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A small orange is packaged in a plastic container with a lid.

A Polymer Scientist Wrestles — Literally and Figuratively — With the Frustrations of Plastic Packaging

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Aly Artusio-Glimpse smiles and holds up a tiny glass square.

Benchy the Boat, Irradiated Mangoes, Quantum Window: A Sample of Stories on NIST Social Media

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Projects and Programs

2D Material Electronic Test

Electronic Material Characterization

Ongoing
Manufacturing optimized devices that incorporate newly-emerging materials requires predictable performance throughout device lifetimes. Unexpected degradation in device performance, sometimes leading to failure, is often traceable to poor material reliability. Reliability is rooted in the stability...
USAXS animation

Multiscale structure and dynamics in advanced technological materials

Ongoing
New technologies increasingly harness materials phenomena that operate across many length-scales: e.g., in selective gas adsorption, additive manufacturing, new alloy designs, or advanced concretes. To overcome technology barriers, it is no longer sufficient just to characterize the materials...

NCAL: Diffraction Stress Measurement Under Applied Load

Ongoing
Using X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques one can measure the full stress tensor just inside the surface of a sheet metal specimen under applied loading. This permits the measurement of biaxial stress states resulting from directly applied deformation (see NCAL: Multiaxial Material Performance) or...

NCAL: Intermediate Strain Rate Testing

Ongoing
This project seeks to improve servohydraulic testing methods at intermediate strain rates by addressing the well-known problems associated with excessive stress oscillations (ringing) that currently limit our understanding of the mechanical behavior of engineering materials for loading conditions...

Publications

Manufacturing USA Program Strategic Plan

Author(s)
Robert Rudnitsky, Said Jahanmir, Zahraha Brunner, Kelley Rogers, Michael Molnar, Mai Tran
The Manufacturing USA Program Strategic Plan outlines the program's vision, mission, goals, and objectives for the next four years and describes how the Program...

Software

CMS Evaluation Flowchart

SimPROCESD

SimPROCESD (or Simulated-Production Resource for Operations & Conditions Evaluations to Support Decision-making) is a discrete-event simulation package written

Unit Manufacturing Process (UMP) Builder

The Unit Manufacturing Process (UMP) Builder allows researchers to record their UMP models according to the ASTM E3012-16 standard . One of the main drivers

Tools and Instruments

NCAL: Thermal Imaging Systems

Thermal imaging systems are available in the NIST Center for Automotive Lightweighting. These cameras can be used to measure adiabatic heating during mechanical

NCAL: Uniaxial Test Machines

A variety of uniaxial test machines are available in the NIST Center for Automotive Lightweighting. These include servo-hydraulic and screw-driven test frames
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