THE minuscule shapes that Bruce Dance and his colleagues are sculpting on metal surfaces could have a profound impact in many fields of engineering.
By training intense electron beams on the surface of metals, Dance and his team have found a way to fashion delicate metal projections that will act like ultra-strong Velcro to form much tougher joints between metals and lightweight composite materials in aircraft and cars. The projections could be used to encourage bone to grow onto artificial hips. They could also be used in electronics to produce heat sinks of just about any shape.
Developed at the…
