Advanced Materials

The automotive industry is increasingly adopting new technologies to enable the transition towards electrification and autonomy. These involve solving complex computational problems in which quantum computing can provide a competitive edge. In this premium article IDTechEx summarizes the activity of key automotive players known to be pursuing quantum computing.

AI Silk is an early-stage Korean firm that has developed a novel method to manufacture conductive e-textiles. In partnership with Heraeus it exhibited a haptic glove utilizing its conductive e-textile technology at CES 2023.

Thermal management is critical in several industries, and the trends in emerging technologies are driving material innovation. Electronics in markets from personal devices through to cars are seeing increased integration, densification, and hence an increased focus on thermal management. As these components have less and less free space to utilize, the use of materials that provide more than one function is on the rise.

The Institute for Factory Automation and Production Systems (FAPS) is a German research center. This profile, based on a presentation given to the 3D-MID research organization, outlines a novel method of applying laser direct structuring to thermoset plastics to reduce issues associated with differential thermal expansion.

Essential to understanding the evolution of the polymer 3D printing industry is exploring the change from low-cost printing technologies and materials to the slow growth and adoption of innovative polymer printing technologies and materials, from viscous thermosets to carbon fiber composites to foams.

Thursday 23 February 2023 - Opportunities for Integrated Functionality. In this webinar Dr Matthew Dyson, a Principal Technology Analyst at IDTechEx, will discuss the following topics: - The status of IME and competing approaches for creating functional and decorative interfaces across multiple application sectors. - The challenges and benefits associated with functionality integration, and how the value proposition of IME is likely to grow over time. - IME specific material requirements, especially for conductive inks. - A roadmap for IME adoption, segmented by industry.

Protavic is a French manufacturer of adhesives and resins. It is part of the Protex International group. Protavic has recently released a new electrically conductive adhesive that it is targeting for solar cell applications.

H.B. Fuller spoke to IDTechEx about its EV Protect line of encapsualting foams for fire protection and other functions in an EV battery pack.

The rapid growth of the electric vehicle market has driven the development, manufacture and sales of batteries, especially lithium-ion batteries, which are dominating the battery industry for a decade.

Innovation roadmap for the report 'Fire Protection Materials for Electric Vehicle Batteries 2023-2033'.

Membrane materials are of fundamental importance for fuel cells. So significant, in fact, that they typically give their name to the fuel cell, as is the case for Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cells, with IDTechEx forecasting the market for ion-exchange membranes in PEM fuel cells to be worth over USD$1.1 billion by 2033.

This article discusses binary code, and how numbers can be represented in different ways by computers, as well as MLCommons and MLPerf, the latter being the performance benchmarks used to assess AI hardware set by MLCommons, and through which hardware can be compared to one another.

Enhancing 'sustainability' is a widely held aspiration within the electronics industry - realizing this transition is considerably more difficult. To this day, toxic chemicals, material waste, and energy-intensive processing are commonplace.

Friday 10 February 2023 - Status and prospects of competing analogue and digital manufacturing methods for printed electronics; Technical discussion of emerging digital manufacturing methodologies; Evaluation of the benefits and challenges of adopting high throughput R2R manufacturing; and Innovations in component placement and attachment that will facilitate manufacturing of FHE.

In2tec is a UK company headquartered in Kettering that specialises in sustainable electronics manufacturing. The company has developed a unique manufacturing process that enables 100% recyclability of its printed circuit board assemblies.

Osmoses is a startup with a membrane-based technology for gas separation. IDTechEx spoke with Dr Francesco Benedetti (CEO and Co-founder).

Wednesday 8 February 2023 - Technological Developments and Applications. Contents that will be covered in this webinar include: An overview of PIC technology; Drivers of increased data demands from data centres; PIC trends in the communications industry; and PIC adoption in other markets

An assessment of the commercial readiness of analogue printing processes used for printing electronics.

Quantum Computers: What Are They and When Will They Create Commercial Value? In the last decade, the number of companies actively developing quantum computer hardware has quadrupled. In 2022 multiple funding rounds surpassing US$100 million have been closed, and the transition from lab-based toys to commercial products has begun.

An assessment of the commercial readiness of digital printing processes used for printing electronics.