Newly developed hardware for making high-transmission optical fiber in zero gravity has arrived at the International Space Station (ISS). Launched last week on board a Cygnus cargo ship carrying more ...

Samples of materials that have been made into fibers in the lab of MIT’s Yoel Fink. The initial material is made into a ‘preform,’ in the lower portion, which is then heated and drawn out like taffy ...

Monofilament, including drawn fiber, is extruded from molten polymer resin materials. These resins include very-long-chain polymer molecules. In the melt phase, these molecules are arranged in a ...

Optical fibers are made of glass with different refractive indices in the (inner) core and the (outer) cladding regions. The difference in refractive indices arises due to a rapid transition in the ...

Made In Space, the company that owns and operates a 3D printer on the International Space Station, has announced their next big project: growing optical fiber in microgravity. The company is scheduled ...

Drawn fiber is used in a wide range of applications including over-braiding for hoses, medical braiding, weaves as mist eliminators, strengthening for industrial belting applications, instrument and ...

Although optical fibers can be produced in a number of ways, the most common technique involves starting with a short, fat, cylindrical version of the fiber, known as a preform. This is hung ...

Yoel Fink is pushing for a textile revolution, helping create new fibers that could give fabrics new tech-age functions. In a cluttered subterranean laboratory at MIT, Jung Tae Lee is attempting to ...

Energy storage devices that bend, flex and can be worked into fabrics could have a big part to play in the future of wearable electronics, and MIT engineers have just produced one with some unique ...