Articles and blog posts on composites

Polar Light Technologies (PLT) has revolutionized the manufacturing of pyramid-shaped microLEDs through a new bottom-up method. This method enables controlled crystal growth atom layer by atom layer, which has eliminated the destructive etching used in today's top-down methods. This has resulted in unsurpassed pixel size, brightness, and energy efficiency.

Increased productivity, more consistent quality, and an improved work environment in the steel plant. These are the results as specialty steel manufacturer Alleima now implements RISE’s research into actual production.

Robotic additive manufacturing might sound like something confined to the world of high-tech labs or niche industries, and until recently, that assumption wouldn’t have been far off the mark. But in the past few years, the technology has made impressive leaps forward, and it’s now being trialled in a wide range of fields.

In the summer of 2023, Polar Light Technologies achieved a highly controlled blue light from microLEDs in the shape of small pyramids for the first time. Just three months later they also managed to achieve green light. With an ambition to produce red light, the most difficult to achieve, before the end of 2024 they did just that, and presented red light the 18th of December, setting a new course for the global display market.

Batteries are essential for the transition to a fossil-free society. They are already used in millions of consumer products, but also for various industrial applications - and demand is expected to increase. Sweden is well placed to become a leading battery nation. "But to do so, we need a common arena for sharing information and costs. Once this is in place, the entrepreneurs will come," says Dina Dedic at RISE.

The answer is that graphene, now celebrating 20 years since discovery, show substantial market growth rates even though it is still at the early stages of its journey into real-world applications. Are you curious in learning more? Let’s start at the beginning.

Producing concrete has become a major source of global CO2 emissions. Simultaneously, 70 percent of the world's population is expected to live in cities by 2050. The growing need for infrastructure and housing means that the use of concrete will increase sharply. Therefore, there is an urgent need to find sustainable alternatives to traditional concrete. The industry understands the importance of this. According to RISE's concrete and materials experts, a new standard for recycled concrete could be introduced as early as 2025.

Over the past year, RISE, in collaboration with Uppsala universitet, Chalmers tekniska högskola and Blue Institute, as part of the SweBIC project, has investigated the feasibility of establishing a national technological infrastructure for battery cell and material production, with the goal of supporting the growth of the Swedish battery industry. The study's findings have now been released in a final report.

Marseille rained medals on the Swedish national sailing team at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. On shore, a team of RISE researchers provided the Swedish sailors with AI insights and optimised components.

Sweden's largest aerospace company supplies global giants and makes sure their satellites get into the right orbit. To get there, Beyond Gravity has carried out many material tests in extreme temperatures.

On October 1, 2024, SSAB officially enters into partnership with the Application Center for Additive Manufacturing at RISE, thereby becoming its 21st member.

The real estate company Wallenstam wanted to create a new, smaller version of the artwork "Två myror" (Two ants). RISE was commissioned to cast the ants and bring the classic sculpture to life through sustainable casting."We knew what we wanted to achieve but needed the best expertise," says Ulf Ek, Senior Advisor at Wallenstam.

Since May 2024, the EU's Critical Raw Materials Act has been enforced across the entire union. The goals are ambitious: within a few years, the EU aims to increase its self-sufficiency and recycling of critical metals and minerals, while simultaneously reducing reliance on individual countries."What remains now is the "how": learning from each other and balancing different interests," says Christina Jönsson at RISE.

At the Rinaldi-Ramos Research Laboratory, University of Florida, research focuses on the behavior and biomedical applications of magnetic nanoparticles in time-varying magnetic fields, such as magnetic particle imaging and nanoscale thermal therapy. This interdisciplinary research encompasses theory and simulations, nanoparticle synthesis and characterization, and evaluation in biological environments. They needed a system to characterize the behavior and mobility of particles and complexes in fluid suspensions, and they found it in the DynoMag system.

To be able to reliably characterize nanostructured materials, including magnetic nanoparticles (MNP), is crucial for standardizing MNP systems and the application of specific analysis methods. The DynoMag system, developed at the RISE Magnetic Sensor Systems Lab in Gothenburg, offers a reliable and integrated magnetic measurement system for biodetection using MNPs and rheological measurements.

Alfa Laval, global provider of products in the areas of heat transfer, separation, and fluid handling, has been part of the Application Center for Additive Manufacturing at RISE since it started. Eager to accelerate their adoption of additive manufacturing (AM), they frequently utilize the centre to test new solutions.

Silicon carbide is a material used to create new types of energy-efficient semiconductors that can save up to 20 percent of the battery time for electric cars. The Swedish startup Ascatron manufactures wafers and components in silicon carbide. In 2020, the semiconductor developer was acquired by the American electronics giant II-VI. But their journey began as a part of RISE. 

The European aviation industry has the ambition of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050. Hydrogen-powered aircraft will play an important role in achieving this, and hydrogen is one of the aviation solutions expected to deliver the greatest climate benefits. At best, up to ninety percent of the aviation industry’s current carbon emissions can be eliminated by using hydrogen.