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Meld USA, maker of ecoX, recently launched a new surface material called Micro, which is made with up to 74% pre-consumer recycled content in Raleigh, North Carolina.  The product, which can help contribute toward several LEED credits, is available in slabs of 30" x 96" x 1.5" or in over-sized custom slabs.  Micro can also be custom fabricated into a variety of applications.  Possible applications include countertops, table tops, wall panels, display tops, back splashes, sinks, tubs, furniture, fixtures, or anything similar.  Meld makes Micro is six standard colors and myriad personalized hues.  Similar to the Refined Collection from IceStone, Micro is made with smaller granulated pieces of recycled glass, as opposed to the chunky glass shards in some composite surfaces, to give the material a more uniform look.  It's a "sophisticated and refined aesthetic," according to Meld. 

Alkemi feature, metals — By Blaine Brownell on September 28, 2009 at 8:00 am Alkemi is a recycled composite material composed of a minimum of sixty percent postindustrial scrap aluminum and polymeric resins for use as a solid surface material. It is strong, durable, and exquisite to the eye. Alkemi offers a fresh and innovative alternative to the traditional commercial options such as plastic laminate, stone, and glass. Alkemi may be sanded and buffed to a matte or a high-gloss surface, and the material can be cut and shaped using conventional woodworking tools.

The ultra-high-strength composite metal foam created by Afsaneh Rabiei is a highlight of a well-traveled career during which the researcher has tried to learn everything she can about advanced materials. The result: a brand new material that can save energy and lives. “Basically, it is a new material for all sorts of safety devices,” said Rabiei, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at North Carolina State University. Rabiei’s invention isn’t the first metal foam, but she says it’s the strongest. The main weakness of existing metal foams is the varying sizes of their cells — tiny pockets of space inside the material. Instead, Rabiei used cells of standard sizes and combined them with a metallic matrix to support the cell walls. That helps

And since the bulk steel is three times heavier than the steel foam, it’s easy to see how the foam could attract car manufacturers looking for a bumper that will improve safety and gas mileage. Rabiei sees plenty of uses for her invention, including in airplanes, boats, and structures that need impact protection with maintaining low weight. It’s this high strength-to-density ratio — defining a material that’s both strong and light — that makes Rabiei’s foam unique. “This material showed a much higher strength-to-density ratio than any metal foam that has ever been reported,” she said.

The Center for Composite Materials has synthesized flexible/rigid polyurethane foams from soybean oil polyols. The advantage of these foams is that they can replace petroleum-based materials (synthetic polyols) and can be used for many applications. The morphology of the foams can be controlled by several factors: the type and functionality of the soybean oil polyols, the type of curing agents, the amount of water, and the amount of catalyst. Both flexible and rigid foams can be developed from vegetable oils by implementing different processes. The biocontent of the foams varies from 33 to 96 weight percent. The use of this biodegradable, locally harvested, and renewable source has economic and environmental advantages that make it an attractive alternative to petroleum-based materials.

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