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Engineering Laboratory

News and Updates

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Dr. Mauro Zammarano selected to deliver keynote presentation at the European Meeting on Fire Retardant Polymeric Materials

May 13, 2019

Dr. Mauro Zammarano has been selected to deliver a keynote presentation at this year’s European Meeting on Fire Retardant Polymeric Materials (FRPM19). Dr

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park Gatlinburg Welcome Center sign is half-burned, leaving only the Gatlinburg name and a white arrow. Debris lies on the ground in front of the sign.

Official NIST Survey to Support Data Collection on Chimney Tops 2 Fire, Improve Emergency Communications

March 29, 2019

GAITHERSBURG, Md.—The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is seeking help from residents of Sevier County

NIST: Blockchain Provides Security, Traceability for Smart Manufacturing

February 11, 2019

Engineers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) needed a way to secure smart manufacturing systems using the digital thread, so they

Tested in the Flames

December 21, 2018

FIRES START WITH SIMPLE INGREDIENTS—fuel, oxygen, and a spark—but combustion scientists still struggle to understand the complex ways those ingredients interact

A rectangular-shaped model of a thatched roof is attacked by embers emitted from the pipe-shaped mouth of the NIST Dragon device.

A Fire-Breathing Dragon Helps Fight Ember Attacks on Thatched-Roof Buildings

December 17, 2018

Visitors to the historic mountain villages in central Japan marvel at the elegance of the steep thatched-roof farmhouses found there. Known as “gassho-zukuri,”

An aerial drone sits on a launch pad before lifting off to start the NIST performance test course. Three sections of the course, poles with white bucket-shaped targets attached, are seen in the background.

NIST Performance Tests for Aerial Response Robots Become National Standard

December 4, 2018

Tracking the spread of a wildfire. Searching for a missing person. Detecting toxic fumes after an explosion before sending in rescue workers. These are just

An electron micrograph showing a globular cluster of silver nanoparticles atop the surface of a cutting board from which it was scratched off.

Do Kitchen Items Shed Antimicrobial Nanoparticles After Use?

November 8, 2018

Because of their antimicrobial and antifungal properties, silver nanoparticles measuring between one and 100 nanometers (billionth of a meter) in size, are

Rescuing Our History from the Ashes

October 26, 2018

What strikes terror in the hearts of museum curators everywhere? Budget cuts, surely. But worse yet, the prospect of precious, irreplaceable relics being

Salt Lake County Among Localities Using NIST Community Resilience Planning Guide

October 17, 2018

Emergency managers, industry professionals, and other staff from Salt Lake County (SLCo) and local jurisdictions gathered on Oct. 10, 2018, in West Valley, Utah

Lecture Presented at the 2018 European Symposium on Fire Science

September 28, 2018

Dr. Isaac Leventon recently returned from Nancy, France, where he attended the 2018 European Symposium on Fire Safety Science (ESFSS 2018) to deliver a lecture

Registration Is Now Open for the NIST Workshop on Priority Data and Information Needs

September 25, 2018

As more communities take action to improve their overall resilience to natural, technological, and human-caused hazards, there is a growing recognition that

Schematic shows the five layers of a typical automobile composite body. Mar and scratch damages from five objects, seen as cracks and crevices in the coating layers, are marked.

To Improve Auto Coatings, New Tests Do More Than Scratch the Surface

September 20, 2018

Know that sickening feeling when you exit the grocery store and find your car has been banged up by a runaway shopping cart? It may one day be just a bad memory

Flammability Reduction Group Welcomes Dr. Andre Thompson

September 3, 2018

Welcome Dr. Andre Thompson! Andre recently joined the Flammability Reduction Group in the Engineering Laboratory at NIST as an NRC post-doc. Over the next 2

NIST Details Steps to Keep Buildings Functioning After Natural Hazards

August 21, 2018

After an earthquake, hurricane, tornado or other natural hazard, it’s considered a win if no one gets hurt and buildings stay standing. But an even bigger

Skeleton of bright green and yellow with some pink and dark blue

NIST Shows Laser Ranging Can ‘See’ 3D Objects Melting in Fires

August 8, 2018

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have used a laser detection and ranging (LADAR) system to image three-dimensional (3D)

In this photo, we see a split-screen image of a laboratory fire. The left side shows the fire obscuring the view of an object behind it while the right side shows the same object with the clarity dramatically enhanced using ordinary blue light.

NIST Unblinded Me with Science: New Application of Blue Light Sees Through Fire

July 23, 2018

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated that ordinary blue light can be used to significantly improve the

Full-Scale Furniture Fire Experiments

June 29, 2018

The Flammability Reduction Group recently completed a two-week-long series of full-scale furniture fire experiments in the National Fire Research Laboratory

Highlights from the 29th Annual Conference on Recent Advances in Flame Retardancy of Polymeric Materials

May 24, 2018

Four members of the NIST Flammability Reduction group traveled to Stamford, Connecticut for the 29 th Annual Conference on Recent Advances in Flame Retardancy

Two firefighters look over the last flames inside a compartment where the flammability of cross-laminated timber buildings is being tested.

New NIST Roadmap Charts Path to Reduced Fire Hazards from Materials

May 21, 2018

Fire researchers will tell you that there’s a simple solution for reducing fire hazards: eliminate flammable materials. If it doesn’t burn, the experts say

A home in the mountains of Puerto Rico lies in ruins as a result of the extreme force winds of Hurricane Maria.

NIST Launches Study of Hurricane Maria’s Impact on Puerto Rico

May 16, 2018

GAITHERSBURG, Md.—The U.S. Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announced it will study the impacts of Hurricane Maria on

Astronaut aboard the International Space Station is seen preparing a carousel holding samples of materials for a smoke detection test.

NIST/NASA Study Shows One Detector Doesn’t ‘Fit All’ for Smoke in Spacecraft

May 1, 2018

What had been a peaceful and productive mission for the six men aboard the Russian space station Mir, including U.S. astronaut Jerry Linenger, nearly became a

NIST Flammability Reduction Group Commissioned a Second Cone Calorimeter for Use in its Cone Calorimetry Lab

April 17, 2018

The NIST Flammability Reduction group recently commissioned a second cone calorimeter for use in its cone calorimetry lab. Originally developed in 1982 by

Join the NIST Center of Excellence Documenting and Modeling Community Recovery Webinar Thursday, May 3, 9-11 AM (MDT)

April 13, 2018

Learn about the NIST-funded Center for Risk-Based Community Resilience Planning and how its research is advancing models of community recovery, and is

NIST Seeks Comments on “EDGe$” Tool that Can Help Communities Select Cost-Effective Resilience Projects

April 12, 2018

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is seeking feedback about the utility and ease of use of a software-based tool designed to help

In this illustration, a gas well field has a circle on it. A dual-comb spectrometer at the center sends out laser light which bounces off mirrors, goes through a gas cloud and returns to the spectrometer for analysis.

Mobile ‘Dual-Comb’ Device Significantly Improves Methane Leak Detection

March 22, 2018

Accurately detecting, locating and quantifying leaks of methane, the main component of natural gas and a major fuel source worldwide, is critically important

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