Vibrational Energy News

Coatings Quietly Helping to Control Noise

U.S. Navy’s AGOR Research Vessels are built to be as operationally quiet as possible. That’s where Mascoat’s Sound Control-dB coatings come in. When the U.S. Navy began its design and build program for its newest generation of research vessels, it specified that the vessels had to be as quiet as possible. That’s because a large part of ocean research involves listening and excessive ship noise tends to negate that effort. Achieving the goal of an exceptionally quiet vessel, the vessel’s design team employed a variety of methods to meet the Navy’s exacting standards, choosing systems, defined equipment locations and designed special installation methods with acoustics as a priority. One of those methods involved Mascoat’s Sound Control-dB coatings.

NSWC Carderock Receives Patent for Galfenol Discovery, Development

Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Carderock received a patent Nov. 13 for their discovery and development of a new smart material called Galfenol. Galfenol is a magnetostrictive smart material that can be used in sensors, actuators and structural supports. The material was co-discovered in 1999 by NSWC Carderock and the Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory and has been in development for the past 13 years in partnership with Etrema Products Inc. "By itself, iron has the characteristics to be considered a magnetostrictive material…