(Press-News.org) The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has published a report identifying strategies for developing a more efficient, sustainable and resilient U.S. metals processing infrastructure, where metals are used and reused more efficiently throughout the economy. The report highlights key challenges that must be addressed to achieve this goal, including a lack of robust standards for recycled content and supply chain vulnerabilities for critical materials.
Metals processing covers the entire material life cycle, including mining, alloy design, manufacturing, reuse and recycling. Making metals processing more sustainable and resilient against supply chain disruptions and resource scarcity is key to promoting U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness while strengthening economic and national security.
The report, Material Challenges in Developing a Sustainable Metal Processing Infrastructure, is based on a NIST workshop held in July 2024.
“The workshop brought together a diverse group of experts from industry, academia and the policy world to take on some of the biggest challenges in the metals processing space,” said NIST materials research engineer Andrew Iams, a co-author on the report. “Meeting these challenges requires a new approach in how to source, process, use and recycle metals.”
The report covers various topics related to metals manufacturing, from new technologies for extracting and processing bulk materials, like aluminum and steel, to developing new modeling and data tools to design advanced alloys.
The report highlights the importance of critical materials, including minerals containing lithium and cobalt that are key manufacturing elements for smartphones, batteries, semiconductors and medical devices, as well as superalloys used in military hardware and jet engines.
These materials can be challenging to obtain due to limited availability and the risk of supply chain disruptions. Industries can address these issues by diversifying their supply chains with new sources, identifying substitute materials, and improving recycling methods to enable greater recirculation of existing materials.
The report also highlights the need to improve standards for metals reuse and recycling. Better standards can make the separation of metals for recycling more efficient, reducing industry costs. New certification programs can help ensure that products made with recycled content meet performance standards, which could expand the market for recycled materials.
The report highlights five strategies that would help the industry tackle these and other challenges:
Advance measurement science for sustainable metals manufacturing, including new separation techniques for recycling.
Develop the technical basis to support standards development, including the data needed to create or improve performance-based standards for highly recycled metals, such as aluminum and steel.
Enhance data and modeling tools for addressing supply risks and designing products for improved recyclability.
Promote workforce development and education by establishing training programs and creating partnerships between universities, labs and industry.
Convene stakeholders to establish collaborations that foster knowledge-sharing and innovation.
The NIST workshop brought together manufacturers, technology companies, researchers and other experts from all stages of the metals processing chain. NIST has a long history of convening stakeholders across industrial sectors to solve shared problems through better technology and standards.
“We are always seeking ways to help industrial partners solve tough engineering or scientific problems,” Iams said. “Part of NIST’s mission is to help keep U.S. industry competitive. We can do that by identifying promising technologies and helping to move them out of the lab so they can be implemented on an industrial scale.”
END
Building a sustainable metals infrastructure: NIST report highlights key strategies
2025-11-20
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Discovering America’s ‘epilepsy belt’: First-of-its-kind national study reveals US regions with high epilepsy rates among older adults
2025-11-20
A first-of-its-kind nationwide study has mapped epilepsy incidence rates among older adults in the United States and identified key social and environmental factors associated with the neurological condition. Published recently in JAMA Neurology, the study is a collaborative effort between researchers at Houston Methodist Research Institute and Case Western Reserve University. The analysis revealed that epilepsy cases among adults aged 65 and older were significantly higher in parts of the South—including Louisiana, Mississippi, East Texas and central Oklahoma—compared to other regions.
Epilepsy affects an estimated ...
Texting helps UCSF reach more patients with needed care
2025-11-20
A combination of outreach methods – including texts, automated messages, and live phone calls – can significantly improve follow-up care for hard-to-reach patients after they have been discharged, according to a new nursing study from UCSF Health.
After patients are discharged from the hospital, they often require an ongoing treatment plan that involves medication, tests, and community-based services. Following these plans can improve the results of their treatment, but many hospitals struggle to reach patients after they’re discharged, making it challenging to support their recovery.
The right ...
Working together to combat the spread of antibiotic resistance
2025-11-20
OHIS stands for One Health Integrated Surveillance, i.e. the monitoring of antibiotic resistance in the sense of a holistic, interdisciplinary One Health strategy. In addition to the BfR, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the Friedrich Loeffler Institute (FLI), the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) and the German Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) are also involved in the network.
The group was formed in 2023 as part of the government's German Antibiotic Resistance Strategy (DART 2030). DART 2030 outlines six areas of action for halting the spread of antibiotic resistance ...
Developing dehydration and other age-related conditions following major surgery linked to dramatically worse outcomes for older adults
2025-11-20
CHICAGO — Older adults who develop a new geriatric syndrome — such as dehydration, delirium, or malnutrition — after major surgery face a dramatically higher risk of poor outcomes, including more complications, fewer days spent at home, and a significantly increased likelihood of dying within a year, according to findings published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons (JACS).
Researchers analyzed Medicare claims data from 2016 to 2021 of patients over 66 who underwent one of five major operations: coronary artery bypass grafting, pneumonectomy, abdominal aortic aneurysm ...
Aged blood vessel cells drive metabolic diseases
2025-11-20
Investigators from the Center for Advanced Gerotherapeutics at Cedars-Sinai found that aged blood vessel cells play a key role in the development of metabolic disorders, including diabetes. The preclinical findings, published in Cell Metabolism, could lead to new treatments for these complex disorders.
Obesity increases the accumulation of senescent cells, aged cells that have stopped dividing but have not died, in several organs and tissues.
“Senescent cells differ depending on the originating cell types, ...
This moss survived 9 months directly exposed to the elements of space
2025-11-20
Mosses thrive in the most extreme environments on Earth, from the peaks of the Himalayas to the sands of Death Valley, the Antarctic tundra to the lava fields of active volcanoes. Inspired by moss’s resilience, researchers sent moss sporophytes—reproductive structures that encase spores—to the most extreme environment yet: space. Publishing in the Cell Press journal iScience on November 20, their results show that over 80% of the spores survived 9 months outside of the International Space Station (ISS) and made it back to Earth still capable of reproducing, demonstrating for the first time that an early land plant can survive long-term exposure to the elements ...
UC San Diego researchers develop new tool to predict how bacteria influence health
2025-11-20
The gut microbiome is made up of trillions of microbes that play a vital role in keeping us healthy. A disturbance in the balance of these microbes can contribute to a variety of health conditions, such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Now, University of California San Diego researchers have developed an innovative new tool called coralME to better understand how these microbes interact with each other and their environment to influence health. The tool rapidly creates detailed genome-scale computer models of metabolism, gene and protein ...
Prediction of optic disc edema progression during spaceflight
2025-11-20
About The Study: The findings of this study suggest crewmembers who did not develop optic disc edema (ODE) on flight day 30 were unlikely to develop clinically concerning ODE on flight day 150. The data suggest that optical coherence tomography imaging during spaceflight missions provides an opportunity to predict the magnitude of ODE that may develop during a longer-lasting mission.
Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Brandon R. Macias, PhD, email brandon.r.macias@nasa.gov.
To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The ...
Age-based screening for lung cancer surveillance in the US
2025-11-20
About The Study: Current U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) guidelines exclude two-thirds of patients, disproportionately women and never-smokers. Age-based lung cancer screening substantially improved detection, demonstrated 6-fold superior cost-effectiveness compared with existing programs, and addressed inequities.
Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Ankit Bharat, MD, email ankit.bharat@nm.org.
To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/
(doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.46222)
Editor’s ...
Study reveals long-term associations of strangulation-related brain injury from intimate partner violence
2025-11-20
In a federally funded study, Mass General Brigham investigators found self-reported vision problems and traumatic stress are experienced years after strangulation
Around the globe, nearly one in three women have experienced intimate partner violence (IPV). Among those women, 68% experience strangulation, which blocks air and blood flow to the brain and can cause brain injury. A new study by investigators from Mass ...