[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 225 (Thursday, November 21, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 70213-70214]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-29515]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Institute of Standards and Technology


Government Owned Invention Available for Licensing

AGENCY: National Institute of Standards and Technology, Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of Government Owned Invention Available for Licensing.

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SUMMARY: The invention listed below is owned by the U.S. Government, as 
represented by the Department of Commerce. The Department of Commerce's 
interest in the invention is available for licensing in accordance with 
35 U.S.C. 207 and 37 CFR part 404 to achieve expeditious 
commercialization of results of federally funded research and 
development.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Technical and licensing information on 
the invention may be obtained by writing to: National Institute of 
Standards and Technology, Technology Partnerships Division, Attn: Mary 
Clague, Building 820, Room 213, Gaithersburg, MD 20899. Information is 
also available via telephone: 301-975-4188, e-mail: [email protected], 
or fax: 301-869-2751. Any request for information should include the 
NIST Docket number and title for the relevant invention as indicated 
below.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NIST may enter into a Cooperative Research 
and Development Agreement (``CRADA'') with the licensee to perform 
further research on the invention for purposes of commercialization. 
The invention available for licensing is:

[Docket No.: 01-024US]

    Title: Method For Combinatorially Measuring Adhesion Strength.
    Abstract: This invention is available for nonexclusive licensing 
only. A new method for measuring the adhesive strength of polymer 
materials arranged in a combinatorial library is described. In this 
invention, a combinatorial library consisting of two parts: A periodic 
distribution of curved surfaces, such as a lens array, and a 
complementary substrate. These two library components are brought into 
contact under controlled displacement conditions. Upon contact, a 
combinatorial array of polymer interfaces is created. After reaching 
maximum contact, the two library components are separated at a 
controlled displacement rate. During both the contact and separation 
processes, the contact area created by each contact point and the 
corresponding displacement is recorded. This information of contact 
area and displacement is used to quantitatively determine the adhesion 
energy of the polymer interface. Additionally, a qualitative mapping of 
the combinatorial array is simply given by imaging the contact areas 
over the entire array. With this information, the conditions for 
optimal adhesion at the polymer interface can be determined as a 
function of the parameters varied in the combinatorial library. In 
addition to empirically determining optimal adhesion conditions for a 
specific

[[Page 70214]]

application, this technique will have significant impact in guiding the 
molecular engineering of optimized adhesive materials for industries 
such as, but not limited to, electronic packaging, biomaterials, and 
coatings.

    Dated: November 14, 2002.
Karen H. Brown,
Deputy Director.
[FR Doc. 02-29515 Filed 11-20-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-13-P