A U.S. Navy research team has discovered an alloy for making better, cheaper underwater anodes with the potential for shifting the global business of maintaining ships and piers. A patent application was published by the federal government on Thursday for the new aluminum anode alloy containing a “very small addition of tin.” It was invented by Craig Matzdorf and Alan Grieve of the Naval Air Warfare Center’s Aircraft Division in Maryland. Sacrificial anodes are attached to marine vessels and structures to protect them from corrosion caused by the flow of electrons between metal surfaces like iron, steel, and aluminum. When submerged in seawater, these metals form a battery. Many anodes are made of alloys consisting mostly of zinc, a metal that can easily absorb the electrons Continue reading→

Engineers at the Air Force Research Laboratory are exploring new metals and metal processing techniques for use in future aerospace applications. (Credit Photo @Air Force Research Laboratory)

Carbon-fiber composite materials have been the darling of the aerospace industry in recent years. But, metal still plays a critical role in commercial and military aircraft, especially for applications that involve high temperatures or high stresses, such as engines and landing gear. Engineers at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) are exploring new metals and new metal processing techniques for use in hotter, faster and more efficient aircraft and spacecraft being developed for future combat missions. “Until you can make a jet engine out of anything else, metals Continue reading→

Haiying Huang, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at The University of Texas at Arlington, has earned a pair of grants worth nearly $900,000 to monitor structural health and detect when and where damage happens. Using a $599,928 grant from the Department of Defense, Huang will attempt to design ultrasound transducers, devices that convert mechanical vibrations to electrical signals or vice versa, that can be glued to ships’ hulls to detect and monitor material degradation that causes corrosions on high-strength ship-building materials. These material degradations are microscale in size and usually cover the entire surface of the hull. If they are not treated, they can cause the alloys to break down and impact the ship’s seaworthiness. Huang’s research will focus on degradations that are early in their development, when they are so small that they are undetectable by Continue reading→

Jimmy Toton inspects a 3D printed steel milling cutter. (Credit Photo@RMIT University)

Ph.D. candidate Jimmy Toton from RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, has won the 2019 Young Defence Innovator Award and $15,000 prize at the Avalon International Airshow for the research, which was conducted with Defence Materials Technology Centre (DMTC) and industry partner Sutton Tools. Because the metals used in Defence and aerospace are so strong, making high quality tools to cut them is a major, and expensive, challenge. This collaborative project conducted at RMIT’s Advanced Manufacturing Precinct is the first convincing demonstration of 3-D printed steel tools that can cut titanium alloys as well as, or in some cases better than, conventional steel tools. “Now that we’ve shown what’s possible, the full potential of 3-D printing can start being applied to this Continue reading→

Using advanced additive manufacturing techniques, Army scientists work with an Air Force-invented steel alloy to print intricate geometries with ultra-high-strength. This sample, created using a technique called powder bed fusion, is the symbol of the newly formed Army Futures Command. The steel is 50-percent stronger than what is commercially available. (U.S. Army photo by David McNally)

ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. (Feb. 27, 2019) — Soldiers needing replacement parts may turn to 3-D printers in the future to rapidly deliver reliable and ultra-strong metal parts. Army researchers are looking at new technologies to create steel alloy parts from powder using a laser. At the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command’s Army Research Laboratory, materials manufacturing scientists say this technology may change everything. “I think it’s going to really revolutionize logistics,” said Dr. Brandon McWilliams, a team lead in the lab’s manufacturing science and technology branch. “Additive manufacturing is going to have a huge impact on sustainment.” While progress remains steady, McWilliams said realizing the dream of quickly printed, reliable 3-D metal parts is still a long way off; however its benefits will be substantial. “You can really reduce your logistics footprint,” he said. “Instead of worrying about carrying a whole Continue reading→