In yet another lithium-ion battery shake-up, the common nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) cathode formula is about to undergo another rejig after the world’s largest chemical company BASF said it was looking to reduce both the nickel and cobalt content in the cathode, while upping the manganese element. The NMC-based lithium-ion battery is commonly used in electric vehicles and BASF expects altering the battery recipe to including more manganese will slash battery costs – making electric vehicles (EVs) cheaper. Under BASF’s proposed new move, it will start Continue reading→

Yan Wang, William Smith Foundation Dean’s Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), with a sample of the cathode materials he is able to produce with his process for recycling lithium-ion batteries. The focus of his work with USABC is electric and hybrid vehicle batteries, like the ones in front of him on the lab table.

Developed at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, the patented process can recycle the most widely used power source for and electric and hybrid vehicles and use the recovered materials to produce nickel-rich cathodes for commercial-grade automotive batteries.

Worcester, Mass. – With a $1.08 million contract award from the United States Advanced Battery Consortium LLC (USABC), a collaborative organization of FCA US LLC, Ford Motor Company, and General Motors, a materials engineering research team at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) will extend development of its novel process toContinue reading→

QUT Professor Anthony O’Mullane, Ummul Sultana and their colleagues have discovered cheaper and more efficient materials for producing hydrogen for the storage of renewable energy that could replace current water-splitting catalysts.

QUT Professor Anthony O’Mullane and PhD student Ummul Sultana have demonstrated the efficiency of a cobalt-nickel-gold system for electrochemical production of hydrogen, which could replace expensive, currently used materials. The International Energy Agency estimates the global market for hydrogen will reach US$155 billion by 2022. Australia, with its technically skilled workforce in the energy sector and extensive renewable-energy resources, is well placed to take advantage of such a boom, and simultaneously reduce its own carbon emissions in two major Continue reading→

Allison Beese, assistant professor of materials sciences and engineering at Penn State, sits in front of the control panel during her experimentation with 3D Inconel 635 at Oak Ridge National Laboratories. UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — An undesirable trait found in traditionally processed superalloys does not exist in a 3D-printed, nickel-based superalloy, according to a team of materials scientists who think this could lead to new manufacturing techniques that allow for alloys with tailored properties.  The trait, called dynamic strain aging (DSA), occurs in metals at high temperatures subjected to stress. In conventionally processed materials, if DSA is present, the strength of the material fluctuates with applied deformation, resulting in serrated stress-strain curves. Researchers, led by Allison Beese, assistant professor of materials sciences and engineering at Penn State, tested the 3D-printed Inconel 625Continue reading→

Scandium has until now only been a niche metal with demand in high end products such as the aerospace industry and sports equipment (bicycle frames, fishing rods, golf iron shafts, tennis rackets and baseball bats). It has great potential as an alloy because it has almost as low a density as aluminum with a much higher melting point. Scandium, when added to aluminum, creates a strong lightweight alloy with excellent resistance to corrosion and good weldability. Aluminum-scandium alloy can be 10-100% stronger than conventional aluminum alloys and hasContinue reading→

The new alloy Al₇Ti₇ exhibits a superior strength of 1.5 gigapascals and ductility as high as 50 percent in tension at ambient temperature. (Credit Photo @ City University of Hong Kong)

A research team led by City University of Hong Kong (CityU) has developed a strategy for creating new high-strength alloys that are extremely strong, ductile and flexible. The strategy overcomes the critical issues of the strength-ductility trade-off dilemma, paving the way for innovative structural materials in future. Multiple-principal element alloys, generally referred as high-entropy alloys (HEAs), are a new type of material constructed with equal or nearly equal quantities of five or more metals. They are currently the focus of attention in materials science and engineeringContinue reading→

Researchers at Idaho National Laboratory have discovered how to make “superalloys” even more super, extending useful life by thousands of hours. The discovery could improve materials performance for electrical generators and nuclear reactors. The key is to heat and cool the superalloy in a specific way. That creates a microstructure within the material that can withstand high heat more than six times longer than an untreated counterpart.“We came up with aContinue reading→

Équipes de SINTERmat, SATT Grand Est, Toulouse Tech Transfer et Authentic Material

Paris, le 23 novembre 2018 – La start-up SINTERmat vient de boucler un tour de table auprès de Definvest, le fonds du Ministère des Armées géré par Bpifrance, ainsi que d’investisseurs privés. Ce financement lui permettra d’acquérir des équipements et d’initier une production industrielle. La jeune entreprise finalisera également son intallation dans de nouveaux locaux à Montbard (Côte d’Or). SINTERmat capitalise sur plus de 15 ans de recherche dans les laboratoires de l’Université de Bourgogne et développe une technologie de frittage rapide, communément appelée SPS (Spark Plasma Sintering). Cette technologie permet d’agglomérer des nanopoudres de différentes natures sous l’effet d’une forte impulsion électrique et d’obtenir ainsi des pièces d’une résistance et d’une densité exceptionnelles qui sont utilisées dans l’industrie aéronautique, automobile ou de défense, mais aussi dans l’industrie du luxe. La maturité acquise permet à SINTERmat de passer dès à présent à une production industrielle. L’achat d’une machine de frittage, aux capacités uniques en France et en Europe, et son intallation prochaine dans de nouveaux locaux à Montbard vont permettre à SINTERmat de répondre aux sollicitations déjà très nombreuses.

« Je suis très heureux de pouvoir compter sur le soutien du fonds Definvest. Cette implication donne à notre projet de solides fondations qui nous seront indispensables pour accélérer notre croissance et industrialiser la technologie SPS. Cette étape marque le début d’une aventure humaine pour SINTERmat. Je serai attentif à susciter la cohésion et l’implication des équipes autour du projet d’entreprise et de ses valeurs : attitude éco-responsable, innovation « centrée client », autonomie, responsabilité et excellence. » 

Foad Naimi, dirigeant-fondateur de SINTERmat.

Florence Parly, ministre des Armées, déclare : « La recherche, l’audace, la dualité dans l’innovation, les défis techniques relevés sont autant d’atouts pour la défense, d’atouts que nous devons encourager et faire fructifier. J’ai

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For heat-resistant super alloys, the cutting speed of carbide milling cutters is approx. 50m/min. Ceramic milling cutters offer a different approach, with cutting speeds of up to 1,000m/min. The range of applications of ceramic cutting tool materials includes nickel-based, cobalt-based and iron-based heat-resistant alloys in the ISO S group. Typical alloys are for example Inconel 718, René 80, Nimonic 80A, Haynes 556, Mar-M-247 and Stellite 31. These heat-resistant super alloys (HRSAs) are the preferred choice for the use in the hot section of aircraft engines.

Cutting tool specialist, Walter AG explains how the machining of heat-resistant super alloys can be achieved with the same feed rates as aluminium. Walter’s aerospace component manager, Stefan Benkóczy reports.

The high volume of orders in the aviation industry places great pressure on the capacity of engine manufacturers and their suppliers. Therefore, a reduction in component machining times would be highly beneficial. For heat-resistantContinue reading→

On Nov 20, 2018, Scandium International has signed a Letter Of Intent (LOI) with Austal Ltd., the world’s largest aluminum shipbuilder and Australia’s largest defense exporter, to test scandium-containing aluminum alloys in marine applications. The LOI calls for the Scandium International to contribute various aluminum alloy samples containing scandium, for testing by Austal and potentially other third party testing groups, to determine suitability in marine and defense applications. In over thirty years of operation, Austal has constructed over 300 vessels for 100 operators in 54 countries around the world. Scandium International intends to publicly report a summary of the results at the conclusion of the program.

Australia-focused critical metals explorer Scandium International  will work with shipbuilder Austal (ASX:ASB) to test aluminum alloys containing scandium for marine applications. The companies have signed a letter of intent (LOI), stating Scandium International will provide Austal with a variety of aluminum alloy samples containing Continue reading→