German researchers explore creep properties in superalloys, detailing their findings in the recently published ‘Creep properties of single crystal Ni-base superalloys (SX): A comparison between conventionally cast and additive manufactured CMSX-4 materials.’ The authors compare both microstructures and the creep properties of two different types of single crystal Ni-base superalloys. Single crystal Ni-baseContinue reading
A new light metals research centre, based at Brunel’s Centre for Advanced Solidification Technology (BCAST) is set to revitalise the UK metals industry. Global manufacturers, suppliers and consultants will help train the metallurgists of the future and reinforce the UK as a world leader in metallurgical science. A £16m grant from The UK Research Partnership Investment Fund (UKRPIF) was announced by Universities, Science and Innovation Minister Chris Skidmore. Named the Future Metallurgy Centre, the new facility will develop new casting technologies and next generation aluminium, magnesium alloys for things like top-performing cars and planes. Already, it hasContinue reading
A titanium alloy is a strong metal and, together with the new technique, could make helicopters more reliable in difficult environmental conditions, including at sea and in the desert, analysts said. Wei Dongxu, a Beijing-based military analyst, told the Global Times that a fatigue-resistant rotor could also allow a helicopter to work under higher stress, including maintaining high speeds for extended periods or lifting heavier cargo for longer distances. The anti-fatigue feature is important because rotor fatigue is not always noticeable, causing unforeseen dangers, the report said.
China recently mastered a new fatigue-resistant technology for helicopter rotors, which could greatly expand the helicopters’ capability and service time, a development which military experts said on Tuesday could be of strategic value to China’s domestic helicopter industry as the technology could be used on China’s future heavy-lift transport helicopters and attack helicopters. During the development of an unidentified helicopter, engineers at Changhe Aircraft Industry (Group) Corporation Ltd under theContinue reading
Lehigh researchers use data analytics and experimental microscopy to discover new high-entropy alloys, validating novel approach to new materials search
A new method of discovering materials using data analytics and electron microscopy has found a new class of extremely hard alloys. Such materials could potentially withstand severe impact from projectiles, providing better protection of soldiers in combat. Lehigh researchers describe the method and findings in an article, “Materials Informatics For the Screening of Multi-Principal Elements and High-Entropy Alloys,” published in Nature Communications. “We used materials informatics—the application of the methods of data science to
By means of laser powder build-up welding, components made of different materials can be integrally manufactured. Thus, specific materials can be placed exactly where their properties are required. This offers, for example, the prospect of lighter, better and cost-reduced blades for gas turbines
Fraunhofer IWS engineers have refined laser powder buildup welding over decades in order to allow more materials to be applied in additive manufacturing. In this procedure, a system feeds various filler powders into a process zone. There, a laser melts the powder and deposits it on a workpiece surface. As a result, the desired part is generated in a layer by layer process. “One of the advantages of this additive procedure is that we can adapt the process very flexibly to the requirements of high-performance materials,” explains Fraunhofer IWS project administrator Michael Müller. In this way it is also possible, for example, to print nickel-based alloys that are difficult to weldContinue reading
June 18, 2019 – An advanced manufacturing process to produce nanostructured rods and tubes directly from high-performance aluminum alloy powder — in a single step — was recently demonstrated by researchers from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Using a novel Solid Phase Processing approach, the research team eliminated several steps that are required during conventional extrusion processing of aluminum alloy powders, while also achieving a significant increase inContinue reading
Alors que la fabrication additive monte progressivement en puissance dans l’aéronautique, de nouvelles synergies se profilent entre les procédés classiques de production et ces nouvelles technologies. En Occitanie, plusieurs industriels ouvrent la voie et s’engagent dans l’hybridation des procédés.
La fabrication additive n’aurait finalement pas vocation à se substituer aux procédés classiques de fabrication, mais plutôt de venir en complémentarité, en jouant la carte de l’hybridation. C’est le message qu’ont voulu faire passer l’IRT Saint-Exupéry et l’agence de développement économique Add’Oc, co-organisateurs d’une journée technologique intitulée “fabrication additive : multi-matériaux et hybridation des procédés”, à laquelle ont participéContinue reading
Researchers have discovered that composite metal foam offers greater protection than traditional armor steel plate at a third of the weight. The discovery has broad implications for armored vehicles, and could result in stronger, lighter vehicles better able to protect occupants from the impact of kinetic weapons, explosive shockwaves, and fires.Scientists at North Carolina State University and the US Army’s Aviation Applied Technology Directorate have invented what they call Composite Metal Foam (CMF). “Metal foam” is exactly what you think it is—metal with sponge-like holes in it. This not only makes CMF lighter than normal metal, but it also makes CMF spongy, allowing it to give slightly under impact, soaking up some of the energy of a collision.
Researchers have demonstrated that vehicle armor using composite metal foam (CMF) can stop ball and armor-piercing .50 caliber rounds as well as conventional steel armor, even though it weighs less than half as much. The finding means that vehicle designers will be able to develop lighter military vehicles without sacrificing safety, or canContinue reading
Directed energy systems, which include lasers, are a hot research topic for the military but designing them to be small and mobile is tough because they have high heat flux and short pulse duration. That means they get hot, extremely fast, and need big cooling units to stop components from cooking and help maintain a precise wavelength and beam quality. The discovery of thermal energy storage via shape memory alloys provides an unprecedented two order of magnitude improvement in the cooling figure of merit, defined by the product of the material latent heat and thermal conductivity.“This opens a new paradigm of phase change material design, through which scientists can eliminate the need for heavy/large volume fin structures and fabricate thermal energy storage and heat transfer structures entirely out of metallic shape memory alloys.”
Scientists working at a U.S. Army laboratory are exploring the heat transfer properties of a strange class of metals that can return to their original shape when heated. They’re called Shape Memory Alloys, and the most common is made of nickel and titanium. They’re already used as braces to move crooked teeth and as stints to open clogged arteries, and recent testing indicated they’ll be great for dealing with all the heat created when powering a high-energy laser. “In recent years, researchers and companies have attempted to develop smarter, more efficient and
