ASM International Welcomes Jon Tirpak as ASM Board Vice President
November 6, 2014
Source:
ASM International (ASM), Materials Park, Ohio, announced that Jon Tirpak, senior program manager for the SCRA Applied R&D Advanced Materials Division, was elected as the ASM Board Vice President during the annual ASM business meeting in Pittsburgh, Pa.
In his current role at SCRA Applied R&D, Tirpak is directly involved in materials-dependent technologies and helps to support customers and clients through information generation and dissemination. He also serves as the Executive Director of the Forging Industry Association – Department of Defense Manufacturing Consortium and Senior Program Manager of the Defense Logistics Agency's PRO-FAST program. He has been a member of ASM since 1980.
Tirpak said he first joined ASM to contribute and give back to the profession. "The sense of community and networking opportunities that ASM offers is outstanding," he said. "My membership has enabled me to establish numerous professional and personal connections along with access to valuable content. During this year as Vice President, I look forward to supporting our ASM president, Sunniva Collins, and working shoulder to shoulder with Dr. Collins to help advance ASM for all members and stakeholders."
"Jon Tirpak's service to his community, profession and country is a true embodiment of what ASM stands to deliver to its members," said Thom Passek, managing director at ASM International. "We greatly look forward to his expanded involvement and influence in the Society as Board Vice President."
Tirpak is a licensed metallurgical engineer in South Carolina and past trustee of ASM International and has chaired the New Products and Services and the Federal Affairs Committees. He currently serves on the Finance and Investment Committees, concurrently with becoming Vice President-Elect of the Society. After his one year term as ASM Board Vice President in 2014-2015, Tirpak will then succeed current ASM President, Sunniva Collins, and will take on a one year term as ASM Board President for 2015-2016.
About ASM International
ASM International is the world's largest association of materials-centric engineers, scientists, technicians, educators and students. A member and volunteer based organization, ASM serves as a central resource that gathers the latest applied information from the field and disseminates it back to industry, academia and government through published content, classes, conferences, expositions, and local chapter engagement. ASM fuels a passionate sense of community, energizes members to aspire to new levels of success and satisfaction, advances the development of materials, and ultimately elevates the importance of the industry. To learn more visit: asminternational.org.
Senior program manager of SCRA Applied R&D brings decades of experience to ASM.
Continue reading
ASM International Elects 2014-2015 ASM Board Officers and Trustees-Elect
Source: ASM International
President, Vice President, Treasurer and three Trustees elected by ASM membership.
Continue reading
Harper partners with University of Colorado to process magnesium for auto parts
Source:
Harper International, Buffalo, N.Y., has finalized a contract for a research-scale high-temperature reactor to support the University of Colorado Boulder's development of magnesium for lightweight vehicle parts. Harper's system is based on an advanced carbothermal reaction of carbon and magnesium oxide, which are heated to high temperatures to produce magnesium vapor and carbon monoxide gas. While the magnesium vapor is converted into a solid metal, the carbon monoxide is combined with steam and excess heat recovered from the solar-electric reactor to shift the carbon monoxide into hydrogen and carbon monoxide, the syngas building blocks that can be catalytically reacted into diesel fuel or gasoline.
CU-Boulder was awarded a three-year, $3.6 million grant from the U.S. Energy Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency in September of 2013. CU-Boulder Professor Alan Weimer and his research team will utilize the Harper reactor to produce both magnesium and synthesis gas, or syngas, a precursor for synthetic gasoline.
One of the most advanced customizations of the Harper system includes the hybrid utilization of both electric energy and renewable, concentrated solar power for heating. The current leading process to produce magnesium involves using electricity 24 hours a day, a method that is particularly expensive because of high energy consumption during daylight hours. The CU-Boulder team will use solar energy to power the reactor in the daytime and use electricity only at night during off-peak hours.
"Harper's custom system will enable us to not only make magnesium, a high value and strategic material, but also to make fuel, and in a more energy-efficient manner," said Professor Weimer. "Our partnership with Harper throughout the design process yielded a one-of-a-kind hybrid solar/electric cavity reactor that will propel our critical research for producing magnesium as well as future materials."
Magnesium is 75% lighter than steel and 33% lighter than aluminum. By 2020, magnesium parts will allow cars and trucks to weigh 15% less, leading to fuel savings of 9 to 12%, according to the U.S. Automotive Materials Partnership, an industrial coalition of the Chrysler Group LLC, the Ford Motor Company and the General Motors Co. The Weimer research lab has been engaged in solar-thermal processing for the past 17 years and is the largest academic solar-thermal chemistry research team in the United States.
www.harperintl.com
Harper International, Buffalo, N.Y., has finalized a contract for a research-scale high-temperature reactor to support University of Colorado Boulder’s development of magnesium for lightweight vehicle parts.
Continue reading
Imaging innovation could detect acoustically invisible cracks
November 4, 2014
Source:
The University of Bristol, U.K., announces that its researchers have developed a nonlinear acoustic imaging technique that can detect cracks that cannot be seen by conventional acoustic imaging methods. Imaging of acoustic nonlinearity is achieved by exploiting differences in the propagation of fields produced by the parallel and sequential transmission of elements in ultrasonic arrays.
It has long been understood that acoustic nonlinearity is sensitive to many physical properties, including material microstructure and mechanical damage. The lack of effective imaging has, however, held back the use of this method.
Currently engineers are able to produce images of the interior of components using ultrasound, but can only detect large problems such as cracks. This is like detecting only broken bones in a medical environment.
The nonlinear imaging method would enable intervention before cracks have even begun to form, as well as predicting the remaining life of an engineering structure. The technique has been achieved using standard inspection equipment, which will allow for the implementation of the technique in numerous applications.
The University of Bristol, UK, announces that its researchers have developed a nonlinear acoustic imaging technique that can detect cracks that cannot be seen by conventional acoustic imaging methods.
Continue reading
Crystal growth furnace can produce 660-lb sapphire boules
Source:
ARC Energy, Nashua, N.H., has announced the CHES 500 crystal growth furnace, designed to produce the world's largest-ever sapphire boules with a mass of 660 lb and diameter of 500 mm. This new furnace will also have the lowest cost per unit for critical growth markets, yielding up to 6000 smartphone covers, up to 5600 mm of 4-inch LED wafers, or up to 2500 mm of 6-inch LED wafers per boule.
In 2009, ARC's first-generation Ches furnaces yielded 75% crystal utilization by growing on the C-axis for the emerging LED solid-state lighting market. Ches technology focused on enabling lower-cost production of large diameter wafers. Advances included ease of installation, precision controls, automated re-start and power-off modes, and full safety interlocks for low operator costs.
Another market for sapphire is durable transparent material for mobile devices, such as smart phones and watches. CHES 500's 660-lb/500-mm diameter boule is set to give the standard throughput with a yield of up to 6000 smartphone covers per run.
In addition, the new field-tested CHES HZ technology, which handles the process of melting sapphire above 2040°C and re-solidifying it, has reduced both consumable material and energy costs, and delivered the repeatable and reproducible performance required for large scale materials manufacturing.
ChES 500 will provide the lowest cost of ownership for sapphire boules on multiple axes (A, R, or C) for all applications including mobile, LED, optical, RFIC, and power electronics. The new Ches 500 crystal growth furnace, will be available starting Q2 2015.
www.arc-energy.com
ARC Energy, Nashua, N.H., has announced the CHES 500 crystal growth furnace, designed to produce the world’s largest-ever sapphire boules with a mass of 660 lb and diameter of 500 mm.
Continue reading
Ipsen ships furnaces worldwide for aerospace, automotive, energy, and more
Source:
Ipsen, Cherry Valley, Ill., reports that in recent months it has shipped more than 30 furnaces around the globe for a variety of applications and industries. The equipment was sent to international customers in Germany, Mexico, China, Tunisia and South Korea, as well as sites within the United States, covering a range of 12 different states. These shipments were designated for use in a diverse range of applications and industries, including aerospace, automotive, energy, mint (currency), commercial heat treating, medical, commercial sporting and surface engineering.
More than half of these shipments were from Ipsen's Titan line and included horizontal and vertical Titan furnaces with a variety of hot zone sizes, as well as Titan Temper furnaces. Other equipment models delivered included horizontal and vertical Metal Master furnaces, Turbo Treater furnaces, and vacuum aluminum-brazing furnaces.
Of the furnaces sold, five companies bought more than one to handle their varied processes. Overall, these shipments represent Ipsen's ability to provide heat-treating solutions through a product line that supports various applications and processes.
http://www.ipsenusa.com
Ipsen, Cherry Valley, Ill., reports that in recent months it has shipped more than 30 furnaces around the globe for a variety of applications and industries.
Continue reading
Magnesium-base alloys under development for biodegradable medical implants
November 3, 2014
Source:
University of Pittsburgh researchers recently received another $1.5 million from the National Science Foundation to continue a combined multi-university, private-industry effort to develop implantable medical devices made from biodegradable alloys based on magnesium. The consortium seeks to design devices that can adapt to changes in a patient's body and dissolve after the injury has healed.
This would reduce the follow-up procedures and potential complications of major orthopedic, craniofacial, and cardiovascular procedures, and spare millions of patients worldwide added pain and medical expenses.
The Engineering Research Center for Revolutionizing Metallic Biomaterials has designed anterior cruciate ligament rings made of biodegradable metals—usually magnesium based. They are not new, having been originally considered in the late 19th century. But, says Pitt's William Wagner, deputy director of the project and a principal investigator, "the question comes when you start to design medical devices for a specific application and a clinical partner says, ‘We want that to be gone in a month, or a month-and-a-half, or we want that to be there for a year.'" Then you have to figure out how to meet those specifications, he says.
To that end, the Pitt team as well as collaborators at the University of Cincinnati (UC) and North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (N.C. A&T) are creating new alloys and new manufacturing processes that suit clinical demands. The consortium seeks to design devices that can adapt to changes in a patient's body and dissolve once healing has occurred, reducing the follow-up procedures and potential complications of major orthopedic, craniofacial, and cardiovascular procedures and sparing millions of patients worldwide added pain and medical expenses.
http://www.news.pitt.edu/news/creating-medical-devices-dissolving-metal
University of Pittsburgh researchers recently received another $1.5 million from the National Science Foundation to continue a combined multi-university, private-industry effort to develop implantable medical devices made from biodegradable alloys based on magnesium.
Continue reading
Greener ship propellers
October 31, 2014
Source:
Some of the propeller blades manufactured by Oshaug Metall AS in Molde, Norway, are so big that if the complete propeller stood on end, it would reach up to the roof of a three-story building. In collaboration with Oshaug, SINTEF developed an energy-saving casting technology which successfully completed pilot trials at the foundry's manufacturing center in Norway.
"The pilots reveal that the method can save as much as 35% of the electricity currently used to melt the metal we need to cast a propeller", says Arne Nordmark, a researcher at SINTEF and father of the invention.
Propeller parts from the foundry in Molde end up in the propulsion systems and lateral propellers in everything from naval vessels to cruise ships. The smelting furnaces at Oshaug consume as much electricity as a hundred average Norwegian households—1.5 million kilowatt hours per year.
"The results of the project so far indicate that we can reduce electricity consumption by half a million kilowatt hours per year, and in this way reduce both costs and negative impacts on the environment," says Stein Berg Oshaug.
Unlike water, which expands when it freezes, molten metals shrink in volume when they solidify. Foundries compensate for this during the casting process by adding a little extra molten metal from reservoirs called feeders. The feeder forms part of the mold and is situated above the level of the casting. As the propeller blade solidifies and starts shrinking, additional molten metal is supplied from the feeder.
However, the metal in the feeder also solidifies. But if it is to compensate for the shrinkage in the casting, this metal must not be allowed to solidify before the propeller metal does. The feeder must retain molten metal right up until the time when the blade becomes solid. Currently, this is achieved by making big feeders—on the principle that large volumes solidify more slowly than small ones.
The new invention involves surrounding the feeder with an induction coil that supplies heat which keeps the metal in the feeder molten. This means that feeders no longer have to be so big in order to do their job. They only have to be large enough to contain the small amount of molten metal needed to compensate for the shrinkage in the casting.
According Nordmark, this is important because, "Currently, in order to prevent the too rapid solidification of the metal in the feeder, a propeller blade manufactured using traditional casting methods requires a feeder almost as large as the blade itself. A blade weighing 1000 kg may require a feeder weighing as much as 800 kg. However, shrinkage during solidification constitutes only about 10% of the weight and volume of the propeller blade. If the metal in the feeder is kept molten using heat supplied by an induction coil, only 100 kg are required to compensate for the shrinkage of a propeller blade weighing 1000 kg. So instead of having to melt 1800 kg of metal, foundries would only need 1100 kg."
Because the invention comes close to halving the amount of metal that has to be melted, Oshaug will now be able to cast more propeller blades in a given time (or bigger blades) than its current capacity permits.
"The new technology enables us to increase production capacity by as much as 50%, and in cash terms this is even more than we save in electricity," says Oshaug.
An extra bonus is that there is less need for heavy-duty post-casting work. After the casting process is complete and the metal solidified, the feeder metal is cut from the casting for re-melting during the next casting operation. This cutting process is very time-consuming for feeders of large diameter. During the pilot trials of the new technology in Molde, the diameter of the feeder was reduced by 60%, thus reducing cutting work.
Image caption — New technology almost halves the amount of metal that has to be melted in order to cast a propeller blade. This was tested for the first time on an industrial scale at Oshaug Metall in Molde. Photo: Oshaug Metall/Arnt Jørgen Sønslien.
Invention reduces the energy that foundries need to manufacture ship propeller blades by a third.
Continue reading
Saint-Gobain acquires U.S.-based Phoenix Coating Resources
October 29, 2014
Source:
Saint-Gobain, Niagara Falls, Ontario, has finalized the acquisition of Phoenix Coating Resources Inc., Mulberry, Fla. This company manufactures ceramic ingots used to produce high-resistance thermal coatings on metal parts for the aeronautics industry. The aim is to improve the energy efficiency of aircraft engines by enabling them to operate at higher temperatures.
Phoenix will join Saint-Gobain's Ceramic Materials business. The acquisition will enable Saint-Gobain to expand the range of coating solutions it provides to the aeronautics industry, in alignment with the Group's strategy of strengthening its position in high-performance solutions for growing markets.
www.saint-gobain.com
Saint-Gobain, Niagara Falls, Ontario, has finalized the acquisition of Phoenix Coating Resources Inc., Mulberry, Fla.
Continue reading
Novelis invests $100 million in its Chinese aluminum plant
Source:
Novelis, Atlanta, has opened China's first plant dedicated to the production of heat-treated aluminum automotive sheet. The wholly-owned facility, located in the Changzhou National Hi-Tech District, represents a $100 million investment by Novelis to expand its global footprint to serve the rapidly growing market for automotive aluminum.
With an annual capacity of 120,000 metric tons, the new facility will assist China in meeting its environmental goals, and will provide customers in Asia and abroad with high-quality automotive sheet for lightweight vehicle structures and body panels such as hoods, doors, fenders, and lift gates.
The opening makes Novelis the only company to produce automotive aluminum sheet in all three of the world's major automobile producing regions -- Asia, Europe, and North America.
Since 2011, Novelis has invested more than $550 million globally to triple its automotive sheet capacity to 900,000 metric tons by 2015. Demand for aluminum is rapidly increasing as automakers strive to design a new generation of lighter, more fuel-efficient vehicles with reduced life-cycle emissions. Each 10% weight reduction can result in a 5 to 7% fuel savings.
Currently, Novelis aluminum products are featured in more than 180 models of vehicles produced by leading automakers around the globe. Novelis forecasts the global demand from automakers for aluminum sheet will grow by approximately 30 percent each year through the end of the decade
www.novelis.com/china
Novelis, Atlanta, has opened China’s first plant dedicated to the production of heat-treated aluminum automotive sheet.
Continue reading 