NASA’s welding tool for spacecraft is the largest in the world
September 24, 2014
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NASA, Washington, introduces the largest spacecraft welding tool in the world, the Vertical Assembly Center at its Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The 170-foot-tall, 78-foot-wide giant completes a world-class welding toolkit that will be used to build the core stage of America's next great rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS). A 16mm fisheye lens was used to show a wide angle view of the Vertical Assembly Center at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.
SLS will be the most powerful rocket ever built for deep space missions, including to an asteroid and eventually Mars. The core stage, towering more than 200 feet tall (61 meters) with a diameter of 27.6 feet (8.4 meters), will store cryogenic liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen that will feed the rocket's four RS-25 engines.
"This rocket is a game changer in terms of deep space exploration and will launch NASA astronauts to investigate asteroids and explore the surface of Mars while opening new possibilities for science missions, " said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.
The Vertical Assembly Center is part of a family of state-of-the-art tools designed to weld the core stage of SLS. It will join domes, rings, and barrels to complete the tanks or dry structure assemblies. It also will be used to perform evaluations on the completed welds. Boeing is the prime contractor for the SLS core stage, including avionics.
SLS will be the world's most capable rocket. It will open new frontiers for astronauts traveling aboard NASA's Orion spacecraft and may also offer benefits for science missions that require its use and cannot be flown on commercial rockets. Last week, engineers at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida completed the crew module for the Orion spacecraft that will venture into space on a test flight in December.
http://www.nasa.gov/sls
NASA, Washington, introduces the largest spacecraft welding tool in the world, the Vertical Assembly Center at its Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.
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Metallurgy Europe initiates a 180-company, billion-euro effort to develop advanced metals
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The European Space Agency, Paris, has joined forces with other leading research institutions and more than 180 European companies in a billion-euro effort to develop new types of metals and manufacturing techniques. 
Known as Metallurgy Europe, the seven-year international program goal is to develop the technical foundations for the discovery of new materials – metallic compounds, alloys, composites, superconductors, and semiconductors. The photo shows a bismuth crystal, such as those used in thermoelectric compounds and special bearing alloys.
The various branches of the metals-related industry today account for 46% of the EU's manufacturing value and 11% of its total Gross Domestic Product – equivalent to $1.7 trillion annually or $4.5 billion daily. Metallurgy Europe is conservatively projected to create at least 100,000 new jobs, based on the ten million people today employed by the metals and end-user industries across the EU plus Switzerland and Norway.
Organized along 13 topics, the potential results include novel heat-resistant alloys for space and nuclear systems, high-efficiency power lines based on superconducting alloys, thermoelectric materials converting waste heat into power, new catalysts for the production of plastics and pharmaceuticals, bio-compatible metals for medical implants, as well as high-strength magnetic systems.
The Metallurgy Europe program is being organized as a 'Cluster' of the EUREKA network. EUREKA is a long-established intergovernmental organization uniting more than 40 governments, including virtually all the member states of the EU.
EUREKA Clusters are long-term, strategically significant public-private partnerships, working with Europe's leading companies to develop competitiveness-boosting technologies.
More than 180 industrial partners have signed up, including some of the largest engineering companies in the continent: Airbus Group, BP, Siemens, Daimler, Rolls-Royce, Thales, AvioAero, BAE Systems, Philips, Ruag, Bombardier, Linde Group, Rolex, Richemont, ArcelorMittal, Sandvik, Bruker, Johnson Matthey, Tata Steel, Boston Scientific, ThyssenKrupp, Outokumpu, Hydro Aluminium and Fiat, along with small and medium firms.
www.esa.int
The European Space Agency, Paris, has joined forces with other leading research institutions and more than 180 European companies in a billion-euro effort to develop new types of metals and manufacturing techniques.
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Stainless steel boat much lighter than typical steel boat
Source: ASM International
Outokumpu Oy, Finland, announces the first-ever boat built entirely out of stainless steel. The boat was constructed and built by Swedish Steel Yachts (SSY) based in Gävle, Sweden.
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Europe’s new age of metals
September 18, 2014
Source: ASM International
The European Space Agency has joined forces with other leading research institutions and more than 180 European companies in a billion-euro effort developing new types of metals and manufacturing techniques for this century.
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Nucor to acquire Gallatin Steel for its flat-rolled mill products
September 16, 2014
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Nucor Corp., Charlotte, N.C., has entered into an agreement to purchase all the equity of Gallatin Steel Company for a cash purchase price of approximately $770 million. Adjusting for the net present value of the anticipated tax benefits, the realized effective purchase price for Nucor is approximately $630 million. Adding Gallatin to Nucor's four existing flat-rolled mills will increase Nucor's total flat-rolled product annual capacity by 16% – to approximately 13 million tons.
Strategically located on the Ohio River in Ghent, Kentucky, the flat-rolled products mill, with an annual capacity of approximately 1,800,000 tons, broadens Nucor's footprint in the important Midwest region.
"Gallatin will enhance Nucor's current position serving flat-rolled customers in the growing pipe and tube segment," said John Ferriola, Chairman, CEO and President of Nucor
"Gallatin is a great fit for Nucor and our sheet mill group," said Ladd Hall, Executive Vice President of Flat-Rolled Products. "The acquisition will further strengthen our ability to meet the needs of all of our flat-rolled product customers."
Nucor anticipates that this transaction will close promptly after the satisfaction of all closing conditions and the receipt of required regulatory approvals. It is expected to be immediately accretive to cash flow and accretive to earnings after working through purchase accounting-valued finished goods inventories.
www.nucor.com
Nucor Corp., Charlotte, N.C., has entered into an agreement to purchase all the equity of Gallatin Steel Company for a cash purchase price of approximately $770 million.
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Vac Aero to commission horizontal vacuum furnace in Mexico
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Vac Aero, Burlington, Ontario, announces that it will soon complete installation and commissioning of a large 2-bar external gas quench horizontal vacuum furnace at an aerospace manufacturing facility in Mexico. The external recirculating inert gas quenching system distributes quench gas through circumferentially located internal nozzles for rapid, uniform cooling of the work load. The unit has a work area of 48 x 48 x 60 in., with a 4000-pound gross loading capacity.
The furnace is designed to have fast heating rates to very uniform temperatures at high vacuum levels. Standard units are equipped with a gas quench system capable of cooling the load rapidly from processing temperatures at quench pressures up to two bar.
The furnace is equipped with a Honeywell HC900 computer control system. Control systems can be integrated with internal networks and offer extensive data collection capabilities. Vac Aero also manufactures auxiliary equipment for quench gas storage and furnace cooling requirements.
The standard VAH Series Horizontal, Front-loading, Vacuum Heat Treating and Brazing Furnace can be customized to suit unique applications such as high pressure gas quenching, high temperature heat treating, ultra-clean processing, and more.
www.vacaero.com
Vac Aero, Burlington, Ontario, announces that it will soon complete installation and commissioning of a large 2-bar external gas quench horizontal vacuum furnace at an aerospace manufacturing facility in Mexico.
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Worcester Polytechnic Institute receives $424,000 to develop aluminum-matrix composites
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Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Mass., has received a three-year, $424,000 award from the National Science Foundation to support the development of a new way of manufacturing aluminum-ceramic composites to make vehicles lighter and more energy efficient. The award will support research by Prof. Diana Lados, ASM member and founding director of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute Integrative Materials Design Center.
The research will focus on ceramic-reinforced aluminum composites, which are produced by incorporating small ceramic particles within aluminum to enhance its strength and high operating temperature. Manufacturers would like to use these light composite materials in cars, trucks, boats, and airplanes to increase their fuel efficiency without sacrificing strength and ductility> However, current manufacturing methods cannot achieve the nanoscale size and uniform distribution of the ceramic particles necessary to fabricate parts that meet these requirements and perform well at both ambient and elevated temperatures.
With the NSF award, Prof. Lados will conduct fundamental and applied research aimed at developing a novel energy- and cost-efficient process for making nano-ceramic reinforced composites, overcoming the limitations of existing processes, and enabling the creation of materials with unprecedented combinations of beneficial properties and sustainability benefits.
"This project is another significant step in a large ongoing research program dedicated to developing novel materials and processes using a combination of fundamental materials science knowledge, property evaluations, and computational modeling," Prof. Lados said.
Unlike current methods, in which the ceramic particles are mixed into the metal during processing, the new technique involves the formation of nano-reinforcements directly within the molten metal. The resulting composite materials will contain ceramic particles of the proper size, distributed uniformly in and firmly bonded to the metal matrix. Less expensive and more flexible and energy efficient than existing methods, the process can be used with a broad selection of metal-ceramic systems to manufacture a wide variety of structural components.
http://www.wpi.edu
Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Mass., has received a three-year, $424,000 award from the National Science Foundation to support the development of a new way of manufacturing aluminum-ceramic composites to make vehicles lighter and more energy-efficient.
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Three-step continuous process to heat treat 17-7 PH steel provides improved properties
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Solar Atmospheres, Souderton, Pa., has developed a unique three-step process to austenite-condition, transform, and bright-age-harden 17-7 precipitation hardenable stainless steel without removing the material from the furnace for transformation. The company has named the new condition "SH950." Compared to 17-7 PH Condition TH1050, Condition SH950 shows comparable yield strength, higher tensile strength, and (on average) twice the ductility.
17-7 PH is classified as a semi-austenitic stainless steel that has many uses in aerospace and growing applications in the medical industry. The reason for this is its combination of properties, including very high, spring-like strength, good ductility, and excellent corrosion resistance.
There are two reasons that the continuous process is beneficial. First, in order for 17-7 PH heat treated to the TH condition to fully transform from the austenite conditioning temperature, the material must cool to below 60°F (Mf), which is not practical inside a vacuum furnace. Therefore, the product must be removed from the furnace and cooled (sometimes artificially in a freezer or cooler) for transformation. This takes time and requires additional equipment. Solar's SH condition eliminates the removal requirement due to the Mf being higher than 60°F.
The second reason Solar's continuous process is beneficial is that while removing the parts from the furnace, the risk of discoloration is increased as water vapor is reintroduced into the vacuum furnace upon unloading and reloading. Solar's continuous process reduces this risk.
The positive results associated with Solar's Condition SH950 for 17-7 PH indicate that a new medical device design could be based on the newly established range of mechanical properties while reducing both the risk of discoloration and the cost of heat treating.
Tensile properties were achieved with two different heats of steel, with three tensile specimens tested for both heats and conditions, resulting in 12 separate tensile test results. The microstructure of SH950 also appeared superior with respect to the reduced presence of delta ferrite stringers.
However, to obtain achieve these properties, 17-7 must be heat treated in a more controlled manner than many other alloys. By adjusting the austenite conditioning temperature to raise the martensite finish (Mf) temperature to its highest theoretical point, in situ cooling to fully transform the material is now possible via Solar's advanced technology. As a baseline, the new set of mechanical properties and microstructure characteristics were compared to standard Condition TH1050, likely the most common condition specified in industry for 17-7 PH.
www.solaratm.com
Solar Atmospheres, Souderton, Pa., has developed a unique three-step process to austenite-condition, transform, and bright-age-harden 17-7 precipitation hardenable stainless steel without removing the material from the furnace for transformation.
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FEI’s third-generation Helios DualBeam FIB/SEM adds workflow-specific configuration
September 10, 2014
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FEI Co., Hillsboro, Ore., has released the third generation of its Helios NanoLab DualBeam FIB/SEM microscope, which provides unmatched image contrast and resolution, while at the same time adding a new, easy-to-use user interface. The new Helios comes in two different workflow-specific configurations for materials science research.
"This third generation of the Helios family continues to provide the high resolution and strong image contrast that the family is known for, but adds a new interface that can actually guide the user through typical operations," said Trisha Rice, vice president and general manager of Materials Science for FEI. "We have optimized each of the configurations for a particular class of workflows, based on customer feedback and our long and deep involvement in DualBeam analysis."
The CX configuration of the Helios NanoLab G3 DualBeam includes more versatile sample handling and positioning for fast, flexible analysis, sample preparation and characterization. The UC configuration delivers the ultimate imaging capability with increased sensitivity to surface detail and improved performance on soft, non-conductive or beam-sensitive materials.
www.fei.com/helios-g3
FEI Co., Hillsboro, Ore., has released the third generation of its Helios NanoLab DualBeam FIB/SEM microscope, which provides unmatched image contrast and resolution, while at the same time adding a new, easy-to-use user interface.
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Renault Samsung develops magnesium sheet alloy for auto body applications
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Renault Samsung Motors, Korea, announces that its engineers have succeeded in developing magnesium-base sheet metal for vehicles together with POSCO, and will be the first car company in the world to use it in mass-produced automobiles. The two companies invested $1.9 million over two years to develop magnesium sheet suitable for a car body.
Renault Samsung plans to use magnesium sheet for the first time for the walls of VIP back seats and the trunks of an upgraded SM7 to be introduced this month. This proof of the applicability of magnesium sheet metal will help expand its applications throughout the automobile component market.
The weight of the magnesium sheet metal component is only 1.4 kg, 2.2 kg lighter than an equivalent steel component, a 61% decrease in weight. Although magnesium sheet metal is relatively expensive, POSCO has developed new capabilities to make the process cheaper. Integrated with the component design and processing technologies of Renault Samsung Motors, magnesium sheet metal now has the appropriate qualities and standards to be automobile component. Magnesium is the only usable natural resource with large reserves in Korea.
http://www.businesskorea.co.kr/article/6128/magnesium-materials-renault-samsung-motors-develops-magnesium-sheets-vehicles#sthash.p9lFqDEL.dpuf
Renault Samsung Motors, Korea, announces that its engineers have succeeded in developing magnesium-base sheet metal for vehicles together with POSCO, and will be the first car company in the world to use it in mass-produced automobiles.
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