ADVANCED MATERIALS & PROCESSES | SEPTEMBER 2026 1 1 PROCESS TECHNOLOGY LOW AND SLOW HEATING BUILDS BETTER ALLOYS Scientists at Monash University, Australia, developed a new approach to alloy design that could revolutionize the way metals are made, according to the team. Rather than fully melting metals at extremely high temperatures, the researchers use a controlled work builds on a long-term research program led by Monash in collaboration with Chongqing University and The Ohio State University. monash.edu. REACTIVE INK PREVENTS COPPER CORROSION In a collaboration between University of Maryland, Yale University, and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, researchers invented a process that halts the copper degradation cycle. Using a versatile blue ink, the team created a fast, relatively low-temperature method at 150°C to create copper that remains stable over time. The researchers’ liquid reactive ink can print copper onto nearly any surface without oxidation or corrosion. Resulting from more than a decade of research, this new approach could replace conventional copper processing methods such as plating and chemical etching, reducing time, cost, and environmental impact. “The newly developed ink has the potential to revolutionize the conductive ink industry by enabling the use of copper instead of more expensive metals, such as silver, across electronic, energy, and environmental applications,” says Yale University’s Liangbing Hu. Members of the team cofounded a startup to scale their process and commercialize the ink. umd.edu. heating process that allows atoms to organize themselves into highly ordered, interconnected structures. This creates what they call an atomic architecture, in which different structures form together and connect in a continuous way, without the microscopic defects found in conventional alloys. The new approach shows that the low and slow heating method can produce an alloy double the strength of steel, three times stronger than aluminum, and around twice as strong as the same alloy produced using conven- tional methods. They tested the process on an alloy of titanium, hafnium, tantalum, niobium, and zirconium, which formed a tightly connected internal nanostructure made up of three distinct components. The material achieved a compressive yield strength of over two gigapascals while still retaining ductility. Monash researcher Jian-Feng Nie says the discovery represents a new paradigm in alloy design. “For more than a century, alloy development has focused on composition and processing. Our work suggests that how atoms organize during manufacturing may be just as important,” he says. “The real significance is not just this particular alloy, but the demonstration that atoms can self-organize into defect-free structures in a bulk metallic material meaning a large, continuous piece of metal, not a thin coating, film, or microscopic sample.” The scientists are now investigating the atomic- scale interactions that drive the formation of these structures and determine how materials evolve during processing. “At an even smaller scale, these interactions determine how materials form, evolve, and perform,” says Nie. The The Chemical Coaters Association International is now rebranding and becoming the Industrial Finishing and Coating Association. This change aims to align the group’s identity with the technologies, processes, and professionals that comprise today’s industrial finishing and coating marketplace. ccaiweb.com. BRIEF Microstructure of the as-quenched alloy (1200°C × 5 hours). Top: Backscatteredelectron-SEM image. Bottom: Electron backscatter diffraction orientation map. Courtesy of Monash University. Processing versatility and substrate compatibility of CuOMderived ink sintered in air at 150°C. Courtesy of Science.
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