January_AMP_Digital

ADVANCED MATERIALS & PROCESSES •

JANUARY 2014

HIGHLIGHTS...

Profile of a Volunteer

ASM

news

John Halchak, FASM

Senior Fellow, Aerojet Rocketdyne

Where can you meet a rocket engineer

who worked on the Apollo 11 moon

landing rocket and the Space Shuttle?

At an ASM chapter meeting.

ohn Halchak, FASM, is a senior fellow with Aerojet Rock-

etdyne in Los Angeles and a long-standing member of

ASM, joining during his junior year in metallurgical engineer-

ing at Pennsylvania State University in 1961. He spent his en-

tire career with one company (though it changed hands four

times), working primarily on defense contracts and projects

for NASA. As a fellow, he has become a respected technical re-

source and mentor for the company. John is also a regular pre-

senter at UCLA and numerous other universities. As a

volunteer with the ASM San Fernando chapter, he is happy to

share his experience and wisdom with younger engineers.

“ASM has been a great place to meet peers in the local

area, to get contacts and information, and of course the ASM

reference books are of tremendous value,” says Halchak. He

finds volunteering to be very rewarding, having inspired peo-

ple to join the company or explore careers in engineering or

science. His latest project is helping Los Angeles middle

school students take part in the Team America Rocketry

Challenge. “A middle school talk is harder than a university

student talk!” he chuckles. “How do you hold their interest

and not talk over them or down to them?”

He hasn’t shied away from the challenge. Halchak contin-

ues to volunteer and inspire students, including his oldest

daughter who became a materials engineer and works for

SpaceX, a commercial company revolutionizing the design

of advanced rockets and spacecraft.

Halchak hopes the new generation of engineers and met-

allurgists will see the value in joining a technical society—

something that all young engineers did in years past.

VOLUNTEERISM COMMITTEE

Profile of a Volunteer

Chapter

News

Boston Explores Composites and Camps

In his talk, “Transitioning Tech-

nology from Fundamental Re-

search to Commercialization: A

Brief History of Metal Matrix

Composites,” James Cornie of

Metal Matrix Cast Composites de-

scribed the benefits of careful alloy

choice in preventing phase segrega-

tion and poor as-cast microstruc-

ture. He also discussed major

applications of metal matrix com-

posites, such as thermal management of electronics.

Peter Jepsen opened the night with a review of the ASM

Materials Education Foundation and its programs. He de-

scribed the ASMMaterials Camp, the one-day Materials Ex-

perience, and the ASM Teachers’ Camp held in Boston last

July, which received overwhelmingly positive feedback from

attendees.

Warren Sees the Future at NAMII

The ASM Warren Chapter visited American Makes, the

National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute

(NAMII), in Youngstown, Ohio, on October 17. Attendees

were shown various processes that use 3D printing technol-

ogy to build objects from plastic or metal materials. This fu-

turistic manufacturing method has many applications for

custom products without hard tooling and with short lead

times. Opened in Sep-

tember 2012, NAMII’s

mission is to accelerate

and integrate additive

manufacturing tech-

nologies to the U.S.

manufacturing sector

in order to increase

domestic competitive-

ness. Corporate part-

ners gain access to the

Institute’s technology

and expertise.

Alamo’s ‘Steely’ Tour

The ASM Alamo chapter and CMC Commercial Metals

hosted a tour of the continuous production of steel used for

rebar and other applications. The CMC Plant tour was at-

tended by students from The University of Texas at San An-

tonio, The University of Texas at Pan Am, and St. Mary’s.

Uhlenburg Recognized with Award of Industry Merit

At its recent Fall Meeting, the Metal Treating Institute

(MTI) recognized

Jeff Uhlenburg,

from Donovan Heat

Treating in Philadelphia with the Award of Industry Merit.

He is a fifth generation heat treater. This award is given in

recognition of an MTI member’s commitment to the better-

ment of the commercial heat treating industry. Jeff has tes-

tified to Congress on many occasions through the National

Association of Manufacturers on healthcare, labor, and en-

ergy. Jeff served for 10 years on the MTI board of trustees

and served as 2009-2010 MTI president.

Peter Jepsen shows the

growth of attendance at

ASM Materials Camps.