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Editor, ASM News
Press Release Editor
EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
Mario Epler, Chair, Carpenter Technology Corp.
Yu-Ping Yang, Vice Chair, Edison Welding Institute
Ellen Cerreta, Past Chair, Los Alamos National Lab
William Lenling, Board Liaison
Laura Addessio, PCC Structurals Inc.
Arvind Agarwal, Florida International University
Gerald Bruck, Siemens Westinghouse Power Corp.
Steven Claves, Alcoa Inc.
Adam Farrow, Los Alamos National Lab
Nia Harrison, Ford Motor Co.
Alan Luo, The Ohio State University
Roger Narayan, UNC-NCSU
Scott Olig, Vision Point Systems
Nina Pang, Boston University
Somuri Prasad, Sandia National Lab
Fei Ren, Oak Ridge National Lab
Michael Rigsbee, North Carolina State University
Kumar Sridharan, University of Wisconsin
Jaimie Tiley, U.S. Air Force Research Lab
Cong Wang, Saint-Gobain High Performance
Materials
ASM BOARD OF TRUSTEES
C. Ravi Ravindran, President
Sunniva R. Collins, Vice President
Robert J. Fulton, Treasurer
Gernant E. Maurer, Immediate Past President
Jeffrey A. Hawk
William J. Lenling
Linda S. Schadler
Iver Anderson
Mitchell Dorfman
James C. Foley
Jacqueline M. Earle
John R. Keough
Zi-Kui Liu
Thomas S. Passek, Secretary and Managing
Director
STUDENT BOARD MEMBERS
Jessica Booth, Karly Chester, Raymond Hickey
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materials wi tness
ADVANCED MATERIALS & PROCESSES • APRIL 2014 2
Prepare to be amazed
From the real-life “Lost” drama about the disappearance of
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 to Vladimir Putin staking his claim
on Crimea to Watson being used to help cure brain cancer, there
is no shortage of amazing news these days. Likewise, the world of
materials science is also full of fantastic discoveries and mindbog-
gling news. If you had to pick the most amazing materials-related
story as of late, what would it be?
My vote goes to MIT’s recent work on“living materials.”In Jan-
uary, we reported on one of their projects involving genetically modified viruses being
used to help produce nanowires to solve some problems facing lithium-ion batteries.
The gist of the research is that the virus-built nanowires feature a rough and spiky sur-
face that dramatically increases surface area, significantly improving the rate of charg-
ing and discharging within the battery.
Now, another group at MIT is using bacterial cells to produce biofilms that can incor-
porate nonlivingmaterials, for example, quantumdots or gold nanoparticles. It’s a best-of-
both-worlds scenario: Researchers say that these livingmaterials combine the advantages
of living cells—which respond to the environment, produce biological molecules, and span
multiple length scales—with the benefits of nonliving materials that can add functions
such as conducting electricity or emitting light. The team believes that these hybrid ma-
terials are worth exploring for use in energy applications such as batteries and solar cells,
in addition to diagnostic devices and scaffolds used in tissue engineering.
If ASM’s recent survey about emerging technologies is any indication, these are just
the sorts of materials that will have the most impact on society over the next few years.
The ASM Emerging Technologies Awareness Committee conducted a survey of roughly
300 members (R&D leaders within their organizations) to gain feedback on materials-
related technologies believed to be the most promising for the near future. The top five
categories chosen by respondents include high-performance materials, energy mate-
rials, additive manufacturing, nanotechnology, and integrated computational materi-
als engineering. Based on these results, ASM will consider developing new events,
education courses, and publications around these topics. As discussed previously in
this column, the idea of moving boldly into the future necessitates embracing these
emerging technologies.
In other Society news, ASM is proud to be part of President Obama’s newly an-
nounced American Lightweight Materials Manufacturing Innovation Institute (ALM-
MII), being led by EWI, University of Michigan, and The Ohio State University. ASM is
part of the new consortium of 60 members, including leading manufacturers of alu-
minum, high strength steel, and titanium, along with universities and laboratories in-
volved in research and development of lightweight metals. Next up this year is a new
Advanced Composite Manufacturing Institute, slated for $70 million in DOE funding
over five years. The institute will primarily target continuous or discontinuous carbon
and glass fiber composites, materials based on thermoset or thermoplastic resins with
superior strength and stiffness-to-weight ratios relative to other materials. Funding
closes April 22 with full information available at www.energy.gov.
No matter what type of material you find yourself working on these days, we hope
it’s amazing. Feel free to send us progress reports along the way and we will include
them in future issues.