Sept_AMP_Digital

71 / 74

ADVANCED MATERIALS & PROCESSES • SEPTEMBER 2014 71
Enhancing automobiles with ziricote wood
The Lincoln Motor Co., Dearborn, Mich., is the first automobile manufacturer to
use ziricote wood, an exotic hardwood found in South America, southern Europe,
and northern Africa. Ziricote accents the door panels, instrument panel, center
console, and steering wheel of the 2015 Lincoln Navigator. A family resemblance
can be seen from vehicle to vehicle, but because this is a natural product, no two
Navigators with the Reserve Package will look exactly the same. Other than a thin
protective coat, no stains or dyes are used, allowing the color and grain to shine
through. The attention to detail begins with how the wood is cut—the linearity of
the grain is maintained throughout the pieces to ensure harmony. Ziricote wood is an excellent match for
the Lincoln Navigator for two reasons, say company officials: First, the natural pattern of the wood is in
harmony with the lines of the interior. Second, the color of the ziricote wood complements the Coffee and
Dune interior colors of the Reserve Package, helping the rich browns and reds really pop. .
Giant gold specimen sets single-crystal record
Geologist John Rakovan, professor at Miami University, Oxford,
Ohio, traveled to Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Lujan Neutron
Scattering Center, N.M., to peer deep inside a 217.78-gram piece of
gold to see if it is in fact the world’s largest single-crystal specimen.
This distinguishing factor would not only drastically increase its
market value, but also provide a unique research opportunity.
Rakovan used a single-crystal diffraction (SCD) instrument—a
neutron single crystal diffractometer that determines the periodic
atomic arrangement of single crystals, both natural and synthetic. As
one of the workhorses at the Lujan Center, the high-ressure/preferred
orientation (HIPPO) instrument is a general-purpose powder
diffractometer that measures both the crystal structure and
orientation distribution of crystals (or texture) making up a polycrystalline material based on the powder
pattern of the crystals. It is the only time-of-flight neutron instrument in the world that routinely measures
texture, with single crystals being the ultimate textured samples. The gold specimens are so far the
largest single crystals characterized by HIPPO. For more information: John Rakovan, 513.529.3245,
,
Saving the world, one material at a time
Comic-tanium is a traveling, non-profit educational exhibit that makes a connection
between the real world of materials science and the fictional worlds of well-known comic
book heroes, like Iron Man, Captain America,
Spider-Man, Batman, and others. It was
developed by the TMS Foundation, TMS, and the
ToonSeum, Pittsburgh. Comic-tanium uses comic
art and mythology to show how materials science
and engineering actually does “save the world”
every day. Its mission is to inspire young people to
pursue STEM careers. Micrographs of advanced
materials and schematics of lightweight cars are
juxtaposed with comic panels focused on the
“materials power ups” of an array of comic heroes
and villains. Replicas of Batman’s armor, Thor’s
hammer, Captain America’s shield, and other
artifacts make the comic pages on display come to life. Comic-
tanium will be on display during MS&T14, October 12-16, at the ToonSeum. Conference attendees can
stop by the TMS booth for a free ticket. The exhibit opens to the public on September 26 and runs
through January 4, 2015.
The 2015 Lincoln
Navigator features
ziricote wood, the
first time this exotic
hardwood has
been used in the
automotive industry.
Courtesy of
Business Wire.
Neutron diffraction data collected
on the single-crystal diffraction
(SCD) instrument at the Lujan
Center, from the Venezuelan gold
sample, indicate that the sample is
a single crystal.
Suveen Mathaudhu, TMS Volunteer
Comic-tanium Curator (left),
introduced thousands of future
scientists and engineers to real,
imagined, and possible materials when
Comic-tanium traveled to the USA
Science & Engineering Festival in
April 2014.
The “dress up” station is one of the
ways that Comic-tanium uses comic
book mythology to make science
accessible and fun, while also
presenting the possibilities of materials
science and engineering as a career
path that can change the world.