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A D V A N C E D
M A T E R I A L S
&
P R O C E S S E S |
M A R C H
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BRIEFS
Aleris, Cleveland, offers a new 7017 aluminum alloy in North America for commercial plate and defense uses. After extensive
review and testing, the U.S. Army Research Lab issued MIL-DTL-32505 for use in armor applications. 7017 offers high strength,
good weldability, and corrosion resistance. It is currently used in Europe and Asia on combat vehicles to achieve superior ballistic
protection. aleris.com.
BRIEFS
Lockheed M rtin, B thesda, Md., won three 2015 Manufacturing Le de ship Awards
for achievements in engineering and production technology from Frost & Sullivan.
L ckhe d Martin’s Applied Additive Tooling Technologies Project led to more th n
5000 additively manufactured tools and shop aids on the F-35 program as a lower cost,
lightweight alternative to metallic and hand-laid fiberglass tooling traditionally used in
aircraft production.
AK STEEL, WEST CHESTER,
OHIO, WILL BUILD A
120,000-SQ-FT, $36 MILLION
RESEARCH AND INNOVATION
CENTER INMIDDLETOWN,
OHIO. THE NEW FACILITY WILL
HOUSE PILOT LINES THAT
SIMULATE THE COMPANY’S
STEEL MANUFACTURING
OPERATIONS FOR USE
IN RESEARCH, PROBLEM
SOLVING, AND NEWPRODUCT
DEVELOPMENT. .
A new two-step process makes re-
cycling rare-earth metals easier and
more cost effective. Here, magne-
sium is melted with magnet scrap
in an induction furnace. Courtesy of
DOE’s Ames Laboratory.
Orbital ATK is starting production of advanced composite primary structures for the
787 Dreamliner. Courtesy of Boeing. NEW RECOVERY PROCESS
IMPROVES RARE EARTH
RECYCLING
Scientists at the DOE’s Critical
Materials Institute (CMI), Ames, Iowa,
developed a two-step recovery process
that makes recycling rare-earth metals
easier and more cost effective. Build-
ing upon previous research work done
at the Ames Laboratory, CMI scientist
Ryan Ott and his teamdeveloped a two-
stage liquid metal extraction process
that uses differences between the solu-
bility properties of various elements to
separate out rare-earth metals.
“Magnesium has good solubility
with rare earths, particularly with neo-
dymium, and poor solubility with the
other components of magnets, like iron
and boron,” says Ott.
In the new method, scrap metals
are melted with magnesium—lighter
atomic weight rare earths like neo-
dymium bind with the magnesium and
leave the iron scrap and other materials
behind. The rare earths are then re-
covered from the magnesium through
vacuum distillation. In the second step,
another material is used to bind with
and extract the heavier atomic weight
rare earths, like dysprosium. For more
information: Craig Forney, 515.294.9513,
ADVANCED COMPOSITES
SUPPORT DREAMLINER
Orbital ATK Inc., Dulles, Va., is now
manufacturing advanced composite pri-
mary structures for The Boeing Co.’s 787
Dreamliner in the Orbital ATK Freeport
Composites Center in Clearfield, Utah.
The company is starting production of
composite frames for the Boeing 787-9
center and aft fuselages, and will sup-
port identical structures on the 787-10
variant currently in development. Or-
bital will begin shipping components in
the first half of 2015 and will reach full
production rates in 2018.
PROCESS TECHNOLOGY