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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 2 0 1 6
1 0 TESTING | CHARACTERIZATION
LIFT ANNOUNCES
TITANIUM PROJECT
The third technology project
announced by LIFT (Lightweight Inno-
vations for Tomorrow), Detroit, will
focus on titanium, which has significant
potential for expanded use in aircraft
engines and other aerospace needs if
new technologies can reduce the cost
of designing and testing new parts.
Lead partners on the project—GE Avia-
tion and The Ohio State University—will
initially focus on advancing computer
analytics to better understand and pre-
dict the performance of titanium alloys.
LIFT’s latest project aims to reduce the cost of designing and testing titaniumparts.
manufacturing processes. “This project
aims to develop computer models that
will reduce by 50% both the time and
cost for materials development, com-
ponent design, and manufacture,” says
Taub
NEW SYSTEM INDICATES
POLYMER DAMAGE
Researchers at University of Illi-
nois at Urbana-Champaign developed a
new polymer damage indication system
that automatically highlights areas in a
material that are cracked, scratched, or
stressed, allowing engineers to address
problem areas in a timely manner. The
early warning system could be particu-
larly useful inapplications suchas petro-
leum pipelines, air and space transport,
and automobiles. Materials science and
engineering professor Nancy Sottos and
aerospace engineering professor Scott
White are leading the project.
The team embedded tiny micro-
capsules of a pH-sensitive dye in an
epoxy resin. If the polymer forms cracks
“Titanium is expensive, and engi-
neers have to make and break a lot of
test parts before they can be sure the
design is right for a critical component
of an airplane engine,” says Alan Taub,
LIFT’s chief technology officer. “If we
can advance the abilities of our com-
puter models to better predict how a
particular design will perform, we can
test less. That cuts material and testing
costs, and the lead time for developing
new designs.”
Boeing and Scientific Forming
Technologies Corp. are the other indus-
try partners on the project. In addition,
EWI, Purdue University, Southwest
Research Institute, University of Michi-
gan, and the University of North Texas
will contribute as research participants.
This project differs from two earlier
ones in its focus on integrated compu-
tational materials engineering (ICME)
that could apply across several related
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.,
Waltham, Mass., acquired Inel Inc.,
France, a provider of real-time x-ray
diffraction (XRD) systems. The busi-
ness will be integrated into Thermo
Fisher’s analytical instruments
segment. Inel offers a range of XRD
equipment, from simple benchtop
instruments to sophisticated plat-
forms for analysis of nanomateri-
als, coatings, and other advanced
materials. .
BRIEFS
King Tester Corp., King of Prussia, Pa., now features the full range of
Ernst hardness testers from Ernst S.A., Switzerland. The two companies
are offering testers previously sold by Newage Testing Instruments under
trade names like Versitron and AutoBrinell. All products meet ASTM stan-
dards for hardness and King provides warranty and support throughout
North America. .
When cracks form, microbeads embed-
ded in the material break open and cause
a chemical reaction that highlights the
damaged area. Courtesy of Nancy Sottos.