October_AMP_Digital

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 | O C T O B E R 2 0 1 7 8 METALS | POLYMERS | CERAMICS Allegheny Technologies Inc., Pittsburgh, signed a new Long- Term Purchase Agreement (LTPA) with Pratt & Whitney, a United Technologies Corp. company, Farmington, Conn., to supply isothermal forgings and nick- el-base powder alloys for next-generation jet engines. The LTPA begins in 2017 and continues for the life of the engine programs. From 2017 to 2030, the LTPA is expected to generate revenues in excess of $1 billion. atimetals.com . Republic Steel, Canton, Ohio, and ERP Iron Ore LLC, Grand Rapids, Minn., signed a Memorandum of Understanding around forming a joint venture to produce pig iron at Republic’s steel mill in Lorain, Ohio. When fully operational, the Lorain mill is expected to produce up to one million net tons of pig iron per annum. The joint venture will serve the growing demand for virgin iron required to produce steel in the electric arc furnace sector. republicsteel.com . BRIEFS MAGNESIUM SHEET METAL CHALLENGES ALUMINUM A research team at the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) and Nagaoka University of Technology, both in Japan, developed high-strength magnesium sheet metal with formabil- ity comparable to that of aluminum sheet now used in automotive body panels. The new alloy uses only com- mon elements, and is expected to be used as a low-cost, lightweight sheet metal for vehicle applications. Al- though magnesium alloys are roughly 75% lighter than steels and 33% light- er than aluminums, virtually no mag- nesium alloys are used in automotive bodies due to high processing cost and poor formability. AXMZ1000, the team’s age-hard- enable magnesium alloy, exhibits room temperature formability comparable to that of medium strength aluminum alloys used in today’s auto bodies. In addition, the new alloy is almost twice as strong as the aluminum alloy. Ex- ceptional formability is due to adding small amounts of zinc and manganese, which enable fine grain structures. High strength is achieved by adding aluminum and calcium, which induces strengthening via formation of atomic clusters. The new alloy can be rolled into sheets using simple processes and heat treatments commonly employed for aluminum alloys. www.nims.go.jp . COAXING RARE-EARTHS FROM COAL In 2016, researchers from Penn State, University Park, Pa., and the DOE discovered a cost-effective and envi- ronmentally friendly way to extract rare earth elements (REEs) from coal and coal byproducts. Now, through a $1 mil- lion grant fromDOE’s Office of Fossil En- ergy, this research may be headed one step closer to commercialization. Penn State and a consortium of three indus- try partners, Texas Mineral Resources Corp. (TMRC), Inventure Renewables Inc., and K-Technologies, will use the funding to conduct laboratory testing and prepare a technical design for a pi- lot plant to produce REEs from coal-re- lated materials from an eastern Penn- sylvania anthracite coal mine. The goal is to determine the eco- nomic feasibility of recovering REEs from domestic coal and coal byprod- ucts. Penn State researchers found initial success in extracting REEs using ion exchange, which involves extract- ing coal byproducts with a solvent that releases the REEs bound to them. Through this new grant, the team will develop an extraction technique that combines pressure filtration with an environmentally friendly ion-ex- change/ion-chromatography process. The resulting REE-enriched liquid can be processed to recover the elements while recycling the liquid for reuse in the system. TMRC’s focus will be to in- Clockwise from top center: praseodym- ium, cerium, lanthanum, neodymium, samarium, and gadolinium. Courtesy of Peggy Greb/USDA. Comparison of new and conventional Mg alloy sheets aer being subjected to Erichsen tests. Courtesy of NIMS.