Feb_March_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 | F E B R U A R Y / M A R C H 2 0 1 8 8 METALS | POLYMERS | CERAMICS The Society of Automotive Engi- neers—Aerospace Material Speci- fication Nonferrous Alloys Com- mittee approved specification of AMS4368 for the aerospace-grade aluminum composite SupremEX 640XA, made by Materion Corp., Mayfield Heights, Ohio. SupremEX 640XA, used in national defense, aviation, and space applications, is 60% lighter than steel and 36% lighter than titanium. materion.com . Allegheny Technologies Inc., Pittsburgh, was selected to supply the nickel-base alloy product for a large oil pipeline repair project, with shipments expected to begin early this year. The estimated revenue value to ATI’s flat rolled products segment is $30 million. atimetals.com . Aluminum rolling and recycling specialist Novelis Inc., Atlanta, will invest $4.5 million in technology for its manufacturing facility in Warren, Ohio, to improve pretreatment versatility and operational efficiency and reduce costs over time. The Warren facility houses 75 employees who apply coat- ings to rolled aluminum sheet for beverage can lids, processing material for more than one billion cans each month. novelis.com . BRIEFS STREAMLINING FOAM DESIGN A team of scientists at the New York University Tandon School of En- gineering, Brooklyn, collaborated with chemical companies to develop a new online tool that makes it easier for manufacturers to design custom syn- tactic foams for specific end products. Syntactic foams—composites made of tiny, spherical glass or ceramic mi- croballoons suspended in precursor materials such as polyethylene or ep- oxy—must be precisely formulated to meet the demands of different applica- tions. To streamline the design process, the NYU team collaborated with Dixie Chemical and Evonik to develop Design Syntactic, an online system that allows users to input variables and retrieve al- gorithmically derived results. For example, inputting thermal specs for a product will produce a ther- mal expansion coefficient, while input- ting mechanical properties will produce parameters for qualities like stiffness. Ultimately, Design Syntactic allows us- ers to determine the volume fraction of particles to mix with the plastic to pro- duce a syntactic foam with the desired properties. Syntactic foams, tradition- ally used in aerospace and deep sea ap- plications, are now emerging in other industries such as transportation where these super-light materials are being incorporated in more efficient and af- fordable vehicles. engineering.nyu.edu . RARE EARTHS FROM COMMON COAL Researchers at the University of Kentucky, Lexington, report they have achieved an energy breakthrough, ex- tracting nearly pure rare earth concen- trates from local coal using a process that is both environmentally conscious and cost-effective. When the team re- ceived $7 million from the U.S. DOE to produce rare earth elements (REEs) from Kentucky coal, their goal was to achieve a concentrate containing a minimum of 2% REEs. Results wildly exceeded expectations—coming in at 98% pure REEs. The process recovered more than 80% of the REEs present in Researchers in Kentucky are extracting nearly pure rare earth concentrates from local coal using a cost-effective and envi- ronmentally friendly process. NYU researchers are partnering with Dixie Chemical and Evonik to create a web-based tool that enables manufacturers to create the right kind of syntactic foam for products used in aerospace and other industries.