September 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 | S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 8 8 METALS | POLYMERS | CERAMICS Steel Dynamics Inc., Fort Wayne, Ind., acquired Heartland Steel Processing LLC, Terre Haute, Ind. Heartland produces various types of flat roll steel by further pro- cessing hot roll coils into pickle and oil, cold roll, and galvanized products. The acquisition will expand Steel Dynamics’ annual flat roll steel shipping capacity to 8.4 million tons and total steel shipping capability to 12.4 million tons. steeldynamics.com . Wieland Metals, Wheeling, Ill., announced plans for a $25 million expansion that will create an estimated 65 new jobs. The copper manufacturing company, headquartered in Germany, plans to build a 110,000-sq-ft industrial building at a location northwest of Chicago. The new building will be used to manufacture, warehouse, distribute, and sell metal tubes. wielandmetals.com . JW Aluminum, Mount Holly, S.C., has started an expansion project at its flat-rolled aluminum plant in Goose Creek, S.C. The 220,000-sq-ft expan- sion will house new equipment focused on more environmentally friendly processes. The company predicts the project will increase production capacity by 175 million pounds on an annual basis. Completion is expect- ed by early 2020, adding 50 new jobs to the site. jwaluminum.com . BRIEFS also looking into scale-up potential for bulk high-strength Al alloys. The team also created a way to develop the su- perstrong alloy coatings by introduc- ing iron or Ti atoms into aluminum’s crystal structure. The resulting nano- twinned aluminum-iron alloy coatings proved to be one of the strongest alu- minum alloys ever created, comparable to high-strength steels. Purdue’s Of- fice of Technology Commercialization helped secure a patent for the tech- nology, which is available for licensing. purdue.edu . PRECISELY CONTROLLING POLYMER GRIDS Although covalent organic frame- works (COFs) were first discovered in 2005, their quality has been poor and preparation methods uncontrol- led. Now, a research team at North- western University, Evanston, Ill., is the first to produce high-quality versions of these materials, demonstrate their superior properties, and control their growth. The researchers developed a two-step growth process that produc- es organic polymers with crystalline, 2D structures. The precision of the ma- terial’s structure and the empty space its hexagonal pores provide will allow scientists to design new materials with desirable properties. Even low-quality COFs have shown preliminary promise for water purifica- tion, electricity storage, body armor, and other tough composite materials. Once developed further, higher quality samples of these materials will enable NEW ALUMINUM ALLOY RIVALS STRENGTH OF STEEL Researchers at Purdue Univer- sity, West Lafayette, Ind., developed Qiang Li builds a deposition program on the computer as Yifan Zhang loads samples into a sputtering chamber to prepare high-strength Al alloy coatings. a new superstrong material—a high- strength aluminum alloy coating—that could change some manufacturing pro- cesses for the aerospace and automo- bile industries. The material is a dura- ble, flexible, and lightweight aluminum alloy that is just as strong as stainless steel, if not stronger. Researchers say the new alloy could be used for making wear and corrosion-resistant automo- bile parts as well as coatings for optical lenses used in specialized telescopes for the aerospace industry. The team creates the superstrong aluminum alloy by introducing stack- ing faults in the crystal structure. Such distortions can lead to nanotwins and complex stacking faults, including the 9R phase. Researchers introduce both twin boundaries and the 9R phase within nanograins to the lightweight Al alloys that are both strong and high- ly deformable under stress. Beyond coating applications, researchers are