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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 | O C T O B E R 2 0 1 8 8 METALS | POLYMERS | CERAMICS Triumph Group Inc., Berwyn, Pa., announced that its Aerospace Structures business was awarded a multiyear airframe component contract for Lockheed Martin’s C130J Super Hercules program. Parts include fabricated sheet metal structures made of a combi- nation of aluminum, steel, and titaniummaterials that will be fitted to the nacelle, wing, and fu- selage areas. triumphgroup.com . In July, Terves Inc., Euclid, Ohio, broke ground on a 12,000-sq- ft expansion to its magnesium foundry. Plans include additional permanent mold and materials handling and storage space, and the addition of sand casting, squeeze casting, and diecasting capabilities for custommagne- sium, magnesium alloys, and composites. tervesinc.com . Hexion Inc., Columbus, Ohio, announced a new three-year contract with the Fraunhofer Project Center in London, Ontario, to continue joint efforts in developing lightweight composite technologies and high performance systems designed to meet the demand of mass-produced autos. The Center enables Hexion engineers to work with major automo- tive manufacturers to develop, test, and integrate the latest technologies and materials into new vehicle platforms and produce parts in a produc- tion-scale environment. hexion.com . BRIEFS The new technology is a result of analyzing industrially generated waste from three U.S. magnet manufacturing and processing companies. These col- laborations ensure that the materials used for this research are the same as those actually generated by industry. In addition, Ames Lab reduced the magnets from this research into metal ingots. Collaboration is ongoing with a commercial partner, Infinium Metals, to produce the metal ingots at a larger scale. cmi.ameslab.gov. A metal sample modified to mimic shark skin repels water as it is placed in a bea- ker. Courtesy of Troy Fedderson. LASER-MODIFIED SURFACES MIMIC SHARK SKIN A University of Nebraska−Lincoln research team is working to translate the evolutionary advantage of shark skin onto metal surfaces. The goal is to give metal the same unique properties, allowing it to be used for defense and industrial purposes. The team is using extremely short-burst laser pulses to alter the fringe of a metal surface. Mod- ifying the laser angle and other para- meters creates surfaces that mimic From left, Ikenna Nlebedim and Denis Prodius, co-inventors of an acid-free rare earth metals recycling process. Courtesy of Ames Lab. nature. By copying the microscopic structure of shark skin onto metal, the team creates a superhydrophilic ma- terial. This property reduces drag and could be used to create submersible craft that travel farther underwater us- ing less power. unl.edu. AWARD-WINNING MAGNET RECYCLING Scientists at the Critical Materi- als Institute and Ames Laboratory de- veloped a magnet recycling process in which the magnets are dissolved in water-based solutions, recovering rare earth elements with more than 99% pu- rity. Now the acid-free recycling process has won a 2018 Notable Technology De- velopment Award from the Federal Lab- oratories Consortium. Using the same process, cobalt is also recovered from magnet waste. The recovered materials have been reused to make new mag- nets and the recovered cobalt holds promise for use in battery cathodes. METALLIC FOAMS SOAK UP SOUND New research from the Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology at A*STAR suggests superalloy foams could make ship and aircraft engines