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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 | N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 8 7 PROCESS TECHNOLOGY Argonne’s new FSP technology can sim- plify the manufacture of nanomaterials in high volumes. HOT OFF THE PRESS: PRINTED ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind., researchers developed a newman- ufacturing technique that uses a pro- cess similar to newspaper printing to form smoother and more flexible met- als for making ultrafast electronic de- vices. The inexpensive process com- bines tools already used in industry for manufacturing metals on a large scale, but uses the speed and precision of roll- to-roll newspaper printing to remove a couple of fabrication barriers in making electronics faster than they are today. Cellphones, laptops, tablets, and many other electronics rely on internal metallic circuits to process information at high speed. Current metal fabrica- tion techniques tend to make these cir- cuits by getting a thin rain of liquid met- al drops to pass through a stencil mask in the shape of a circuit. Future ultra- fast devices will require much smaller these materials today, the new FSP process can deliver cost savings due to faster production rates and reduced material waste. Argonne’s Combustion Synthesis Research Facility incorporates a suite of advanced diagnostics that supports the optimization of complex material tar- gets such as aluminum-doped lithium lanthanum zirconium oxide. These en- hanced materials characterization ca- pabilities enable greater manufactur- ing precision. The facility is located at Argonne’s Materials Engineering Re- search Facility near Chicago. Here re- searchers can apply the highly in- strumented FSP process to produce samples at pre-pilot-scale one-day rates up to 500 grams of a single chemistry or up to 50 grams each of up to four different chemistries or pro- cess conditions. For more information: Joe Libera, 630.252.7124, jlibera@anl. gov, www.anl.gov. metal components, which calls for a higher resolu- tion tomake them at nano- scale sizes. The researchers ad- dressed two key issues— roughness and low reso- lution—with a new large- scale fabrication method that enables forming of smooth metallic circuits at the nanoscale using con- ventional carbon dioxide lasers. The fabrication method, called roll-to-roll laser-induced superplasticity, uses a rolling stamp like the ones used to print newspapers. The technique can tempo- rarily induce superelastic behavior to different metals by applying high-ener- gy laser shots, which enables the met- al to flow into the nanoscale features of the rolling stamp—circumventing the formability limit. purdue.edu . NEW NANOMATERIAL FACILITY AT ARGONNE The DOE’s Argonne National Labo- ratory, Lemont, Ill., recently announced the availability of a new manufacturing technology that simplifies the manu- facture of nanomaterials in high vol- umes. Known as Flame Spray Pyroly- sis (FSP), the technology offers signifi- cant benefits over traditional methods used to manufacture the particle-based substances that are critical to produc- ing a wide range of industrial materials. Compared to the wet chemistry pro- cesses typically used for synthesizing Roll-to-roll laser-induced superplasticity prints metals at the nanoscale. Courtesy of Ramses Martinez/Purdue. BRIEF In September, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft opened its inaugural project center at the Opole University of Technology in Poland. The Fraunhofer Project Center for Advanced Lightweight Technologies is made possible by a partnership be- tween the Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology IWU and Opole University. This center unites both partners’ expertise in developing production processes and design ideas for the manufacture of lightweight hybrid components for the automotive industry. www.fraunhofer.de/en. Reimund Neugebauer, president of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, at the September opening.