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 | J U L Y / A U G U S T 2 0 2 2 8 METALS | POLYMERS | CERAMICS Expanite, Denmark, achieved ISO 14001 certification, the international standard for implementing an environmental management system to measure and reduce environmental impact. The company produces a technology that prevents wear, galling, and corrosion of components in stainless steel or titanium by hardening the material in a pure gas environment with no toxic waste. expanite.com. Norman Noble Inc. is building a new 51,000-sq-ft corporate headquarters in Highland Heights, Ohio, to be ready later this year. The company specializes in micromachining Nitinol implants to meet its medical OEM clients’ requirements for Nitinolbased products such as structural heart implants and neurovascular devices. nnoble.com. BRIEFS separations needed to recover rareearth elements and secure critical materials for clean energy technologies. Bastnaesite deposits in the U.S. are rich in rare-earth metals but must be mined and separated from unwanted minerals through chemical processes that are not well understood. Fundamental insights are needed to improve current recovery approaches based largely on trial and error. Greater efficiency offers cost-savings as well as benefits to the environment by decreasing mining and carbon impacts. According to the scientists, the path forward will require predictive modeling to help discover the best candidates for more efficient separations. ornl.gov. New research describes howmicroscopic crystals grow and change shape in molten metals as they cool. Courtesy of MaksimGusev. BREAKING GROUND ON STRONGER ALLOYS In a breakthrough for alloy research, scientists from the U.K.’s University of Birmingham have detailed how microscopic crystals grow and change shape in molten metals as they cool. Their work paves the way for improving the tensile strength of alloys used in casting and welding. The researchers used high-speed synchrotron x-ray tomography to image the changing crystal structures in molten alloys as they cool. Researchers say that as aluminumcopper alloy cools, the solidification process starts with the formation of faceted dendrites, which are formed by a layer-by-layer stacking of basic units that are just micrometers in size. These units start out as L-shaped and stack on top of each other like building blocks. As they cool, they change shape and transform into a U-shape, and finally into a hollowed-out cube, while some of them stack together to form beautiful dendrites. “The findings from this new study provide a real insight intowhat happens at a micro-level when an alloy cools and show the shape of the basic building blocks of crystals in molten alloys,” lead researcher Biao Cai explains. “Crystal shape determines the strength of the final alloy, and if we can make alloys with finer crystals, we can make stronger alloys.” www.birmingham.ac.uk. RECOVERING RARE-EARTH ELEMENTS Using state-of-the-art spectroscopy methods, researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tenn., are gaining a better understanding of chemical Researchers shed light on chemical separations to recover rare-earth elements. Courtesy of Ben Doughty/ ORNL, U.S. DOE. RESHAPING POLYMERIC THEORY A longstanding mystery surrounding a nanoscale structure called a double-gyroid was reported to be solved by polymer scientists at the University
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