19 24 35 P. 14 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2022 | VOL 180 | NO 8 Recrystallization and Grain Growth for Artistic Brass Microstructure Testing Challenges of Composites HTPro Newsletter Included in This Issue ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN MATERIALS SCIENCE TESTING/CHARACTERIZATION
19 24 35 P. 14 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2022 | VOL 180 | NO 8 Recrystallization and Grain Growth for Artistic Brass Microstructure Testing Challenges of Composites HTPro Newsletter Included in This Issue ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN MATERIALS SCIENCE TESTING/CHARACTERIZATION
49 ASM NEWS The latest news about ASM members, chapters, events, awards, conferences, affiliates, and other Society activities. JACQUET-LUCAS AWARD CONVENTIONAL LIGHT MICROSCOPY REVEALS BEAUTY OF SINGLE PHASE CARTRIDGE BRASS Grace A. Rome, Addison C. Wong, Carmen M. Sanchez, Gregory D. Vigil, W. Preston Cole II, Jason Yu, Robert S. Crow IV, and Gerald R. Bourne This entry won the prestigious Jacquet-Lucas Award for Best in Show at the 2021 International Metallographic Contest. 19 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 2 2 2 Microstructure of C26000 cartridge brass with Klemm’s II applied for eight minutes after polishing to a 0.05 μm finish. Courtesy of Rome, et al. On the Cover: 56 HIGHLIGHTS FROM IMAT 2022 This photo gallery features some of the awards, meetings, and fun had at IMAT 2022 in New Orleans. 13 SUSTAINABILITY Researchers are looking at alternatives to plastic and a magnetic material that could be used in electronics and robotic equipment.
4 Editorial 5 Research Tracks 10 Machine Learning 6 Metals/Polymers/Ceramics 8 Testing/Characterization 11 Process Technology 12 Emerging Technology 13 Sustainability 63 Editorial Preview 63 Special Advertising Section 63 Advertisers Index 64 3D PrintShop TRENDS INDUSTRY NEWS DEPARTMENTS Check out the Digital Edition online at asminternational.org/news/magazines/am-p ASM International serves materials professionals, nontechnical personnel, and managers wordwide by providing high-quality materials information, education and training, networking opportunities, and professional development resources in cost-effective and user-friendly formats. ASM is where materials users, producers, and manufacturers converge to do business. Advanced Materials & Processes (ISSN 0882-7958, USPS 762080) publishes eight issues per year: January/February, March, April, May/June, July/August, September, October, and November/December, by ASM International, 9639 Kinsman Road, Materials Park, OH 44073-0002; tel: 440.338.5151; fax: 440.338.4634. Periodicals postage paid at Novelty, Ohio, and additional mailing offices. Vol. 180, No. 8, NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2022. Copyright © 2022 by ASM International®. All rights reserved. Distributed at no charge to ASMmembers in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. International members can pay a $30 per year surcharge to receive printed issues. Subscriptions: $499. Single copies: $54. POSTMASTER: Send 3579 forms to ASM International, Materials Park, OH 44073-0002. Change of address: Request for change should include old address of the subscriber. Missing numbers due to “change of address” cannot be replaced. Claims for nondelivery must be made within 60 days of issue. Canada Post Publications Mail Agreement No. 40732105. Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: 700 Dowd Ave., Elizabeth, NJ 07201. Printed by LSC Communications, Lebanon Junction, Ky. 14 ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN MATERIALS SCIENCE To learn what makes entrepreneurs in materials science tick, we turned to seven of ASM’s inventors and business founders for insight. 24 TECHNICAL SPOTLIGHT OVERCOMING COMPOSITES TESTING CHALLENGES A look at how the high energy breaks, conductive debris, and ergonomic issues unique to composites testing can be resolved with proper equipment set up. 27 PERSPECTIVE GRAIN BOUNDARY WALLS CAUSE THE UPPER YIELD POINT IN STEEL Thomas L. Altshuler Atomic force microscopy studies show that sharp yield points in steels are explained by the existence of hard grain boundary walls, contrary to current accepted theories. FEATURES NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2022 | VOL 180 | NO 8 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 2 2 3 35 27 35 HTPro The official newsletter of the ASM Heat Treating Society (HTS). This supplement focuses on heat treating technology, processes, materials, and equipment, along with HTS news and initiatives. 14 24
4 The global chip shortage has adversely impacted the auto industry for the past three years. J.P. Morgan predicts a gradual recovery starting at the end of this year and resulting in a 7% increase in car production worldwide in 2023. In the U.S., the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 is aimed at helping the country rebuild supply chains in the semiconductor industry by lowering the cost of goods and creating high paying chip manufacturing jobs. My home state of Ohio is a key beneficiary with Intel building two chip factories just outside of Columbus. But workforce development will be critical to making those fabs productive in order to meet the J.P. Morgan forecast. ASM’s Electronic Device Failure Analysis Society (EDFAS) is doing more than its part to assist the semiconductor industry as it works through the chip shortage and other hurdles. EDFAS has embarked on the herculean task of developing a Failure Analysis Technology Roadmap. The purpose is twofold: to document current and future FA challenges; and to leverage input from equipment providers and academic labs in devising solutions to those impediments. I attended this year’s International Symposium for Testing and Failure Analysis (ISTFA) in Pasadena, California, where Lesly Endrinal of Qualcomm, one of the EDFAS Roadmap division chairs, stated in a session, “Technologies are getting more difficult to debug.” She’s referring to several challenges converging at once: Electronic devices are getting smaller and smaller; tools that previously were a mainstay are ineffective or even unusable in the new environments; and the globalization of the supply chain has led to new problems such as malicious implants and counterfeiting. On top of this, there is a major architecture evolution occurring in transistors. As ISTFA keynote speaker Emmanuel Crabbé of IBM explained, in 2011, FinFETs replaced planar transistors. And now stacked nanosheets are becoming the standout technology due to their higher drive current per unit area and design flexibility. All of these changes mean that cross-discipline discussions need to occur more often and the FA engineers need to work with device designers upstream. It also means that more creative thinking is needed by the industry as a whole. An example of this kind of creative mind is Hanchen Huang, FASM, who coinvented MesoGlue, which allows a unique way to join a chip to a substrate without heat. Every day, innovators like Huang solve materials challenges in many industries. In this issue, we feature seven such entrepreneurs whose unique career paths led them to become an inventor or create a startup. I asked them each to share how they got started and what advice they have for STEM entrepreneurs of the future. Maybe some of their comments will resonate with you, or perhaps you have advice of your own. I invite you to share your thoughts with me. Whether your work involves materials on a macro or submicron scale, join your community in mapping out the road ahead. joanne.miller@asminternational.org 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 2 2 ASM International 9639 Kinsman Road, Materials Park, OH 44073 Tel: 440.338.5151 • Fax: 440.338.4634 Joanne Miller, Editor joanne.miller@asminternational.org Victoria Burt, Managing Editor vicki.burt@asminternational.org Frances Richards and Corinne Richards Contributing Editors Jan Nejedlik, Layout and Design Allison Freeman, Production Manager allie.freeman@asminternational.org Press Release Editor magazines@asminternational.org EDITORIAL COMMITTEE Adam Farrow, Chair, Los Alamos National Lab John Shingledecker, Vice Chair, EPRI Somuri Prasad, Past Chair, Sandia National Lab Beth Armstrong, Oak Ridge National Lab Margaret Flury, Medtronic Surojit Gupta, University of North Dakota Nia Harrison, Ford Motor Company Michael Hoerner, KnightHawk Engineering Hideyuki Kanematsu, Suzuka National College of Technology Ibrahim Karaman, Texas A&M University Ricardo Komai, Tesla Bhargavi Mummareddy, Dimensional Energy Scott Olig, U.S. Naval Research Lab Christian Paglia, SUPSI Institute of Materials and Construction Amit Pandey, Lockheed Martin Space Satyam Sahay, John Deere Technology Center India Kumar Sridharan, University of Wisconsin Jean-Paul Vega, Siemens Energy Vasisht Venkatesh, Pratt & Whitney ASMBOARDOF TRUSTEES David B. Williams, President and Chair Pradeep Goyal, Senior Vice President Navin Manjooran, Vice President Judith A. Todd, Immediate Past President John C. Kuli, Treasurer Burak Akyuz Amber Black Ann Bolcavage Pierpaolo Carlone Elizabeth Ho man Toni Marechaux André McDonald U. Kamachi Mudali James E. Saal Sandra W. Robert, Executive Director STUDENT BOARDMEMBERS Jaime Berez, Ashlie Hamilton, Nicole Hudak Individual readers of AdvancedMaterials & Processes may, without charge, make single copies of pages therefrom for personal or archival use, or may freelymake such copies in such numbers as are deemed useful for educational or research purposes and are not for sale or resale. Permission is granted to cite or quote fromarticles herein, provided customary acknowledgment of the authors and source is made. The acceptance and publication of manuscripts in Advanced Materials & Processes does not imply that the reviewers, editors, or publisher accept, approve, or endorse the data, opinions, and conclusions of the authors. MAPPING OUT SOLUTIONS Federal and state o icials at Ohio’s new chip fab site. Courtesy of Intel.
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 2 2 5 ENHANCING COMPACT HEAT EXCHANGERS With $4 million from the DOE’s Integrated Research Projects program, the University of Michigan’s (U-M) department of nuclear engineering and radiological sciences is leading a project focused on improving compact heat exchangers. These condensed devices could transfer heat from a nuclear reactor to the systems that use the heat directly or convert it to electricity, and are much smaller and less expensive than traditional designs. Diffusion bonding, the process used to create these heat exchangers, involves stacking grooved plates and pressing them together, causing the grooves to form channels. This new RESEARCH TRACKS technique creates a large number of small channels, which maximize the contact between the metal and heated fluid, allowing more heat to pass through versus conventional heat exchangers. However, high temperatures weak- en the bonds between plates, limiting the heat exchangers to a lower temperature and eliminating the gains made by making them small. The new project aims to improve understanding of the bonding process to enable strong bonds at high temperatures. In addition to U-M, researchers come from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Illinois, Fort Lewis College, Idaho and Argonne National Laboratories, Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), and MPR Associates. umich.edu. STUDYING METEORS ON THE MOON An international team led by Curtin University, Australia, determined Collaborators held an October kickoff meeting at U-M. Sixth from right is EPRI researcher John Shingledecker, FASM. that asteroid impacts on the moon millions of years ago precisely coincide with some of the largest meteorite impacts on Earth. The study also found that major impact events on Earth were not standalone events, but were accompanied by a series of smaller impacts, shedding new light on asteroid dynamics in the inner solar system. Scientists studied microscopic glass beads up to two-billion years old that were found in lunar soil in December 2020 as part of the Chinese National Space Agency’s Chang’e-5 Lunar mission. The heat and pressure of meteorite impacts created the glass beads, so their age distribution should mimic the impacts and reveal a timeline of bombardments, say scientists. The team used a variety of microscopic analytical techniques, numerical modeling, and geological surveys to determine how and when the glass beads formed. The project included scientists from Australia, China, U.S., U.K., and Sweden. www.curtin.edu.au. Chang’e-5 glass beads. Courtesy of Beijing SHRIMP Center. The Advanced Casting Research Center (ACRC) at the University of California, Irvine opened its first affiliated branch at The Ohio State University. The new hub will provide members and industry with expanded research capabilities, facilities, and resources. ACRC is the largest industry-university consortia in North America dedicated to collaborative research in metal processing and manufacturing. acrc.manufacturing. uci.edu. Youngstown State University, Ohio, won a $2.3 million R&D award from the Air Force Research Laboratory to create a consortium on hybrid manufacturing. The collective includes the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining—the managing organization for America Makes—and Oak Ridge National Laboratory among others. The group will focus on advancing work to fabricate, inspect, and repair metallic machine parts, molds and dies, and defense components. ysu.edu. BRIEFS
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 2 2 6 METALS | POLYMERS | CERAMICS dragline silk. It’s known for its strength, durability, and flexibility, and has captivated scientists for decades. “In a spiderweb, the dragline silk makes up the framework and the radials,” explains researcher Sean Blamires. He says the reason for the interest in dragline silk is that in certain spiders like orb-weaving spiders, it’s extremely tough and outperforms Kevlar and steel. But in addition to its hardness, it’s flexible. This is the quality that has made it so attractive as a biomaterial to emulate in technological applications. Proposed uses for dragline silk include a lightweight material to use in bulletproof vests, a flexible building material, biodegradable bottles, or as a nontoxic biomaterial in regenerative medicine that can be used as a kind of scaffold to grow and repair damaged nerves or tissues. “Just like the Human Genome project has given researchers the ability to identify specific gene sequence Yuan Lin (le ) and Lizhi Xu developed a unique polymer aerogel in their lab at the University of Hong Kong. ULTRA-STRONG AEROGELS Researchers at the University of Hong Kong created a new type of polymer aerogel that could be used in diverse applications for functional devices. Using a self-assembled nanofiber network involving aramids, or Kevlar, the research team used a solution-processing method to disperse the aramids into nanoscale fibrils. The interactions between the nanofibers and polyvinyl alcohol generated a 3D fibrillar network with high nodal connectivity and strong bonding between the nanofibers. The team has also used theoretical simulations to explain the outstanding mechanical performance of the developed aerogels. “The results are very exciting. We not only developed a new type of polymer aerogel with excellent mechanical properties but also provided insights Applications are being accepted through January 18, 2023, for the Swedish Steel Prize, the steel industry’s most prestigious international award. The prize recognizes those who utilize the potential of steel to improve their business, industry, and society and is awarded to the method or product that best displays how the chosen steel grade has contributed to a significant innovation. steelprize.com. BRIEF for the design of various nanofibrous materials,” says lead researcher Lizhi Xu, adding, “The simple fabrication processes for these aerogels also allow them to be used in various functional devices, such as wearable electronics, thermal stealth, filtration membranes, and other systems.” www.hku.hk. BIOMATERIALS INFORMED BY SPIDER SILK For the past five years, a team of international researchers has been cataloging web silk properties of nearly 1100 spiders in hopes to provide a launchpad for the design of future biomaterials. The new compiled research examined the chemical structure, genetics, and specific way each spider spins their webs and marked these against the physical properties of the silk. The team of researchers that spanned Asia, Oceania, Europe, and the U.S., collected spiders from around the world, observing them, extracting silk, and sequencing their transcriptomes— the RNA molecules that are coded to make silk. They added a massive dataset to the existing knowledge base, which was previously limited to 52 species of spiders in 18 families, along with 1098 new species from 76 families. The researchers focused on one of seven types of spider silk called major ambulate silk, commonly referred to as Some spiders create webs as strong as Kevlar and steel. Courtesy of Sean Blamires/UNSW.
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 2 2 7 mutations that cause specific diseases, this database and the accompanying structure-function analyses gives biologists and materials scientists the ability to derive direct genetic causes for the properties of spider silk,” Blamires says. www.unsw.edu.au. METALS THAT FIGHT FUNGAL INFECTIONS In an effort to encourage the development of antifungal and antibacterial agents, researchers at the University of Queensland in Australia have founded the Community for Open Antimicrobial Drug Discovery, or CO-ADD. The ambitious goal of the initiative is to find new antimicrobial active agents by offering chemists worldwide the opportunity to test any chemical compound against bacteria and fungi at no cost. As lead researcher Angelo Frei explains, the initial focus of CO-ADD has been on organic molecules. However, he’s trying to develop new metal-based antibiotics with his research group at the University of Bern, Switzerland, and has found that over 1000 of the more than 300,000 compounds tested by CO-ADD contained metals. The researchers tested 21 highly active metal compounds against various resistant fungal strains. These included cobalt, nickel, rhodium, palladium, silver, europium, iridium, platinum, molybdenum, and gold. Themost active compounds were then tested in a model organism—the larvae of a wax moth. Researchers observed that just one of the eleven tested metal compounds showed signs of toxicity, while the others were well tolerated by the larvae. In the next step, some metal compounds were tested in an infection model, and one compound was effective in reducing the fungal infection in larvae. “Our This Petri dish shows a fungal strand shaped as the symbol for platinum (Pt) growing on red agar. Courtesy of CO-ADD. hope is that our work will improve the reputation of metals in medical applications and motivate other research groups to further explore this large but relatively unexplored field,” says Frei. www.unibe.ch/eng.
8 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 2 2 scientists demonstrated the relation on alloys of aluminum, cobalt, copper, iron, nickel, steel, and refractory alloys used in a large variety of key engineering applications. “What is remarkable is that the nanoscale deformation events that appear after a single deformation cycle correlate with the fatigue strength that inform the life of a metallic part under a large number of cycles,” Stinville says. “Discovering this correlation is like having access to a unique deformation fingerprint that can help us rapidly predict the fatigue life of metallic parts.” illinois.edu. CRYSTAL FORMATION AT THE ATOMIC SCALE A team of international scientists is using atomic scale imaging to visualize the crystallization process like never before. Studying crystal formation at the surface, researchers from the University of Washington, Seattle, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Wash., and Durham University, U.K., used the imaging technology to observe the nucleation of an TESTING | CHARACTERIZATION METALLIC DEFORMATION FINGERPRINTS Capturing and predicting the strength of metallic materials subjected to cycling loading, or fatigue strength, just became a lot quicker. A discovery by researchers from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign shows how engineers can use automated high-resolution electron imaging to capture nanoscale deformation events that lead to metal failure and breakage at the origin. The new method helps scientists to rapidly predict the fatigue strength of any alloy and design new materials for engineering systems subject to repeated loading for medical, transportation, safety, energy, and environmental applications. Fatigue of metals and alloys—such as the repeated bending of a metal paperclip that leads to its fracture—is the root cause of failure in many engineering systems, according to the researchers. Defining the relationship between fatigue strength and microstructures is challenging because metallic materials display complex structures, with features ranging from nanometer to centimeter scale. The team is the first to uncover the relationship between surface-level events and fatigue predictions in metals. Using automated high-resolution digital image correlations, collected by the scanning electron microscope, the researchers’ technique compiles and compares a series of images recorded during deformation, explains lead researcher Jean-Charles Stinville. The Ametek Land, U.K., is celebrating 75 years of building monitors and analyzers for industrial infrared noncontact temperature measurement, combustion efficiency, and environmental pollutant emissions. Founded in 1947, Land Instruments Intl. Ltd. was acquired by Ametek Inc. in 2006. The company serves the steelmaking, glassmaking, minerals processing, hydrocarbon processing, and thermal power generation industries. ametek-land.com. Sakor Technologies Inc., Owosso, Mich., supplied an accelerated belt aging stand to Ford Motor Company for use in belt noise testing. Ford will use the stand to test new belt materials and designs to evaluate how they are likely to perform in an engine over time. sakor.com. BRIEFS Professors Jean-Charles Stinville and Marie Charpagne captured nanoscale deformation events at the origin of metal failure. Courtesy of Fred Zwicky. In situ atomic force microscopy image sequence from a movie showing the growth and coalescence of clusters to create an extended film. Courtesy of Fred Zwicky.
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 2 2 9 aluminum hydroxide mineral on a mica surface in water. The team identified a crystallization pattern that was atypical of the classical nucleation theory. Instead of a rare event in which a cluster of atoms reaches a critical size and then grows across the surface, they saw thousands of fluctuating clusters that coalesced into an unexpected pattern, with gaps that persisted between crystalline islands. The team concluded that while certain aspects of the current theory held true, ultimately their system followed a nonclassical pathway. They attribute this to electrostatic forces from charges on the mica surface. Because many types of materials form charged surfaces in water, the researchers hypothesize that they observed a widespread phenomenon and are excited to look for other systems where this nonclassical process might occur. “Assumptions from classical nucleation theory have far-reaching implications in disciplines ranging from materials science to climate prediction,” the researchers say. “The results Monash University Professor Andy Tomkins (left) with RMIT University Ph.D. scholar Alan Salek holding a ureilite meteor sample. Courtesy of RMIT University. from our experiments can help produce more accurate simulations of such systems.” pnnl.gov, washington.edu, www. durham.ac.uk. DIAMONDS FROM OUTER SPACE A collaborative teamof researchers from Australia and the U.K. confirmed the existence of lonsdaleite, a rare hexagonal form of diamond, in ureilite meteorites from inside a dwarf planet in our solar system. According to the team, the unique diamonds may have formed shortly after the dwarf planet collided with a large asteroid about 4.5 billion years ago. The team—consisting of scientists from RMIT University, Monash University, the Australian Synchrotron, and the U.K.’s Plymouth University—says theun- usual hexagonal structure of lonsdaleite could help inform new manufacturing techniques for ultra-hard materials in mining applications. The researchers used advanced electron microscopy techniques to capture solid and intact slices from the meteorites to create snapshots of how lonsdaleite and regular diamonds formed. www.monash. edu, www.rmit.edu.au, www.ansto.gov. au, www.plymouth.ac.uk.
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 2 2 1 0 MACHINE LEARNING | AI MODELING METAL-ORGANIC FRAMEWORKS The nanosized pores of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) generate expansive internal surface areas, making them extremely versatile for applications such as separating petrochemicals and gases, mimicking DNA, and producing hydrogen. Professor Berend Smit at EPFL’s School of Basic Sciences, Switzerland, and his group are using machine learning (ML) to advance the discovery, design, and categorization of the numerous MOFs filling up chemical databases. Smit and his colleagues developed a ML model that predicts the heat capacity of MOFs: It works by forecasting how the local chemical environment changes the vibrations of each atom in a MOF molecule. “These vibrations can be related to the heat capacity,” says Smit. “Before, a very expensive quantum calculation would give us a single heat capacity for a single material, but now we get up to 200 data points on these vibrations. So, by doing 200 expensive calculations, we had 40,000 data points to train themodel on how these vibrations depend on their chemical environment.” To demonstrate the practical impact of the research, engineers at Heriot-Watt University, U.K., simulated the MOF performance in a carbon capture plant. “We used quantum molecular simulations, machine learning, and chemical engineering in process simulations,” explains Smit. “The results showed that with correct heat capacity values of MOFs, the overall energy cost of the carbon capture process can be much lower than we originally assumed. Our work is a true multiscale effort, with a huge impact on the techno-economic viability of different solutions to tackle climate change.” www.epfl.ch. MACHINE LEARNING LOOKS AT LIGNIN A new research project is demonstrating how artificial intelligence (AI) can improve production of renewable biomaterials. The study focuses on the extraction of lignin, a papermaking byproduct produced in large quantities but mainly used as an inexpensive fuel. Developing valuable materials and chemicals from lignin is the ultimate goal of the project. Scientists from Aalto University and the University of Turku, both in Finland, are working together to find the best extraction conditions for various lignin-based products with the help of Bayesian optimization. Their machine learning approach employs a computer model that, for a given combination of experimental conditions, can predict both the amount of extracted lignin and its properties. As with other AI methods, Bayesian optimization requires data to learn from, but in contrast to approaches such as neural networks, data collection is guided by the algorithm itself. The result is that the computer tells the scientist working in the lab which conditions to use for the next experiment. By choosing the variables in an intelligent way, the AI guarantees that only a small number of experiments are necessary to create an accurate model. The successful application of Bayesian optimization to the challenge of lignin extraction suggests that AI may soon become a standard tool alongside traditional statistical tools for planning and predicting experimental outcomes. The team is now collaborating with several other research groups at Aalto to expand their methodology to a wider set of problems in materials science. www.aalto.fi. Metal-organic frameworks capturing CO2 from flue gasses. Courtesy of EPFL. Photo and graphic with birch tree. Courtesy of J. Löfgren.
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 2 2 1 1 PROCESS TECHNOLOGY SEEING GLASS FORMATION MORE CLEARLY Researchers at Yale University, New Haven, Conn., established a new process to measure fragility in liquids as they form into glasses. Until now, a reliable method to measure this property has eluded scientists and hindered a comprehensive understanding of the liquid state of glass formation. “The liquid state is the most diffi- cult state for us to understand, to measure,” says Jan Schroers, professor of materials engineering andmaterials sci- ence at the university. “Essentially everything is known about solids, how the atoms arrange, andwe can calculate it all on a computer. Liquid, as a state, we almost know nothing about it.” Using a procedure they call the film inflation method (FIM), the researchers measured the fragility of a wide range “By cultivating new and translating existing bioengineered REE-convert- ing bacteria and proteins, wewill deliver platform biotechnologies for REE separation and purification with high commercialization potential,” says LLNL scientist Dan Park, one of the technical leads for the project. In addition to using previously identified microbes and proteins that have been tested and used to purify and separate REEs, the team will conduct a bioprospecting campaign to identify new REE-associated microorganisms that exhibit REE-utilization capacity. Results will expand the repertoire of REE-biomining hosts and REE-binding biomolecules. “If successful, the biomining process developed in this project has the potential to help alleviate REE supply vulnerability by reestablishing a domestic REE supply chain, which is critical for advanced defense and commercial manufacturing processes,” says Shankar Sandaram, the Lab’s program liaison to DARPA. llnl.gov. Researchers, previously confounded by the liquid phase of glass formation, have developed a better way to measure its properties. Courtesy of Yale University. of metallic glass-forming liquids. They not only gained a clearer sense of the liquids’ properties, but they also found the new information contradicted a long-held assumption in the field—that low fragility is better for the formation of metallic glasses. According to the researchers, their method is a big step toward figuring out the complex physics of metallic glass. The work enables scientists to elaborate theories on glass formation, which remains one of the biggest mysteries in physics. seas.yale.edu. SEPARATING RARE-EARTH ELEMENTS Scientists from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Calif., and their collaborators will use naturally occurring and engineered proteins and bacteria to separate and purify rare- earth elements for use in the defense sector. Under DARPA’s Environmental Microbes as a BioEngineering Resource (EMBER) program, the team was awarded an initial $4 million in funding R&D in Phase 1, with an option for up to an additional $9 million based on program performance in follow-on phases. The team will leverage advances in microbial and biomolecular engineering to develop a scalable bio-based separation and purification strategy for rare-earth elements (REEs) using under-developed domestic sources. BRIEF Castings Technology International (Cti), U.K., is a new partner of the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre. Cti provides advanced casting expertise and manufacturing capabilities, including computer modeling, design for casting manufacture, rapid production of precision castings, additive processes, and materials research for aerospace and other industries. www.amrc.co.uk. Rare earths bearing core sample drilled at La Paz, Ariz. Courtesy of American Rare Earths Ltd. photographer Dane Rhys.
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 2 2 1 2 UNDERSTANDING MATERIAL FATIGUE University of Tokyo researchers used computer simulations to gain a better understanding of the physical mechanisms of low-cycle fatigue fracture in amorphous solids like glass and plastics. Understanding material fatigue in this class could help improve the reliability of materials used for industrial applications, such as machine or airplane parts, that experience many cycles of stress. What the scientists discovered challenges the widely held belief that the stress required for a fracture to occur is much smaller for cyclic stresses compared with constant stress. Instead, simulations showed that both fatigue and monotonic fractures share the same critical strain in disorder materials that corresponds with the onset of irreversible deformation. “Dynamic and elastic asymmetries with respect to density changes can lead to a link between shear deformation and density fluctuations,” explains researcher Hajime Tanaka. The next step is to confirm the team’s results through further experiments, which could help materials scientists better understand the initiation of fractures. www. u-tokyo.ac.jp/en. ROBOT DRAWS WITH CONDUCTIVE INK A collaborative research team fromWorcester Polytechnic Institute, Mass., Imperial College London, and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign created a robotic system that literally draws its own energy to survive. To receive the maximum amount of energy from a given power source, the robot visually rearranges its surroundings by using conductive ink to draw electrical circuits. The team combined their circuit printing system with a robotic gripper, creating a robot that can perform a repertoire of actions aimed at attaining greater power— like higher voltages—from its environment and thus surviving in unfavorable conditions. The researchers tested their robot in simulations of different real-world scenarios. To prevent the robot from solely moving in a straight line, the team added obstacles to its surroundings, both in simulated and real-world trials. Some of these obstacles, such as foam cubes, could easily be removed by the robots, while others were connected to EMERGING TECHNOLOGY Scientists from the Russian Academy of Sciences and St. Petersburg University discovered a new mineral in Russia, which could become the basis for developing supercapacitor batteries. Sergeysmirnovite belongs to the hopeite group and is composed of magnesium, zinc, and phosphorus. The mineral is named in honor of Sergey Smirnov (1895-1947), a renowned specialist in mineralogy of ore deposits. www.rfbr.ru. BRIEF a grounding plate that drew the electrical power away when a circuit touched it. The team found that their robot rapidly and effectively learned to overcome these obstacles to survive and maximize the received energy. This meant rearranging obstacles or bridging areas in its surroundings that prevented it from completing the action of drawing. “I think we are taking steps toward adaptive behaviors for robots,” lead re- searcher Andre Rosendo says. www.wpi. edu, www.imperial.ac.uk, illinois.edu. Researchers simulated fractures in amorphous materials due to both cyclic fatigue and constant stress using course-grained dynamics. Courtesy of Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo. Experimental setup of the circuit drawing robot. The Jaco arm performs pick-and-place actions suggested by the network. An Arduino then receives signals noting the state of the arm and sets the on/off of the peristaltic pump to control the ink flow. The connection starts to show conductivity after the ink dries. Courtesy of Xianglong Tan, Zhikang Liu, Chen Yu, and Andre Rosendo.
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 2 2 1 3 SUSTAINABILITY BRIEF MULTIFUNCTIONAL MAGNETIC MATERIAL A research team from Australia’s Flinders University created a new material that can be moved remotely with a magnet. The multifunctional material, made from magnetic iron particles and a sulfur-rich polymer, could have applications in water purification, recyclable construction material, and soft robotics. Researchers hot-press the polymer mixture and iron particles to make the key material, with the iron particles imparting the ability to move the material with a magnet. Lead researcher Nicholas Lundquist reports that the team used their magnetic composite material in several applications. For instance, they used it to first bindmercury inmine tailings and then proceeded to retrieve the material—bound to mercury—with a magnet. Lundquist says this process could be a simple way to remove toxic metals from complex mixtures. The magnetic-responsive material was also demonstrated to be an effective binder for new construction materials, charting new paths for converting waste into value-added products. Additionally, the team fashioned a solenoid valve from the material by rapidly shaping and curing the machine component in a microwave. The valve component was one-tenth of the mass of the original all-metal component. The versatile new material is also recyclable, as it can be ground up and reshaped multiple times. The teamsays their newwork provides important additional evidence of the potential and versatility of sulfur-rich polymers. www.flinders.edu.au. PLASTIC ALTERNATIVE Researchers from the Indian Institutes of Technology are developing transparent wood in hopes of replacing plastics for car windshields, seethrough packaging, and biomedical devices. According to the research team, transparent wood reduces ecological impacts due to its renewable and biodegradable properties. The material is also five times more efficient than glass, making it highly cost-effective. The researchers say transparent wood is emerging as one of the most promising substitute materials of the future. Initially fabricated in 1992 by German scientist Siegfried Fink, transparent wood is made by removing the lignin content in wood and replacing it with transparent, plastic materials. Lignin is a naturally occurring biopolymer that supports plant tissue—but unlike plastics, it can decompose and is nontoxic. “Plastics are used as a substitute for glass, which is [naturally] fragile,” comments researcher Prodyut Dhar. “However, transparent wood is an even better alternative from an ecological perspective as observed in our life-cycle analysis.” According to the researchers, producing transparent wood using sodium chlorite as a lignin removal agent and then inducing epoxy infiltration had far less environmental impact than commonly usedmethods that involvemethacrylate polymers. While the end-of-life analysis suggests that transparent wood is less environmentally friendly than glass, researchers say it’s still better than producing polyethylene, indicating the need to improve the production technology. www.iitsystem.ac.in. Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe AG, Germany, and appliance manufacturer Miele signed an agreement for the supply of climate-friendly “bluemint” steel from thyssenkrupp’s direct reduction plant planned for 2026. The first hydrogenfueled direct reduction plant with downstreammelters will have a capacity of over two million metric tons and will initially reduce CO2 emissions at thyssenkrupp Steel by more than 20%. Miele and thyssenkrupp plan to switch to 100% bluemint steel by 2030. thyssenkrupp-steel.com. Electronics and robotic equipment could one day be made from renewable materials, thus reducing landfill waste. Courtesy of Pixabay. Transparent wood may be a sustainable alternative for glass or plastic used in the production of windshields, see-through packaging, and biomedical devices. Courtesy of Anish M. Chathoth.
1 4 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 2 2 ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN MATERIALS SCIENCE To learn what makes entrepreneurs in materials science tick, we turned to seven of ASM’s inventors and business founders for insight. Following are their perspectives on how they got started, lessons they learned along the way, what ASM can do to support innovators, and advice for the next generation of STEM entrepreneurs. S T E M E N T R E P R E N E U R S 1 4 Mukta Kulkarni Owner and Managing Director Industrial Enterprises, India Jean Mozolic, FASM Manager and Founder The Mozolic Group Christian Gast n Palmaz President, CEO, and Principal Vactronix Scientific Aaron Birt Co-founder and CEO Solvus Global LLC Ho Lun Chan Ph.D. candidate University of Virginia Co-founder Materia Technologies LLC Frauke Hogue, FASM President and Metallographer Hogue Metallography ASM PANEL OF EXPERTS Hanchen Huang, FASM Provost UMass Dartmouth Co-founder MesoGlue Inc.
1 5 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 2 2 In what way are you an entrepreneur or inventor? Aaron Birt: As an entrepreneur, co-founder, and CEO of Solvus, I’ve had essentially just one job for the last five years: Create a vision of the future and guide our team to achieving it. We’ve had to actually invent what entrepreneurship looked like along the way. Our business model is totally unique in the field, and it’s something for which we are particularly proud. Beyond the unique “end-to-end venture building” model that we’ve developed, each of our areas of business in and of itself requires extensive invention and innovation. From novel powder materials to advanced materials processing to unique data storage methods, our team had to invent our way through every technical and business problem that we’ve ever faced. Ho Lun Chan: My personal story is best described by my childhood fascination with abandoned electronics. I was born and raised in Hong Kong where hundreds of abandoned machinery parts and electronic devices were being hoarded and sold per unit weight weekly in an open street market. For me, it was a cluster of treasures. During my teens, I designed a flashlight that could power a LED light for a couple minutes with a simple pulling of a string and a metal box that converts waste heat into thermoelectricity for incineration applications. In my second year of college, I was encouraged to participate in the Cal Poly Pomona NSF I-Corps program, which is accelerated training that prepares scientists and students to commercialize their ideas coupled with generous financial support. During this project, my friend JanamDave and I designed a rapid labeling device that can improve labeling speed, accuracy, and traceability for high-throughput laboratory experiments in the biomedical industry. We also interviewed corporate executives, potential customers, and conference exhibitors to find beta testers and learn how to be a good inventor and entrepreneur. We eventually succeeded in applying for several project grants and collaborating with companies willing to test our product. Frauke Hogue: After working for a fastener company for 10 years, I started my own consulting company in metallography. As far as I knew, this had never been done before. Through ASM, I knew several organizations in the failure analysis field who needed metallographic services but did not need a full-time metallographer. I did not want a full-time position because I had two small children at home and I wanted to spend time with them. Hanchen Huang: Together with two former Ph.D. students, I co-founded a startup company, MesoGlue Inc. Our path is probably typical for many university scholars. We first discovered the scientific origin of why metallic nanorods from physical vapor deposition are nano. Based on this discovery, we formulated analytical theories of nanorod dimensions and spacing. Guided by these theories, we experimentally synthesized the smallest and yet well-separated metallic nanorods through physical vapor deposition. Using these nanorods, we invented metallic glue that sets at room temperature but functions at high temperatures and we received a U.S. patent. MesoGlue Inc. commercializes the metallic glue for glass-metal bonding, thermal interface bonding, and die bonding. Mukta Kulkarni: I am an entrepreneur and in a small way also an innovator. I am always ready to take on challenges to produce difficult castings or alloys. This has led to innovative development for many of our customers. My company’s focus has always been on developing new castings for new applications and innovating ways to achieve the results. Jean Mozolic: I started my career in a rather standard way. In 1975, I graduated from MIT with a B.S./M.S. in materials science and joined the workforce as a sales engineer for Union Carbide Coatings Service. Over my 47-year career in the MesoGlue, co-invented by Hanchen Huang, can be used for die bonding. Specimen of cast zinc, prepared by Frauke Hogue of Hogue Metallography, Pacific Palisades, Calif.
1 6 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 2 2 the job market that is working to align the interests of investors, founders, and employees, then we can begin to craft business models and retention programs that deliver higher value for everyone involved in the process—instead of focusing on maximizing just one variable, often profit. Mozolic: You are not alone. Your network, your colleagues, your friends, your accomplishments, and your reputation are all there to help. Just ask and share. You will be surprised by how many people will step forth to help you. Don’t be bashful that you are starting a business as an entrepreneur or inventor. Shout it out to the world. There are so many ways to do this: social media, professional societies, publications, presentations, and patents. Be creative; be inventive. If you are too reserved to shout it out, hire someone to do it for you or train you to do it. Just make sure you know what your message is and how to effectively deliver it. It’s all part of branding yourself and your business. Chan: The biggest lesson I’ve learned is the profound importance of maintaining a sense of both reality and imagination when implementing a project as the leader. To run a business or be an inventor requires a totally different set of skills and interests. When a new, possibly groundbreaking idea was being discussed, it was easy to get transactional, and become managerial and corporate-like without a true understanding of what problem this idea could solve. But if we are only realistic, we become pedestrian and will fail. I believe that the ability to invent comes from a natural interest in creating, which can be perfected through STEM education. thermal spray industry, I rose through the ranks of sales and business management with my last corporate job as North American Business Manager for H.C. Starck. In 2006 when I parted ways with that company, I was at a crossroads. I could continue the path I had been on and get another job or I could go down another path. I chose the other path of starting my own consulting business with a focus on helping small to mid-size companies with their business expansion/business diversifica- tion plans in the thermal spray industry. It is now 2022 and I am still working, enjoying, and traveling the entrepreneur path. Christian Palmaz: I founded Vactronix Scientific in 2016 with the goal of commercializing a new atomic additive into higher precision devices enabling innovations across a range of industries from medical to aerospace. Vactronix’s IP portfolio encompasses materials, devices, processes, and equipment patents. This landscape is covered by over 360 patents in 18 countries. What is the biggest overall lesson you’ve learned in running a business or being an inventor? Birt: People are the key to everything—this means it is critical to have the right team in place and to take care of them. But this alsomeans you have to understand that removing one person from the team can help the whole team work more effectively. It’s a unique balance of empathy for both the individual and the team, and the hard part is balancing both. This is why at Solvus, every pitch deck begins with the following statement: “Ideas are cheap. Execution is hard. People are everything.” If we as entrepreneurs and inventors can begin to understand the shift in Per Christian Palmaz, PVD Nitinol (top) results in increased purity and improved microstructure compared to wrought Nitinol (bottom). manufacturing technology the company developed, HE-PVD (high energy-physical vapor deposition). The cylindrical magnetron PVD tools that we design and build allow for net shape devices with high properties and tight dimensional tolerances. This disruptive technology allows a new era of “super materials” (focused on shape memory alloys) to be created and then fabricated Aaron Birt, at Solvus Global’s ribbon cutting event. SMST ENTREPRENEURIAL WORKSHOP A unique 1.5-day event for shape memory alloy (SMA) entrepreneurs across all fields, existing and emerging, will be held on March 14-15, 2023, in Fort Worth, Texas. The SMST Entrepreneurial Workshop will include the opportunity to: network with entrepreneurs, suppliers, and investors; hear from successful SMA entrepreneurs; learn about cutting-edge technologies and processes; gain connections to call on when troubleshooting and planning new products; and pitch your idea at the first-ever SMST SMArt Tank. Submission deadline is January 30, 2023. For more information, visit asminternational.org/web/smst-workshop or email kathy.murray@asminternational.org.
1 7 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 2 2 Birt: The opportunities are endless—from advances in agriculture to space and water to nuclear energy. Every single industry has a materials problem they are actively working to overcome. If you can combine intuition, advanced modeling, and advanced processing to solve a materials challenge, then you have the opportunity to forge a new business, or support an existing one. I think it’s important to remember that entrepreneurship does not mean you have to start a company. You can be an entrepreneur in nearly any role. A “materials science entrepreneur” is given an objective and figures out a way to meet that objective no matter what limitations might be placed on them. Mozolic: There are somany opportunties: reducing the planet’s carbon footprint; climate change; transitioning from fossil fuels; battery development from Li ion to solid state and beyond; energy harvesting; modernizing the grid; harvesting people’s motions i.e., walking on sidewalks that capture vibrational energy; smart clothing; installing solar panels, wind turbines, and shock converters on homes, buildings, sidewalks, highways, and automobiles; more effective desalination; more efficient primary metals manufacturing; expanding the use of composites and lightweight materials for transportation, drones, and military applications; enhancedmedical implant designs; and improved robotics/bionics. I am excited about the work that is being done on all of these fronts. Hogue: Right now, people are very willing to accept creative solutions to work situations. This is an ideal climate for entrepreneurship, but you must be creative and put effort into developing something of special interest. How can ASM support innovators as they start and grow businesses? Mozolic: Many innovators have absolutely wonderful ideas but may not have the experience for how to start a business. Introducing innovators to other innovators, business owners, and to reduce global emissions and achieve a net-zero economy toward the mid21st century. To reach this ambitious objective, we have seen a substantial increase in the amount of research and entrepreneurship funding, either from government agencies or philanthropists from the private sector, supporting projects related to decarbonization, the circular economy, and sustainability. There is no doubt that materials science and engineering, due to its interdisciplinary nature, will play a key role in enabling this goal. Huang: Through additive manufacturing, particularly with micro and nano scale control, it is now feasible to design materials with the desired properties and with the prescribed chemistry, structure, and morphology. This level of materials design will enable the invention of many more technologies, which entrepreneurs can then commercialize. From many failures, I learned to understand reality, take time and risk, then soar above the reality and do the necessary work to make an idea come to life. Kulkarni: The biggest lesson I have learned is: If you don’t challenge yourself in business somebody else will. Palmaz: The biggest lesson I’ve learned is that simply making a better material that performs at a higher level or outperforms the status quo isn’t enough in today’s market environment. For the new material to truly disrupt the space, you have to deliver an end-to-end value proposition, not just to the customer directly using the material but all the way to the end user. In addition, we need to overcome assump- tions with respect to the cost of the technology as well as reeducate our customers who are accustomed to a set of limitations that do not apply to our advanced technology. What opportunities do you see for materials science entrepreneurs? Chan: I believe that sustainability in materials engineering is of a great interest to materials entrepreneurs. Governments across the globe are striving CALL FOR INNOVATORS IMAT 2023 is looking for entrepreneurs, startups, and venture capitalists in materials science. Do you have a new product, service, or technology you would like to showcase? Contact kelly.thomas@ asminternational.org. Sustainability is a growth area for materials entrepreneurs.
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