ADVANCED MATERIALS & PROCESSES | OCTOBER 2023 27 Kantzos: Because we’re a government agency, we can’t show preferential consideration to any company. So, our Technology Transfer Office handles the bidding process and ensures everyone gets proper consideration. Currently, is GRX-810 being used outside of NASA? Smith: Some prototype testing has already been done, and GRX-810 was printed and tested outside of NASA. But I don’t think we’re to the point where it’s being flown in commercial jet engines yet. There’s more work ahead. Aside from the fact that your alloy didn’t fail during your tests, it’s also stronger yet lighter weight. Talk about the importance of that. Smith: Because we are 3D printing, we can add cooling channels and lattice structures. We can optimize the design so that we use only the necessary material. You get the performance of the component and everything else can be removed. With conventional processing you’re at the mercy of what the machinist can get to make the component, and usually end up with a much denser, heavier component. Are you collaborating with any other partners? Smith: Yes. We want to get it out of our labs and into other labs at least, or other companies. The more people working on it, the faster it will get to commercialization. The quicker we overcome any issues we have scaling it, the faster we get that full data sheet of the material. There’s still more characterization we need to accomplish to see it getting used commercially. ~AM&P For more information: Tim Smith, materials research engineer, NASA Glenn Research Center, 21000 Brookpark Rd., Cleveland, OH 44135, 216.433.4000, timothy.m.smith@nasa.gov, www.nasa. gov/glenn or Glenn Research Center, Technology Transfer Office, MS: 77-5, Cleveland, OH 44135, 216.433.3484, grc-techtransfer@mail.nasa.gov. On August 22, it was announced that NASA’s Glenn Research Center won an R&D 100 Award in the Process and Prototyping category for “GRX-810: A 3D printable alloy designed for extreme environments.” Are you maximizing your ASM membership? Expand your knowledge and apply your ASM International member-only discounts to a variety of professional development resources: • AM&P Digital Edition • ASM Archive • Discounts on event registration Learn more about your membership benefits by visiting asminternational.org/membership
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