4 ADVANCED MATERIALS & PROCESSES | APRIL 2025 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 Anne Vidmar, Layout and Design Allison Freeman, Production Manager allie.freeman@asminternational.org EDITORIAL COMMITTEE John Shingledecker, Chair, EPRI Beth Armstrong, Vice Chair, Oak Ridge National Lab Adam Farrow, Past Chair, Los Alamos National Lab Yun Bai, Ford Rajan Bhambroo, Tenneco Inc. Punnathat Bordeenithikasem, Machina Labs Daniel Grice, Materials Evaluation & Engineering Surojit Gupta, University of North Dakota Michael Hoerner, KnightHawk Engineering Hideyuki Kanematsu, Suzuka National College of Technology Ibrahim Karaman, Texas A&M University Ricardo Komai, Tesla Krassimir Marchev, Northeastern University Bhargavi Mummareddy, Dimensional Energy Scott Olig, U.S. Naval Research Lab Christian Paglia, SUPSI Institute of Materials and Construction Satyam Sahay, John Deere Technology Center India Abhijit Sengupta, USA Federal Government Kumar Sridharan, University of Wisconsin Vasisht Venkatesh, Pratt & Whitney ASM BOARD OF TRUSTEES Navin Manjooran, President and Chair Elizabeth Ho man, Senior Vice President Daniel P. Dennies, Vice President Pradeep Goyal, Immediate Past President Lawrence Somrack, Treasurer Amber Black Pierpaolo Carlone Rahul Gupta Hanchen Huang André McDonald Victoria Miller Christopher J. Misorski Dehua Yang Fan Zhang Veronica Becker, Executive Director STUDENT BOARD MEMBERS Gladys Duran Duran, Amanda Smith, Nathaniel Tomas Individual readers of Advanced Materials & Processes may, without charge, make single copies of pages therefrom for personal or archival use, or may freely make 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 from articles 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. REGAINING CONFIDENCE IN FLIGHT In the past few months, we have been jolted out of our blissful joy of flight by a sequence of fatal tragedies in the sky. These horrific events have affected our confidence in civil aviation. A recent Associated Press-NORC poll revealed that 64% of Americans feel very or somewhat safe with air travel compared to 71% at the same time last year. How can we regain our trust in the skies? One reassuring factor has been the swift appearance of the teams in blue from the United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on the scene to research the cause of each accident and make recommendations to prevent similar occurrences in the future. On January 30, the day after the mid-air collision of a passenger jet and a military helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Jennifer Homendy, chair of the NTSB, spoke at a press conference. She summarized their methodology in this way: “As part of any investigation, we look at the human, the machine, and the environment.” Putting those principles into practice in a series of nonfatal cases, our lead article in this issue provides a snapshot of an NTSB investigation into fatigue cracks found on Cessna 210 hydraulic actuators. From the report summary, we learn how a combination of all three factors that Homendy cited can play a role. An environment can lead to corrosion, human beings can delay recommended maintenance, and as a result, a machine will not operate as originally intended by the manufacturer. But the NTSB has recommendations. In looking for more reasons to regain confidence in air travel, we can turn to the sophisticated R&D program happening at Howmet Aerospace. Boyd Mueller, FASM, received ASM’s Medal for the Advancement of Research last October for his leadership in various metals processing technologies. In this issue, he describes how their complex casting techniques are applied to turbine airfoils that need to withstand harsh environments. He also emphasizes the importance of their onsite training for new engineers (acknowledging the human). Academia is also helping to improve flight systems. An article by authors from Coventry University explains how laser shock peening can significantly reduce residual stress in safety-critical components of aero engines. Attendance at this year’s AeroMat conference will provide more evidence of ongoing developments to improve our 21st century flying machines. With a theme of “Innovations in Materials Engineering: Shaping the Future of the Aerospace Industry” and keynotes from Constellium, Blue Origin, and Airbus, the event features the best minds in the field discussing their recent engineering innovations. Inspired by these promising advancements in aviation technology, and with the hope of industry-wide compliance to safety recommendations, we can find our flight path back to confident air travel. joanne.miller@asminternational.org NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy.
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