Colorado School of Mines

Nickel-Titanium SMA Introduced for Elastocaloric Cooling

/ COOLING SYSTEMS TECHNICAL CONTENT, FEATURED NEWS, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT NEWS, TITANIUM PROCESSING TECHNICAL CONTENT

Scientists from the Alliance for the Development of Additive Processing Technologies (ADAPT) at Colorado School of Mines who took part in an international research team have helped develop a nickel-titanium elastocaloric cooling shape memory alloy (SMA) that is highly efficient, eco-friendly, and easily scaled up. The alloys, in which hafnium acts as a strengthening precipitate, hold the promise of requiring only heat treatment to attain functional shape memory performance.

The international team, led by University of Maryland Professor Ichiro Takeuchi, developed the improved elastocaloric cooling material using a blend of nickel and titanium metals, fabricated by a 3D printer, that is not only potentially more efficient than current technology, but is completely “green.” Moreover, it can be quickly scaled for use in larger devices.

Dr. Aaron Stebner, Rowlinson Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering

“The key finding of the research is that while elastocaloric materials typically used for solid-state cooling show a degradation in cooling behavior after hundreds of cycles, laser melting these metals creates fatigue-resistant nanocomposite microstructures that can cycle, with consistent cooling capacity, a million times,” said Aaron Stebner, Rowlinson Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and a co-author of the paper.

Professor Ichiro Takeuchi, Graduate Program Director in
Materials Science and Engineering, University of Maryland

“Dr. Stebner’s expertise played a crucial role in developing understanding of the fundamental mechanism behind fatigue-resistant behavior of additively manufactured shape memory alloys. His group’s in situ synchrotron diffraction and finite element modeling capabilities gave us unique insight into the inner workings of the material,” Prof. Takeuchi said.

The work, which was published in the Nov. 29 issue of Science, is the result of a collaboration led by researchers from the University of Maryland, together with Ames Laboratory, Mines, Iowa State University, and China’s Xi’an Jiaotong University.

Photo Credit: ASM International

 

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A Dozen Quick Heat Treat News Items to Keep You Current

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A Dozen Quick Heat Treat News Items to Keep You Current

Heat Treat Today offers News Chatter, a feature highlighting representative moves, transactions, and kudos from around the industry.

Personnel and Company Chatter

  • Richard Cammarano has been selected as president and CEO of Plymouth, Massachusetts-based Tech-Etch Inc., which produces precision components and parts.
  • With KKR’s recent acquisition of Hyperion from Sandvik, Ron Voigt will assume the role of Chief Executive Officer of Hyperion, responsible for the strategic direction and operating performance of the company. Mr. Voigt succeeds Johan Israelsson, who is transitioning into a newly created role as Senior Vice President of Strategy and Alliances.
  • Boeing and Embraer recently announced a Memorandum of Understanding to establish a strategic partnership which proposes the formation of a joint venture comprising the commercial aircraft and services business of Embraer that would strategically align with Boeing’s commercial development, production, marketing and lifecycle services operations. Under the terms of the agreement, Boeing will hold an 80 percent ownership stake in the joint venture and Embraer will own the remaining 20 percent stake.
  • With the construction of an 85,000-square-foot facility, Hitchiner Manufacturing Co., Inc., which produces investment castings for the aerospace, defense, and automotive industries, is expanding its New Hampshire operations .

Equipment Chatter

  • Four electrically heated enhanced duty walk-in ovens have been shipped to an automotive parts manufacturer by Wisconsin Oven Corporation, to be used for aging aluminum parts. In addition, Wisconsin Oven shipped an electrically heated three drawer oven to a supplier of the oil and gas industry. The custom drawer oven will be used for preheating tubes and cores.
  • Eighteen furnaces have been shipped to companies in six states in the U.S. and two companies overseas by Ipsen USA during the second quarter. These shipments included multiple atmosphere furnaces, plus the shipment of one of the largest vacuum furnaces Ipsen has ever built, featuring a 210,000-pound (95,254 kg) load capacity. Ten atmosphere box furnaces were shipped to a company in the aerospace industry, while one temper furnace went to a U.S.-based commercial heat treater. Other shipments included three TITAN H2 2-bar furnaces and three TITAN H6 2-bar furnaces.
  • A major US manufacturer of electronic components has placed an order for Despatch PND inert atmosphere ovens with FLW Southeast.
  • Two electric box furnaces have been supplied by L&L Special Furnace Company to a Midwestern machine manufacturer that builds high-speed cutting equipment, tools, and supplies for various industries, including industrial manufacturing, automotive, metal materials, and aerospace.
  • A 950°F (510°C) belt conveyor oven from Grieve, No. 831, has been supplied to a company to be used for heat treating springs.

Kudos Chatter

  • ThermoFusion is the only heat treater in Northern California to maintain Supplier Procedure Approval Requests (SPAR) for carbonitriding, nitriding, malcomizing, and general quench and temper work for Northrop Grumman.
  • Fluxtrol Inc. presented two awards during TPiM 2018. The Student Research Award was presented to Virginia Judge from the Colorado School of Mines, whose research was deemed by judges to be of extraordinary quality and impact to the field of thermal processing. The Academic Research Award/Scholarship was awarded to Professor Bob Cryderman and the Colorado School of Mines for excellence in academic research in the field of thermal processing.
  • Sciaky, Inc., a leading provider of metal additive manufacturing (AM) solutions, recently announced that it achieved qualification with its Electron Beam Additive Manufacturing (EBAM®) process, stemming from the completion of qualification testing performed by Lockheed Martin Space on a multi-year development program to create giant, high-pressure tanks, which carry fuel for satellites.

 

Heat Treat Today is pleased to join in the announcements of growth and achievement throughout the industry by highlighting them here on our News Chatter page. Please send any information you feel may be of interest to manufacturers with in-house heat treat departments especially in the aerospace, automotive, medical, and energy sectors to the editor at editor@heattreattoday.com.

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