Choose seven projects in which you are most interested for your investigation this semester. Email your choices to rx7@psu.edu immediately. Projects will be chosen based in part upon your project choices on Wednesday, 28 November. There will be four students/group. Research, brainstorming, and problem solving will be group activities, but each student will submit his own versions of the written work. Each student will make his own individual oral presentations.
Projects
1. Zirconia beads
Magnesia stabilized zirconia beads are manufactured by dropping a slip through a needle into a CaCl2 bath. In the slip is an ammonia alginate binder, an organic gelling compound made from seaweed. The binder reacts with the CaCl2 within seconds to form a gel so that the bead maintains its shape.
The Ca in the bead changes the stabilization and, thus, its properties and shrinkage. Propose alternate organic materials, such as resins which use a setting agent or temperature that could be used to form the bead product. Determine the conditions under which they can be used. Choose the best alternative and detail the design of the process.
2. Carbon nanotube metal matrix composites
Carbon nanotubes, discovered by Iijima in 1991, have demonstrated amazing properties. They can be excellent electrical conductors or terrible conductors, and have very high thermal conductivity. They can also be superconducting. Several researchers have reported that metal matrix composites are feasible and offer unprecedented increases in mechanical, electrical and thermal performance. Research single wall and multi wall carbon nanotube metal matrix composites to better understand how carbon nanotubes interact with the surrounding metal matrix, if nanotubes can survive the casting process, and the resulting performance.
3. Material characterization method – surface tension
The appearance of an automotive coating is a critical performance characteristic. The appearance of a coating is a strong function of the smoothness of the coating. The smoothness of the coating depends strongly on the viscosity and surface tension of the liquid paint during the application and drying of the coating.
As a scientist working for XXX, your team is challenged to identify appropriate test methods to characterize the surface tension of coating systems during the drying process (ambient flash and heated bake). Test methods for liquid coatings and cured films at ambient temperature are readily available. The trick is to be able to quantify how the surface tension changes as the material is transforming from a liquid to solid (solvent evaporation, increasing temperature, chemical reaction – crosslinking, viscosity increasing).
4. Process and market for ceramic fibers
YYY has developed a new process, which it plans to patent, for making ceramic fibers from a slip. Present technology is to use ceramic precursors to make fibers. This is an expensive process and limits the use of the ceramic fibers.
YYY has made fibers from zirconia and alumina from less than 0.015 inches to as large as 0.125 inches in diameter, with lengths from thousandths to inches or more. Possible applications are brake linings, molten metal filters, insulating blanket, ceramic matrix composites, metal matrix composites, electronic filaments, etc.
Define the manufacturing process so that costs can be determined. Your team will investigate the market to determine where the best opportunities are and what the critical drivers for success would be.
5. Carbon nanotube manufacturing
Make a business and literature survey of the manufacturing methods employed to make carbon nanotubes. In particular, take a systems approach to predict the cost of manufacturing nanotubes in high volume. Carbon nanotubes are made of very inexpensive and abundant carbon, yet the process to make these structures yields a cost orders of magnitude higher than gold. The analysis should include feedstock materials, capital equipment, energy costs, hazardous materials costs, manufacturing yield, purification and possibly chemical functionalization of the tubes. Propose an optimum manufacturing path.
6. Coating adhesion
Adhesion is a very critical performance characteristic of any coating. This is especially true when it comes to automotive coatings where multi-layer coatings are the norm creating many opportunities for adhesion failure. As a scientist working for LLL, your team is challenged to identify appropriate test methods that can rapidly and quantitatively characterize the adhesion of new coating systems. The advantages and disadvantages of each suggested method should be noted to help guide future test method development.
7. Local edge formability testing
With the usage of advanced high strength steels in automotive applications steadily increasing, the quantification of local edge formability for product quality assessments is becoming a big issue within the automotive industry. Currently a conical punch is slowly driven up thru a punched hole to expand the hole outward. The expansion of the hole is monitored on a high-resolution television system. When a fine crack first appears the test is stopped. The diameter of the hole is measured and the percent expansion of the hole is used as a measure of the local formability. The test results are highly variable due to the visual approach to determining when the crack first initiated. An improved, more-reproducible approach to determining crack initiation in this test, either thru electronic sensors and instrumentation or an improved analysis of load/displacement data recorded during the expansion test would be of great value to the industry.
8. Thermal shock resistance of high purity fine grained alumina
Sintering of commercial PZT components occurs at 1250°C. At this temperature, the vapor pressure of PbO is so significant that the components must be encased in high purity technical grade alumina to insure full densification occurs. These fine-grained alumina crucibles are expensive and have poor thermal shock resistance to withstand the sintering cycles of the PZT components. Determine possible solutions to this problem.
9. Carbon nanotube polymer matrix composites
Carbon nanotubes, discovered by Iijima in 1991, have demonstrated amazing properties. In polymer composites, carbon nanotubes add strength and electrical conductivity. Research single wall and multi wall carbon nanotube polymer matrix composites to better understand how carbon nanotubes interact with the surrounding polymer matrix vis-à-vis functionalization of the nanotubes. The ideal applications are adding carbon nanotubes to injection moldable thermoplastics, such as polyphenylene sulfide, for electrically conductive aerospace applications where the weight savings can justify the significant cost of the nanotubes.
10. Ni-free stainless steels for biomedical implant applications
Your team is employed in the R&D laboratory of PSU Steel, a leading worldwide producer of specialty steels. PSU Steel’s product offerings include long bar products used by the medical industry in the fabrication of replacement joint implants and trauma fixation devices. Your current alloy offerings in the BioDur family include conventional stainless steels such as 316L and 734 as well as P/M CoCrMo alloys (i.e., CCM and CCM+). In addition to these alloys, the BioDur line also includes a Ni-free, Mn and N strengthened alloy known as 108. Sales of this product have been sluggish due to reported customer problems with machinability and the formation of an alpha-case during elevated temperature processing.
Due to increased concerns with Ni toxicity as a result of the release of Ni ions into the human body, the FDA is considering legislation, similar to that already in place in Europe (i.e., European Directives 94/27/EC and 2004/96/EC) that would place restrictions on the release rate of Ni ions from materials used for implants and decorative piercings. If this pending legislation is approved, the Marketing Department at PSU Steel is predicting that sales of Ni-bearing 316L and 734 will fall off, and, due to the high price of the CCM and CCM+ alloys, it is expected that these Co-based materials will not be able to be offered as across the board alternatives to some of the Ni-free alloys currently being offered by your competitors. Your task is to (1) survey the Ni-free alloys offered by your competitors and determine if they can be made on PSU Steel’s equipment, provided licensing arrangements can be worked out where there is existing patent coverage. In addition, a second task assigned to your team by senior management is to propose an alloy development program that will enable PSU Steel to offer a new, user friendly Ni-free stainless steel alloy to its biomedical customer base.
11. Faucet cartridge material selection/method of manufacture
A major manufacturer of commercial faucets (Beaver Faucets) has approached your company (Nittany Materials Solutions) to assist in the development of a new cartridge/stem tube for use in the manufacture of both residential and commercial faucets. They are looking for input relative to material selection and a method of manufacture to mass-produce the units shown below. The unit must operate in a number of environments that including chlorinated public water as well as private water supplies and wells that would be “hard” water. The overall dimensions of the stem tube are 5.8 cm long x 1.65 cm rd. OD x 1.1 cm ID. Your analysis should include reasoning behind both the material selection and the method of manufacture.
12. Corrosion of refractory brick in PZT manufacturing
Sintering of commercial PZT components occurs at 1250°C. At this temperature, the vapor pressure of PbO is so significant that the components must be encased in high purity technical grade alumina to insure full densification occurs. However, PbO-containing gases escape and attack the refractory brick. Over extended times, the refractory brick is severely corroded and must be replaced at significant expense. Your team is challenged to solve this problem.
13. Alternative material for 718 in oil patch applications
Your team works in the R&D laboratory of Lion Metals, a supplier of specialty steels and materials. Several years ago, your largest customer, Paterno Corporation, selected 718 alloy for an 1150°F application when the price of Ni was $2/lb (718 contains 53% Ni). The price of Ni is now $14/lb and has spiked as high as $24/lb. Other alloying elements have also increased in price dramatically. The application entails valves and tubing hangers for use in deep sour oil/gas wells, where high strength in large sizes, high toughness and high corrosion and stress corrosion resistance are needed. According to your own sales force and contacts at Paterno Corporation, your one competitor (Buckeye Metals) is known to be providing a more cost-effective solution and has been rapidly gaining market share. In order to regain your lost market share, your team is charged with researching alloy substitutions and/or alternative designs of the parts to lower cost while still maintaining high strength, high toughness and high environmental resistance for prolonged exposure up to 1150°F.
14. Metal Matrix Composite Coatings
Carbon based materials have received a lot of attention since the discovery of fullerenes and the emergence of nanoscale technologies. These alternative forms of carbon, such as graphite and nano-diamond particles, can be co-deposited or otherwise incorporated into metallic coatings. This can substantially improve the performance of the coatings; specifically targeted are improvements to wear/durability, as well as other surface science characteristics. Research innovative metal matrix composite structures which utilize carbon additives to improve the functional characteristics of the coating.
15. Relay contact material developments
Relays are a key component for switching electrical power. During ‘make’ and ‘break’ operations, arcing can lead to severe degradation and failure of the contact materials through arcing plasma-induced erosion/damage and/or welding. The functional metric used to evaluate the arc resistance of a relay design is the number of ‘make and break’ cycles before failure in an application.
Although some arc damage suppression features can be designed into a relay, this adds cost, functional limitations, and may not be totally effective in many applications. The other way to approach minimizing arc damage is to choose arc resistant materials. The most effective material of choice for arcing resistant contacts has been a silver cadmium-oxide alloy because it has superior resistance to arc plasma damage. This material is inherently expensive due to raw material and manufacturing costs. Due to recent developments in environmental policy, the cadmium element is considered, or will be considered, a banned material in many markets around the world. Other silver metal-oxides and silver alloys have been investigated and are used, but they are not as effective as the silver cadmium oxide. Research and compare and contrast the materials used for arcing contacts both in the past, in the present, and potential developments for use in the future.
16. Ni or Ni alloy as a barrier layer
Ni-based materials are widely used in the connector industry as a barrier layer to prevent Cu atoms from the contact substrate diffusing to the surface of a Au finished connector contact. There has been extensive evaluation of these Ni-based barrier materials in contact applications; materials such as pure Ni, Ni-P, Ni-Pd-P, or Ni-W, etc. Find out how the diffusion barrier performance of these various Ni based materials compare when used at thicknesses on the order of 1.5µm. Determine which Ni alloy(s) lead to the best contact corrosion resistance performance in a contact application.
17. Silver alloy plating
With the price of gold increasing dramatically in the recent past, there has been pressure to convert gold (gold-nickel alloy)-plated contact designs to silver-plated contact designs. Unfortunately, the two different contact finishes cannot be interchanged without performance consequences. Specifically, silver has significantly poorer durability performance when compared to hard gold-finished contacts.
Pure silver is used as a separable electrical contact interface surface finish in applications where its excellent electrical and thermal conductivity characteristics are useful (e.g., high power). Pure silver is a relatively soft material. This fact aids in forming contact interfaces with very low contact resistances that are very mechanically stable, but causes relatively poor durability performance for silver-finished contact interfaces. Also, the fact that silver readily forms sulfides upon exposure to environmental sulfur requires the use of a higher contact normal forces with wipe upon mating for silver plated contact designs - a fact which further reduces the durability performance of silver finished contact systems.
One possibility to increase the durability of a silver finish would be to alloy the plated deposit to increase its hardness. One has to consider that there would be contact performance (e.g., contact resistance, environmental stability, etc.) trade-offs when doing so.
In t his project, survey and compare available silver alloy platings, or design a new alloy, then establish their processing characteristics and how they affect performance in a separable contact system.
18. Almost micro – bridging the gap
Electronic devices can only become so small because of their need to interact with the non-shrinking human operator. As the size of electrical components gets smaller and approaches a microscopic scale, it is still important that these sub-assemblies connect to the macroscopic device. While micro-soldering wire bonding and laser welding techniques offer a permanent method of attachment, it is desirable from a manufacturing and serviceability standpoint to provide the electrical connection through a separable contact interface.
Traditional economical manufacturing techniques such as stamping and forming of metal contacts and molding of dielectric plastic resins are approaching their fine-scale limits. There is currently a need for separable interconnect devices with contact spacings on the order of 0.5 mm and below for which there is no realistic manufacturing technique. In this project, survey the state of the art in manufacturing techniques (stereolithography, 3D printing, solid freeform fabrication, MEMS, etc.) that are capable of producing small scale 3-dimensional architectures. Successful techniques (or combinations of techniques) would incorporate electrically conductive and non-conductive features. In addition, a survey of available materials (such as nano-powdered metals, plastic resins, elastomers, nano-composites, etc.) or newly proposed materials that are compatible with the advanced manufacturing techniques are needed.
19. Alternative materials for aircraft bushing applications
Your team works in the R&D laboratory of Lion Metals, a supplier of specialty steels and materials. Your company has a reputation of providing unique materials solutions. Recently, several major defense industry aircraft manufacturers (Boeing, Lockheed-Martin and Northrop-Grumman) have approached your company to seek an alternative material to the Cu-Be alloy that is currently used to produce bushings for aircraft such as the F/A-18 Hornet, F-16 Falcon, F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter. This request is the result of the known toxic and carcinogenic effects that Be has on the human body. Both the United States Department of Health and Human Services and the Environmental Protection Agency are strongly pushing the manufacturers of aircraft to find alternative material solutions to Cu-Be. While Lion Metals is not a manufacturer or supplier of Cu-Be alloys, your senior management views this as an opportunity for your company to supply alternate materials to this market. Your team is charged with the responsibility of studying this problem and recommending alternative material solutions.
20. Bonding of metals to PMCs
Survey and evaluate of existing techniques for material treatment capable to improve bonding between the metal (steel) and polymer matrix (glass-fiber/VE resin) composite (PMC) within a metal-to-composite joint.
21. Production of alloy 625 componenets
Define the cold forming and heat treatment methods required to produce components of Alloy 625.
22. Fuel cell heat exchanger materials
Investigate the forming technologies of materials used in fuel cell heat exchanger applications.
23. Casting alloy 625
Define casting methods and technologies to improve the yield and mechanical properties of Alloy 625.
24. Production of FeS2 for batteries
Propose a production method to manufacture FeS2 for use in thermal batteries.
25. Joining materials for fuel cell heat exchangers
Research welding and joining technologies for materials used in fuel cell heat exchanger applications.
26. Structural behavior of composite pressure vessels
Perform a computer simulation of the structural behavior of a two-component (metal liner-PMC jacket) storage tank – COPV (Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessel) under constant pressure and external heating (uniform and/or non-uniform).
27. Cleaner steel castings
Define processing methods and technologies leading to cleaner steel in large steel castings.
28. Aluminum alloy extrusion problem
In aluminum soft-alloy extrusion, solution heat treatment is most often performed at the extrusion press. Instead of heat treating off-line in a separate furnace, material can be heat-treated at the press by controlling variables such as billet temperatures, extrusion temperatures, and quench rates.
The effectiveness of press-heat treatment is usually measured via tensile testing either after natural or artificial aging. Most tensile test failures are of the soft metal (low tensile/yield) variety; however, a small percentage of low elongation failures do occur.
A particular extrusion press currently at your plant is experiencing a higher than normal occurrence of low-elongation failure. This particular extrusion press produces mostly hollow profiles using porthole die technology.
This extrusion press uses 8” diameter billets, currently all purchased from outside vendors. Quenching media include water (via a standing wave quench), and forced air. The alloy most often creating elongation failures is 6061.
Examine potential root causes and solve this issue for your company. Failure to solve this issue will result in a higher percentage of unplanned scrap. More importantly, mechanical property failures usually result in late customer orders.