NIST Grants Support Emerging Metal Technologies

American Machinist - The U.S. Commerce Dept.'s National Institute of Standards and Technology has allocated $71 million to 20 different projects it identifies as “innovative, high-risk research in new technologies that address critical national needs.” These projects, to be funded under NIST’s Technology Innovation Program (TIP), involve various emerging manufacturing concepts.

One project to receive financing is Third Wave Systems Inc.’s effort, titled “Integrated Multiscale Modeling for Development of Machinable Advanced Alloys and Corresponding Component Machining Processes.” This is a three-year effort to combine alloy developers’ micromechanical models with manufacturers’ physics-based machining models, in order to create highly machinable, advanced alloys.

Receiving a $10.1-million, five-year grant from NIST is an interdisciplinary team of researchers led by University of Wisconsin-Madison mechanical engineering professor Xiaochun Li. They intend to implement nanotechnology into standard metalcasting technologies, to produce aluminum and magnesium nanocomposites.

In another NIST grant, a metal recycler and its research partners will receive $11.5 million to develop and commercialize a suite of optoelectronic inspection technologies to accurately identify and sort aerospace metals (e.g., titanium, nickel/cobalt superalloys) at ultra-high speeds. A group led by wTe Corp. indicate this will mean these high-value metals can be recycled more cost-effectively, and they indicate the research will improve melting furnace capacity by measuring composition on site, in real time.