American engineers used a 3D printer to create a high-performance metal alloy
Scientists used a 3D printer to quicklymelt powdered metals and then print out a sample of the mixture. The finished alloy contains 42% aluminum, 25% titanium, 13% niobium, 8% zirconium, 8% molybdenum and 4% tantalum. The study showed that at 800°C the composition is stronger than many other high-performance alloys.
Scheme of production (left) and comparison of the characteristics of the new alloy with modern analogues. Image: Andrew B. Kustas et al., Applied Materials Today
Engineers say new material is unusualthe fact that none of the metals makes up more than half of the finished material and at the same time includes a large number of different metals. To create an alloy, a special model is used, based on known data from metallurgy, which allows you to calculate and predict the properties of the finished material.
These are extremely complex mixtures.All of these metals interact on a microscopic - even atomic - level, and it is these interactions that really determine how strong a metal is, how ductile it is, what its melting point will be, and so on.
Michael Chandross, study co-author at Sandia National Laboratories
Most modern power plants - and thosethat run on fossil fuels, and nuclear power plants that use heat to turn turbines that generate electricity. The efficiency of the power plant is limited by how high the temperature of the metal parts of the turbine can withstand. The higher it is, the more energy can be converted into electricity while reducing the amount of waste heat released to the environment.
The researchers will continue to research the new alloy to explore the scalability of the manufacturing technology and the performance of the alloy in real-world conditions.
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