ALLOY GETS STRONGER AS IT GETS HOTTER THE TECHNOLOGY Nickel aluminides (Ni3A1 and its derivatives containing chromium) are a new class of alloys with the unique combination of high temperature properties and corrosion resistance. ORNL materials scientists have invented nickel aluminides which have increased ductility because of small additions of boron andd increased strength because of small additions of zirconium and hafnium. Because of their high aluminum content, these alloys are 10 to 20 percent lower in density than most commercial nickel-based superalloys. Nickel aluminide is six times as strong as stainless steel at 600 degrees C (1,100 F). With a composition based largely on raw materials available in North America, it is an attractive alternative to high-temperature alloys that depend on foreign-supplied cobalt or chromium. TECHNOLOGY RECIPIENTS The first technology transfer license agreement signed by Martin Marietta Energy Systems after it became managing contractor of the Department of Energy's facilities in Oak Ridge, TN, and Paducah, KY, was with Cummins Engine Co., in September 1985, for the use of nickel aluminide in large diesel engines. One of the most recent license agreements, signed in December 1987, was with Armco, Inc., one of the five largest steelmakers in the United States. Armco's nonexclusive license authorizies it to produce and sell the alloy. The rights acquired by Armco exclude applications of nickel aluminide which have been licensed earlier on an exclusive field-of-use basis. COMMERCIAL USES AND BENEFITS Nickel aluminide's unusual properties of increased strength and ductility at high temperatures make this alloy interesting to several different types of manufactures. Armada Corp. has acquired exclusive field of use rights to the Material for commercial use in electric resistance heating elements. Other potential applications include high-performance jet engines, gas turbines, advanced heat engines, heat exchangers in nuclear and coal-fired steam plants, and dies an dmolds for forging, forming and casting at high temperatures. "WHISKER-REINFORCED" CERAMIC STRONGER, MORE RESISTANT THE TECHNOLOGY The addition of rod-like silicon-carbide "whiskers"--fibers less than 200 millionths of an inch in diameter--to the ceramic matrix results in a reinforced composite which exhibits dramatically improved strength and wear resistance. The embedded whiskers, produced from rice husks, serve to deflect the growth of potentially destructive cracks in a normally brittle material, making the composite muchless prone to catastrophic failure under mechanical stress. The increased toughness extends to temperatures as high as 1,000 degrees C (1,835 F). TECHNOLOGY RECIPIENTS Martin Marietta Energy Systems, Inc., has granted licenses to six companies to develop products from advanced ceramic composite materials developed at ORNL. COMMERCIAL USES AND BENEFITS The hardness of the material has led to applications in cutting tools, now on the market, which can operate at 10 times the speed while lating 7 times as long as those made from conventional materials. Six companies have licenses to develop products from this particular ceramic material. In addition to cutting and wear-resistant applications, other possible uses of the whisker-reinforced ceramic composite include high-temperature engine components, energy-saving industrial heat recuperators, and pump seals in petrochemical plants. DOE Oak Ridge National Laboratory COMPACT HELIUM-DILUTION REFRIGERATOR THE TECHNOLOGY Continuous-operation helium-dilution refrigerators have been used for many years to provide ultra-cold temperatures for research. But available units required specialized knowledge to operate and maintain, on-site construction and debugging, and considerable space, and cost more than $100,000. Consequently, their use was limited primarily to physics laboratories, and the only known manufacturer was in Great Britain. Argonne National Laboratory developed a compact helium-dilution refrigerator that is inherently reliable, quiet, and simple in design and operation. Helium is not pumped continuously back to a mixing chamber, as in the continuous-operation refrigerator, but is recycled using charcoal absorbers. This means several advantages that include quiet, vibration-free operation, cooling to less than 0.02 degree Kelvin, unattended recycling, simple operation, small size, and low cost. The refrigerator replaces much more complicated continuous helium-dilution refrigerators ten times its size, and is simple to operate. The Argonne prototype has been operated at low temperature (at the Cryogenic Engineering Conference) away from a laboratory, in St. Charles, Illinois, and was displayed at the International Low Temperatures Physics Conference in Kyoto, Japan, in August 1987. This remote operation would never be attempted with standard helium-dilution refrigerators. TECHNOLOGY RECIPIENTS The compact helium-dilution refrigerator is expected to open up new markets worldwide, for both civilian and military applications. The refrigerator's developers at Argonne have completed computerized controls that simplify operator interactions and automate recycling. A license to manufacture the helium-dilution refrigerator was signed on June 26, 1987, by RMC Corporation of Tucson, Arizona, and the ARCH Development Corporation. RMC has begun taking orders, and plans to exhibit a prototype of the helium-dilution refrigerator at the March 1988 meeting of the American Physical Society. USES AND BENEFITS Continuous cooling clearly has a place for large continuous heat loads. But the new refrigerator fills a much greater need--for simplicity, ease of use, and reliability. Because so many maintenance and operational problems are eliminated by the new design, it is more suitable for most users, who cannot afford to maintain a staff of experts to keep a complicated system operable. A factor in the successful commercialization of this technology was $50,000 of Department of Energy "seed money" that the inventors used to computerize the refrigerator system controls, simplifying operator interaction and allowing automated recycling. The refrigerator's simplicity and ease of use are significant features, making it more widely marketable. DOE - Argonne National Laboratory "WORK FOR OTHERS" CAN STRETCH CORPORATE R&D DOLLARS THE TECHNOLOGY "Work for Others" (entities other than the U.S. Department of Energy) makes up a substantial part of the research and development carried out at Argonne, and is one of the most significant ways in which Argonne transfers its technology to the private sector. Industry can contract with Argonne to solve a specific technical problem or to help develop a complex technology where Argonne has unique expertise or facilities (Argonne must not compete for work that can be performed by non-government organizations). The opportunities for working with Argonne include cooperative research and technical consultation. Intellectual property rights are an important consideration in Work for Others. Work at Argonne that is funded wholly by a private company carries with it the right to any intellectual property rights that may result from that work unless there is significant ongoing federallyt funded work on the same topic, when DOE retains the rights. The kinds of problems Argonne is helping industry to solve reach across many industries. For example, this year alone, Argonne is working on flow-induced vibration, dessicant characterization, magnetic depth profiling, battery/fuel cell development, electromagnetic casting, anemometer response, the mechanics of frying processes, transportation modeling, toxic materials and wastes, electrophoretic analysis, health risk estimates, thermal-hydraulic analysis, emergency preparedness, and fluidized-bed coal combustion. The scope of work ranges from standard chemical analyses to development of an innovative solid oxide fuel cell aimed at commercialization. Some of these projects have resulted from informal discussions about a particular problem a company was experiencing. Creative solutions often are what is needed, and such solutions may not appear on a list of available resources. Companies with a need that falls into any of Argonne's program ares are encouraged to call and talk things over to learn whether an Argonne Work for Others project is just what is needed. TECHNOLOGY RECIPIENTS Industry. USES AND BENEFITS Work for Others offers industry an opportunity to use research facilities and expertise that might not otherwise be available. In this way, companies can effectively increase their R&D budgets. An important aspect is the access to intellectual property rights resulting from such work. DOE Argonne National Laboratory |