Materials & Raw Stock

Ceramic composite cutting tools are effective for machining heat-resistant superalloys and other challenging materials.

SLM Solutions played its part helping athletes strive for gold at the Rio Olympics by providing selective laser melting metal additive manufacturing technology to help bicyclists improve their equipment. SLM Solutions customer Erpro & Sprint is a leading company in the field of digital manufacturing in France, offering a range of 3D printing services at its facility just north of Paris.

Talk about composites in most machine shops usually refers to carbon-fiber material, though "composites" may refer to a variety of mixed materials going back to the mud-and-straw structures made in ancient times. The latest example: A new metal nanocomposite composed of magnesium infused with a dense and even dispersal of ceramic-silicon-carbide nanoparticles. It's a superstrong-yet-lightweight structural metal with record levels of specific strength and specific modulus, or stiffness-to-weight ratio, and was created by a team led by researchers from UCLA. The material also showed superior stability at high temperatures. It could be used to build lighter aerospace and automotive vehicles, helping to improve fuel efficiency, and for mobile electronics and biomedical devices, according to the researchers.

The National Center for Manufacturing Sciences is helping industry develop lightweight automotive parts from nontraditional materials.

Titanium is the leading material for artificial knee and hip joints, but a discovery by Rice University physicists shows that the gold standard for artificial joints can be improved with the addition of some actual gold.