VATIS UPDATE Article

A team of researchers at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), the United States, cast an improved titanium alloy that can improve vehicle’s fuel economy and reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. During their study the researchers noted, an improved titanium alloy – stronger than any commercial titanium alloy currently on the market – gets its strength from the novel way atoms are arranged to form a special nanostructure.

The researchers examined this alignment and then manipulated it to make the strongest titanium alloy ever developed and with a lower cost process to boot. The material is an excellent candidate for producing lighter vehicle parts, and that this newfound understanding may lead to creation of other high strength alloys. Researchers used powerful electron microscopes and a unique atom probe imaging approach to examine the structure and once they understood the nanostructure, they created the strongest titanium alloy ever made.

This nanostructure of the alloy would help the auto industry build lighter vehicles that use less fuel and put out less carbon dioxide that contributes to climate warming, the researchers said. The team optimised the heat-treating process that makes alloy stronger to tailor the nanostructure and achieve very high strength. The finding has been published in journal Nature Communications.