Source | Beta Technologies

Beta Technologies (South Burlington, Vt., U.S.) has made another milestone in its efforts to develop all-electric aircraft for short-haul and regional operations with zero operational emissions and reduced operational costs. Piloted by Nate Moyer, Beta’s test pilot and former experimental test pilot for the U.S. Air Force, the company’s Alia electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) achieved full transition, going from hover to wing-borne flight and then back to hover before landing.

The Beta team has designed two aircraft variants under its Alia platform: an eVTOL aircraft and a fixed-wing, electric conventional takeoff and landing (eCTOL) aircraft. According to Vertical Magazine, the eCTOL’s “entire structure, including its avionics, interior, and pusher motor, closely mirrors that of the eVTOL version, except it doesn’t have the overhead lifting propellers.” 

The company has long been flying its eCTOL aircraft with a pilot on board, accomplishing several milestones with the prototype. This includes a multi-mission flight from Plattsburgh, New York, to Louisville, Kentucky, in December 2022; a demonstration flight in the greater New York airspace in February 2023; and the aircraft’s first international flight across the border to Montreal, Quebec, in September 2023, among other flight milestones. The company says it has clocked more than 40,000 nautical miles across both aircraft types in the four years that it has flown both Alia prototypes. Beta also completed its first Alia eCTOL deployment with the DOD in January 2024.

In addition, progress continues on other fronts — Beta says it recently received UL certification on its charge cube, set a distance record for manned battery-powered flight, opened its production facilities and have hit other certifications and technical milestones with both aircraft and infrastructure.

Beta plans to type certify its eCTOL with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in 2025, followed by its eVTOL in 2026. The aircraft will be used for military missions, cargo logistics and medical delivery.

Groundbreaking ceremony for the Carbios recycling facility. Source: Carbios.

The technology opens up new recycling streams for multilayered, colored and opaque trays made from packaging waste and polyester textile waste, which until now have been little or not recycled at all, giving them value and providing an alternative to fossil-based monomers. 

“Our revolutionary enzymatic depolymerization technology marks the beginning of a new era in plastic recycling, moving away from dependence on oil to a circular economy fueled by PET waste itself. Carbios continues its mission by collaborating with strategic partners around the world and embarking on a promising commercial and international deployment,” says Emmanuel Ladent, Carbios CEO.

Equipment on display includes the new Swift series for press side drying. The Swift sCompact dryer is already available. The prototype S dryer, a new multibin dryer, is being premiered at NPE2024. “We’re really excited about this line,” says David Kibler, sales engineer at Motan. “We are changing the way we go to market with these units and the goal is to have them in stock or available with minimal lead times.”

The Swift sCompact mobile press side dryer. Source: Motan

Motan is also exhibiting its permanent central vacuum system, which can reduce the number of pumps and filters needed for supplying processing equipment, saving space and reducing energy demand. According to Scott Harris, VP of sales at Motan, an installation required only 8 pumps, which would have required over 30 with a regular line vacuum system. “We saved a ton of space,” Harris says. “In the right application, it’s a really good solution for our customers.” The strategy involves charging a single, large vacuum line, as well as reducing the number of moving parts and therefore maintenance.

Motan’s Gravicolor 110 will supplant the GC 100 blender, which has been redesigned with interchangeable material compartments. The dosing units are removable for quick color changes and the mixing chamber has been made easier to clean out. The medical version of GC 110 is also on display, optimized for cleanroom operation.

“We are making more of a push into products specifically made for the medical industry,” Kibler says. For the Gravicolor, this means surfaces that are easier to clean and high-efficiency filters that ensure dust will not escape into the surrounding area.

In alignment with the Industry 4.0 trend toward connected, monitored production facilities, Motan has display monitors exhibiting its available software applications. One of these is LinkNet, a program that Motan customizes for the needs of individual customers. “We follow all the trends inside the system, each conveying cycle can be tracked, dryer recipes, dryer temperatures can all be tracked and stored,” Harris says. The application is capable of collecting data from any number of Motan units.

“Industry 4.0 is really becoming more defined than it was when that term first came about, in the understanding of what devices need to be included and what areas of a plant need to communicate. It’s light years ahead of where it was six years ago,” Kibler says.

Microgel RSY Syncro Series. Source (All Images) | Frigel North America

Frigel North America presents its latest process cooling solutions designed especially for the industrial processing of plastics in automotive, packaging, medical, chemical, pharmaceutical, household and more. The company’s technologies focus on maximizing productivity, energy and water savings.

New and optimized cooling and temperature control systems on display include:

Microgel RSY Syncro

This year, Frigel is celebrating the  30-year anniversary of its Microgel product line with new Microgel innovations. The RSY Syncro, a machine-side unit that improves temperature control method for injection molding, reportedly provides a 50% increase in productivity, and up to 40% reduction in cycle times (thanks to reduced cooling time), while maintaining the surface quality, dimensional characteristics and mechanical performance of the finished products. Digital synchronization with the molding process ensures that it doesn’t require modifications to any of the mold design or molding parameters, making the system communicate with the press while remaining completely autonomous and easily implemented by operators.

The Microgel Syncro product line features more than 10 models, with cooling capacities from 4.5 to 16 tons and heating capacities from 12 to 24 kW. Compared to traditional methods, the Syncro control unit supplies cold water to the mold only during the cooling phase, reducing its duration. 

Ecodry 4DK Series

Frigel expands its adiabatic product family line, introducing the Ecodry 4DK series, designed for flexible configuration of modular adiabatic solutions for small to large plastic factories. 4DK takes advantage of some of the technological advances already introduced in the LDK range (efficient PADs, new generation of EC fans, modular design, wide and deep configurations).

4DK is characterized by a high efficiency humidification system (Coolpad) and by a new generation of EC fans which, combined with a more effective dry cooler, obtain a new level of compactness in a powerful new adiabatic cooler product line.

The Ecodry 4DK is designed to integrate easily into existing Ecodry 3DK systems, of which Frigel has an existing installation base of thousands of units, in addition to responding to the new needs of industries — energy efficiency, sustainability and raw resource saving such as water.

Netgel 3PR 4.0

The 3PR 4.0 product platform is a Frigel solution that provides complete control of Frigel central cooling systems. 3PR 4.0 control meets the needs of processors to supervise and manage the entire cooling system from a single control point. All the connected central system components are controlled via a control panel that has been designed specifically for Frigel systems. 3PR 4.0 is available in two versions, Lite and Premium, depending on the size of the system and the equipment to control.

Full native connectivity to MiND and its new HMI offer a comprehensive user experience and compatibility with Industry 4.0 architectures, providing easy visualization and process diagrams of the connected equipment, dashboards for main parameters, performance graphs, and alarm management and history.

Negel MiND

Frigel releases the MiND 2.0 platform to North American customers, the evolution of its Industry 4.0 concept. MiND 2.0 is said to meet the ever-increasing needs of modern companies to reach Industry 4.0 and IIOT standards. It is now able to provide customers a supervision and maintenance tool for all Frigel equipment and accessories, both central and machine-side, enabling monitoring and management of all working parameters and events and registering performance and energy consumption of every single cooling system component through a multifunctional user interface, both locally and remotely, through a user-friendly webpage.

HB-Therm Thermo-6 Series

HB-Therm Thermo-6 Series.

Frigel North America, the exclusive sales, parts and service distributor in North America for HB-Therm TCUs, debuts the Thermo-6 product line. Equipped with standard VFD, seal-free, reversible, stainless steel pumps, all new, noncontact heater design with life-time warranties, 8-16-kW heating capacities and new cabinet design, these closed-circuit TCUs are built with Swiss technology and optimized mechanical and control features. They include standard features, such as ultrasonic flow meters, large 7" touchscreen HMIs, e-cockpit via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, ethernet connections and several interface protocols.

Microgel RS Series

Frigel also releases the full range of its Microgel RS Series for injection molding to North America. These single- and dual-zone machine-side temperature control units are designed for molding throughputs ranging from 20-530 lbs/hr. The new Microgel RS range includes important advancements in temperature accuracy over the entire control range (23-194°F), functionalities, pumping performance and overall energy efficiency.

The RS range features additional configurations specifically designed for packaging and Extrusion. Options such as flowmeters, VFDs, return/remote temperature sensors enable full process control capability. Its new user interface offers an improved experience and full connectivity and interoperability via the Frigel MiND platform.

Borstar technology delivers unique advantages to greenhouse film applications due to its unique molecular architecture. Borstar technology relies on a broad bimodal molecular weight distribution of polyethylene copolymers to enhance performance and processability of material, making a film that is readily processed on film equipment and mechanically strong and tough to provide enhanced crop protection. These variables grant engineers and product development technicians significant design freedom to create products over a wide density and molecular weight range, allowing for precise performance of the material for a particular application. Borstar resin provides better durability with increased toughness, environmental stress crack resistance (ESCR) and weatherability.  Because of the improved processability and mechanical properties of Borstar resins, demanding agricultural applications can gain from a longer service life of the film, reducing the total carbon footprint of the entire agricultural operation. 

Additionally, the unique optical properties of Borstar, which are also derived from its molecular design, bring a natural ability to diffuse light while maintaining high transmission rates. The matte appearance of the film naturally diffuses sunlight across the interior of the greenhouse and does not tend to reflect light the way a clear film would.

This performance is achieved without the use of additional fillers or other additives to diffuse or absorb the light. This design allows the maximum use of sunlight for the plants in the greenhouse without overexposing them and keeping the climate within control limits to improve crop yield and quality.  Good light distribution in the greenhouse allows the crops better conditions for photosynthesis and microclimate development.  Additionally, the PE film and greenhouse structure protect from too much direct sunlight, high winds, extreme temperatures and variable rainfall. These types of greenhouse films are suitable for crops such as vegetables (including non-native varieties- tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers), lettuce, melons, flowers and other crops that thrive under consistent conditions. 

This design allows the maximum use of sunlight for the plants in the greenhouse without overexposing them and keeping the climate within control limits to improve crop yield and quality.

Borstar FB2230 was evaluated for the agricultural film greenhouse application owing to its physical and optical properties. Because of the unique molecular structure, a naturally matte surface finish occurs when making blown film (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Unique molecular structure creates naturally matte surface finish.

This matte surface finish is what allows even distribution of the light which was shown to improve crop yields in a study of tomato growth in the Netherlands¹. Compared to a clear control film, a moderately hazy film (45% haze) showed an 8% increase in crop yield. When the haze value was increased from 45% to 71%, a further 3% increase in crop yield was seen (Figure 2). 

Figure 2: Increase in crop yield based on haziness of film.

While the production advantage of crops is clear from the use of Borstar film, it is also essential that the film be able to hold up mechanically to use in the field. While durability can be improved by using thicker films, 3-4 mil film is typical for single-season growing while 6-10 mil film is more common for multiseason use, the addition of UV stabilizers can also bring increased longevity and durability to the film as well. By including a UV stabilizer in the Borstar FB2230 film, the retained elongation over 30 months was improved from just 10% in the MD reference, to over 70% in the modified film examples (Figure 3)². 

Figure 3

In other studies, growth acceleration and production increases were also measured. By using a film that diffuses light, the time to harvest for different plants was reduced by about 25% while increasing the total weight of finished product by about 6% (Figure 4). These kinds of improvements in agricultural operation allow for increasing the value per square foot of farmland and bringing better, more reliable production methods to the market.

 

It is clear that these kinds of improvements in agricultural operation allow for increasing the value per square foot of farmland and bringing better, more reliable production methods to the market.

Figure 4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Conclusion:

Several case studies have shown how the advanced optical and mechanical properties of Borstar films can significantly benefit agricultural and greenhouse applications. Increases in yields, decreases in production time and ease of use and durability are all inherent advantages of this technology.

Products like Borstar FB2230 are well positioned to serve this growing market segment and to continue to bring performance to a demanding application that is critical to our modern supply chain infrastructure. PE resins with unique and tailorable molecular designs for demanding applications continue to push the boundaries of what is possible and help deliver efficient and effective solutions to the market.

 

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[1] Diffuus licht bij tomaat, Wageningen University and Research Glastuinbouw, 2012 (Rapporten GTB 1158)

[2] "Effect of a Diffuse Glass Greenhouse Cover on Rose Production and Quality" N. García Victoria, F.L.K. Kempkes, P. Van Weel, C. Stanghellini, T.A. Dueck and M. Bruins, Wageningen UR Proceedings of the International Symposium on Advanced Technology

Susan Zhang is Senior Technical Service and Development Advisor. Peter Malmros is the Business Development Manager. Kyle Anderson, Ph.D, is Application Development Supervisor. 

Suresh Patel, Karen McGlothlin, Robin Peffer. Source: Ecoat Association

Karen McGlothlin has done more to promote the benefits and technology of electrodeposition coatings in North American than anyone in the 21^st century. As the long-time executive director of The Electrocoat Association, McGlothlin has worked to extend the knowledge of ecoat to all regions of North America by maintaining through her leadership the participation of an evolving roster of directors, committee members, writers and presenters; by thoroughly understanding the geographic concentrations of the ecoat market in the U.S., and the logistics behind delivering the greatest knowledge-sharing benefits in the selection of association events and settings; and by successfully stewarding the financial resources and stability of The Electrocoat Association. 

Suresh Patel has been influencing and educating users of substrate cleaning and pretreat products for ecoat lines for decades. Throughout his distinguished career with BASF/Chemetall, he has been perceived as a leader and subject matter expert by his peers and customers. Over that time, he has volunteered countless hours to promote and educate on the aesthetic, economic and environmental benefits of the technology of ecoat over clean and properly pretreated metal. With his hard work, teaching skills and deep knowledge of chemistry and application techniques, Patel has greatly advanced the awareness, and the level of quality of ecoat throughout the manufacturing and finishing industry.

Robin Peffer has been working in and around electrocoat technology for her entire career of almost 30 years with PPG. She began working on the research formulation team where her efforts directly contributed to the ongoing success of one-coat, white, cationic acrylic products for the appliance industry, representing some of the highest throughput tanks anywhere in the global, industrial ecoat marketplace. She also invested considerable research effort into flexible, two-coat electrocoat technology as well as products tailored for bulk application onto unracked parts.

Under her guidance, PPG has grown the business to support 12 pilot- or commercial-scale Aerocron systems worldwide, with new interest in this market growing weekly. The most significant of these systems was installed at Air Tractor in 2017.

Peffer is an inventor or co-inventor on 40 published U.S. patents (and counting), 32 of which involve electrocoat technology. Peffer’s technical and market leadership has led ecoat from the Automotive and Industrial markets into the adjacent Aerospace market. Formerly, electrocoat had only tangentially penetrated aerospace using individually approved parts (ecoat inclusive in the part approval) electrocoated by industrial applicators, with unrecognized products, in limited circumstances. Now, the technology continues to grow into its own within aerospace OEM and even MRO organizations, and great things are expected for the near future.

Dr. George E.F. Brewer is generally credited with the original idea of electrodeposition of paint through his work and research during the late 1950s at Ford Motor Co. By loaning his name to this prestigious award given during the ECOAT Conference, recipients stand out among the best in the field of electrocoating.

Source | Getty Images

Hyundai Motor Group (Seoul, Korea) has signed an agreement for strategic cooperation with Toray Industries Inc. (Tokyo, Japan) to secure capabilities to develop lightweight and high-strength materials for environmentally friendly and high-performance vehicles.

The joint R&D includes carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) parts that are expected to improve the performance of electric vehicle (EV) batteries and motors. The cooperation will lean on Toray’s specialization in fibers and textiles, performance chemicals, carbon fiber composites, environmental engineering and life science. 

“Hyundai Motor Group aims to leverage this strategic partnership to strengthen its position as a global leader in mobility solutions,” says Hyundai President Chang Song. “By combining our automotive expertise with Toray Group’s material technology prowess, we aim to gain a competitive edge in the global market.”

The partnership with Toray Group plays a key role in Hyundai Motor Group’s future mobility strategy, as it is adopting a comprehensive approach by pursuing fundamental advancements in material technology, in addition to electrification and software-defined vehicles (SDVs).

Depicted above is MGS’ newly upgraded engineering facility in Lynge, Denmark. Source: MGS

MGS announces the completion of significant upgrades to its Lynge, Denmark engineering facility to complete its transformation into a state-of-the-art tooling facility. The two phases of upgrades to the Lynge facility (previously Winther Mould Technology A/S) began shortly following MGS’ acquisition of the company in 2023.

Transforming the Lynge facility from a traditional moldmaker into a best-in-class European toolmaker involved strategic investments in processes, equipment and technology advancements in accordance with MGS’ global tooling standards. The campus features 4,000 square meters of production space dedicated to early supplier involvement (ESI), design for manufacturability (DFM), Fast-Track pilot tooling, production tool development and enhanced metrology systems.

At the upgraded facility, teams now have access to expanded machining capabilities with five-axis laser texturing and high-speed milling as well as automated robotic handling. Additionally, the Lynge team will be able to accelerate production while maximizing capacity and ensuring exceptional quality, which is essential for the company’s Pharma, Diagnostics and MedTech customers.

“Through strategic acquisitions of companies like Winther Mould Technology, we are building capacity to bring advanced technologies to global innovators who require precision tooling for critical innovations that improve lives.

The upgrades to this facility allow us to enhance the team’s existing capabilities and expertise while standardizing processes to facilitate collaboration across our global engineering teams,” says MGS President and CEO Paul Manley.

The second phase of facility upgrades will bring updates to the 3,000-square-meter Innovation and Test Center that houses first off tool (FOT), design of experiment (DOE), validation, transfer and pilot production. Customers will be able to access plug-and-play space for validation with injection molding machines ranging from 50-300 metric tons. Work is expected to start on phase two in May and be completed in October.

“Building on Winther Mould’s rich history as a premier healthcare tooling manufacturer while transforming into a state-of-the-art facility has been an exciting endeavor,” says Ken Hansen, production director at MGS Lynge. We are proud to be part of MGS’ continued efforts to be a world-class healthcare manufacturer from upfront product design and development through final production.”

Editor’s Note: The NASF-AESF Foundation Research Board selected a project on electrodeposition toward developing low-cost and scalable manufacturing processes for hydrogen fuel cells and electrolysis cells for clean transportation and distributed power applications. This report covers the ninth quarter of work, from January through March 2024. For a printable version of the report, click HERE.

1. Introduction

Hydrogen has been identified by the U.S. government as a key energy option to enable full decarbonization of the energy system.¹ The U.S. government has recently initiated a significant investment in the Hydrogen Economy, which is detailed in the recent “Road Map to a US Hydrogen Economy: Reducing Emissions and Driving Growth Across the Nation” report. In June 2023, the first ever “US National Clean Hydrogen Strategy and Roadmap” was published.² On Nov. 15, 2021, President Biden signed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). The BIL authorizes appropriations of $9.5 billion for clean hydrogen programs for the five-year period 2022-2026, including $1 billion for the Clean Hydrogen Electrolysis Program. In alignment with the BIL and the mission of Hydrogen Energy “Earthshot” to reach the goal of $1 per 1 kg in 1 decade (“1 1 1”), the U.S. is projected to invest in priority areas that will advance domestic manufacturing and recycling of clean hydrogen technologies.

Solid oxide electrolyzer cells (SOECs) are energy storage units that produce storable hydrogen from electricity (more recently increasingly from renewable sources) and water (electrolysis of water).³ The majority (~95%) of the world’s hydrogen is produced by the steam methane reforming (SMR) process that releases the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.⁴ Electrolytic hydrogen (with no pollution) is more expensive compared to hydrogen produced using the SMR process. Investments in manufacturing and process development and increasing production scale and industrialization will reduce the cost of electrolytic hydrogen. Based on the recent DOE report, with the projected growth of the hydrogen market, the US electrolyzer capacity will have to increase by 20% compound annual growth from 2021 to 2050, with an annual manufacturing requirement of over 100 GW/yr. Given the complex structure and stringent physical and functional requirements of SOECs, additive manufacturing (AM) has been proposed as one potential technological path to enable low-cost production of durable devices to achieve economies of scale, in conjunction with the ongoing effort on traditional manufacturing fronts.⁵ Recently (2022), the PI published an article on challenges and opportunities in AM of SOCs,⁵ in which a comprehensive review of the state-of-the-art in this field is presented.

In this work, we aim to contribute to such effect of national interest to enable the hydrogen economy through development of manufacturing processes for production of low cost, durable and high efficiency solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) and SOECs.

2. Summary of Accomplishments (January-March 2024 Quarter)

In this period, we followed our work on 3D printing anode support for solid oxide fuel cells, SOFC (or cathode for solid oxide electrolyzers, SOEC). We focused on the mechanical properties of 3D printed yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) using a four-point bending test. We then conducted a statistical analysis to characterize the flexural strength of porous 3D printed YSZ.

3. Activity

While porosity is essential for facilitating gas transport within the electrodes, it can also substantially impact the mechanical properties of ceramics.¹ This is particularly important as the electrodes often serve as the support structure, needing to endure various internal and external mechanical loads. To address the concerns of both optimal porosity and mechanical properties of the anode structure (in anode-supported SOFCs), a sintering temperature of 1150°C with a porosity of ~33% (RD ~67%) was chosen for further investigation (Figure 1).

Fig. 1. Relative density (RD) of 3D printed porous YSZ at different sintering temperatures. Source (all images: NASF)

X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis was employed to identify the crystalline phases present in the porous 3D printed YSZ sintered at 1150°C (Figure 2). The diffractogram revealed the predominant presence of the tetragonal phase, evidenced by characteristic peaks at 2θ values of ~31°, 35-36°, 50-51°, 59-64° and ~75°. Notably, no cubic phase was detected, consistent with the tetragonal phase reported for dense YSZ in similar studies.^2-5

Fig. 2. XRD pattern of porous 3D printed 3YSZ sintered at 1150°C.

To investigate the mechanical properties of the porous 3D printed YSZ component, flexural tests at room temperature were performed (Figure 3), using a four-point bending test. The porous beams displayed a range of flexural strength between ~31 and ~40 MPa, with an average flexural strength of 35.6 ± 2.7 MPa.

Cai, et al.⁶ studied flexural strength of porous 3YSZ manufactured by freeze-casting at two different sintering temperatures, 1200°C and 1300°C, corresponding 46% and 40% porosity. Their findings revealed that increasing the sintering temperature from 1200°C to 1300°C led to a corresponding increase in flexural strength (from 24 MPa to 50 MPa). Riyad, et al.⁷ reported

Fig. 3 - (A) 3D printed 3YSZ beam sintered at 1150°C, (B) four-point bending test.

a three-point bending flexural strength of  ~18 MPa for 8YSZ, fabricated by freeze-casting with a porosity of ~45%. Hu, et al.⁸ obtained a compressive strength ranging from ~3 to ~29 MPa for 8YSZ manufactured by a gel-casting process and various sintering temperatures. It should also be noted that the measured strength may vary, based on the measurement method. For instance, in the three-point bending test, a beam is subjected to both shear and bending loads over its entire length, with the maximum bending moment in the mid-span of the beam. In a four-point bending test however, the span of the beam between the two interior loads is shear-free, and under a constant pure bending moment.⁹

Given the probabilistic nature of ceramic failure, such differences in loading and its interaction with processing flaws may result in different strength values. In the case of brittle ceramics, mechanical strength is influenced by the presence of flaws. However, it is important to note that these flaws may not be consistently distributed throughout the samples, and in some cases, they may be clustered unevenly. This uneven distribution of flaws could potentially trigger crack growth during mechanical testing. Consequently, when reporting mechanical strength data for 3D printed ceramic materials, it is crucial to consider this variability, and report statistical analysis.¹⁰

For ceramic materials, the Weibull analysis is the preferred method, because of the stochastic nature of failure in these materials, produced by process defects and porosity. The probability of failure is mathematically expressed as:

            Pf=1-exp(-σσo)m,

where m is the Weibull modulus, and σ_o is the characteristic strength.^7,9 The Weibull modulus is a shape parameter that converts a specimen's likelihood of failure over a range of strength levels. For the analysis, the flexural strength values of the specimens were ranked in ascending order and assigned a corresponding probability of failure using Pf = (i - 0.5)/N, where Pf is the rank of the ith specimen and N is the total number of tested specimens. Probabilities of flexural strengths are reported in terms of lnln11-Pf and lnσ. The Weibull modulus, m, was obtained by fitting a straight line as the slope of the Weibull plot of  lnln11-Pf against lnσ. A Weibull plot for flexural strength is shown in Figure 4.  A modulus of m = 5.3 and a characteristic strength of 36.4 MPa was obtained for porous 3D printed YSZ beams.

For engineered ceramics, the Weibull modulus is reported to be in a range of 5 to 10.¹¹ Fan, et al.¹² reported that for porous brittle ceramics, the value of the Weibull modulus was in the range of 4 to 11. For 3D printed polymer-derived ceramics, freeze-cast 8YSZ with a porosity of ~45%, and 3D printed alumina, Weibull moduli of 3.7, 5.7 and

Fig. 4. (A) Distribution of the flexural strength of porous YSZ beams; (B) The Weibull analysis and characteristic strength of porous 3D printed YSZ beams.

3.9, respectively, were recently reported.^7,9,10 Each printing technology (e.g., stereolithography, freeze-casting and DLP) introduces unique manufacturing flaws and affects the overall material microstructure. Printing parameters such as layer thickness, printing speed and post-processing steps also influence the Weibull modulus.¹³

Our research currently focuses on investigating the thermal shock behavior of 3D printed porous YSZ with the porosity of approximately 33%.

4. References

1.   C.L. Cramer, et al., “Additive manufacturing of ceramic materials for energy applications: Road map and opportunities,” J. Eur. Ceram. Soc., 42 (7), 3049-3088 (2022); https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeurceramsoc.2022.01.058.

2.   R. He, et al., “Fabrication of complex-shaped zirconia ceramic parts via a DLP-stereolithography-based 3D printing method,” Ceram. Int., 44 (3), 3412-3416 (2018); https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ceramint.2017.11.135.

3.   D. Komissarenko, S. Roland, B.S.M. Seeber, T. Graule and G. Blugan, “DLP 3D printing of high strength semi-translucent zirconia ceramics with relatively low-loaded UV-curable formulations,” Ceram. Int., 49 (12), 21008-21016 (2023); https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ceramint.2023.03.236.

4.   S.H. Ji, D.S. Kim, M.S. Park and J.S. Yun, “Sintering process optimization for 3YSZ ceramic 3D-printed objects manufactured by stereolithography,” Nanomaterials, 11 (1), 192 (2021); https://doi.org/10.3390/nano11010192.

5.   K.-J. Jang, J.-H. Kang, J. G. Fisher and S.-W. Park, “Effect of the volume fraction of zirconia suspensions on the microstructure and physical properties of products produced by additive manufacturing,” Dent. Mater., 35 (5), e97–e106 (2019); https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dental.2019.02.001.

6.   H. Cai, et al., “Flexural strength and elastic modulus of gradient structured YSZ membranes with multi-scale pores,” Ceram. Int., 48 (19), Part A, 27931–27941 (2022); https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ceramint.2022.06.097.

7.   M.F. Riyad, M. Mahmoudi and M. Minary-Jolandan, “Manufacturing and Thermal Shock Characterization of Porous Yttria Stabilized Zirconia for Hydrogen Energy Systems,” Ceramics, 5 (3), 472–483 (2022); https://doi.org/10.3390/ceramics5030036.

8.   L. Hu, C.-A. Wang, and Y. Huang, “Porous yttria-stabilized zirconia ceramics with ultra-low thermal conductivity,” J. Mater. Sci., 45 (12), 3242–3246 (2010); https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-010-4331-9.

9.   A. Myles, A. Griffith, M.F. Riyad, Y. Jiao, M. Mahmoudi and M. Minary-Jolandan, “3D-Printed Ceramics with Aligned Micro-Platelets,” ACS Appl. Eng. Mater., 1 (7), 1892–1902 (2023); https://doi.org/10.1021/acsaenm.3c00223 .

10.  M. Mahmoudi, et al., “Three-dimensional printing of ceramics through ‘carving’ a gel and ‘filling in’ the precursor polymer,” ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 12 (28), 31984–31991 (2020); https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.0c08260.

11.  M.A. Meyers and K.K. Chawla, Mechanical behavior of materials, Cambridge University Press, 2008.

12.  X. Fan, E.D. Case, F. Ren, Y. Shu and M.J. Baumann, “Part I: Porosity dependence of the Weibull modulus for hydroxyapatite and other brittle materials,” J. Mech. Behav. Biomed. Mater., 8, 21–36 (2012);

13.  Ö. Keleş, R.E. García and K.J. Bowman, “Stochastic failure of isotropic, brittle materials with uniform porosity,” Acta Mater., 61 (8), 2853–2862 (2013); https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2013.01.024.

5. Past project reports

1.  Quarter 1 (January-March 2022): Summary: NASF Report in Products Finishing; NASF Surface Technology White Papers, 86 (10), 17 (July 2022); Full paper: http://short.pfonline.com/NASF22Jul1.

2.  Quarter 2 (April-June 2022): Summary: NASF Report in Products Finishing; NASF Surface Technology White Papers, 87 (1), 17 (October 2022); Full paper: http://short.pfonline.com/NASF22Oct2.

3.  Quarter 3 (July-September 2022) Part I: Summary: NASF Report in Products Finishing; NASF Surface Technology White Papers, 87 (3), 17 (December 2022); Full paper: http://short.pfonline.com/NASF22Dec2.

4.  Quarter 3 (July-September 2022) Part II: Summary: NASF Report in Products Finishing; NASF Surface Technology White Papers, 87 (4), 17 (January 2023); Full paper: http://short.pfonline.com/NASF23Jan1.

5.  Quarters 4-5 (October 2022-March 2023) Summary: NASF Report in Products Finishing; NASF Surface Technology White Papers, 88 (1), 17 (October 2023); Full paper: http://short.pfonline.com/NASF23Oct1.

6.  Quarter 6 (April-June 2023) Summary: NASF Report in Products Finishing; NASF Surface Technology White Papers, 88 (1), 17 (October 2023); Full paper: http://short.pfonine.com/NASF23Oct2.

7.  Quarter 7 (July-September 2023) Summary: NASF Report in Products Finishing; NASF Surface Technology White Papers, 88 (4), 17 (January 2024); Full paper: http://short.pfonline.com/NASF24Jan1.

8.  Quarter 8 (October-December 2023) Summary: NASF Report in Products Finishing; NASF Surface Technology White Papers, 88 (6), 17 (March 2024); Full paper: http://short.pfonline.com/NASF24Mar2.

6. About the principal investigator

Majid Minary Jolandan is associate professor of mechanical engineering at The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering. His education includes B.S. Sharif University of Technology, Iran (1999-2003), M.S. University of Virginia (2003-2005), Ph.D. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2006-2010) as well as Postdoctoral fellow, Northwestern University (2010-2012). From 2012-2021, he held various academic positions at UTD and joined the Faculty at Arizona State University in August 2021. In September 2022, he returned to UTD as associate professor of mechanical engineering. His research interests include additive manufacturing, advanced manufacturing and materials processing.

Dr. Minary is an associate editor for the Journal of the American Ceramic Society, an editorial board member of Ceramics journal and the current chair of the materials processing technical committee of ASME.

Early in his career, he received the Young Investigator Research Program grant from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research to design high-performance materials inspired by bone that can reinforce itself under high stress. This critical research can be used for aircraft and other defense applications, but also elucidates the understanding of bone diseases like osteoporosis. In 2016, he earned the Junior Faculty Research Award as an assistant professor at the University of Texas-Dallas – Erik Jonsson School of Engineering.

Contact information:

Dr. Majid Minary Jolandan, Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Dallas, 800 West Campbell Rd., Richardson, TX 75080-3021

Phone: 972-883-4661

Email: majid.minary@utdallas.edu

Thermoplastic window plates produced with FiberForm. Source (All Images) | NIAR

KraussMaffei (Parsdorf, Germany) highlights how its cooperation with the National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) at Wichita State University has enhanced the efficiency of the conversion of passenger aircraft into cargo planes — from the use of metal to fiber-reinforced composites. NIAR is known for investigating how modern composite technologies can be safely and efficiently used in aviation. 

Among many other tasks, passenger to cargo conversions require replacing acrylic window plugs with metallic alternatives for ease of maintenance. This costly and time-consuming metallic solution can be further optimized by fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composites that offer the same stability at lower costs, less weight and in a fraction of the time it would take to machine the metallic part. NIAR and KraussMaffei have been combining know-how for the development of a lightweight solution using the latter’s FiberForm technology. With FiberForm, a fully consolidated, fiber-reinforced thermoplastic sheet (organosheet) is inserted into the mold, formed and overmolded with a thermoplastic polymer.

In the case of the window plugs, this is performed on a GXW 450-2000/1400 with a swivel platen. The window plug was designed with the oval-shaped geometry of the original with appropriate design modifications, adding ribs to stiffen it to withstand pressure loads. In order to achieve the desired mechanical properties, NIAR’s Dr. Waruna Seneviratne and KraussMaffei’s Eugen Schubert used LM-PAEK reinforced with AS4 carbon fibers for the 16-ply organosheet and 30% chopped fiber-filled PEEK for overmolding the ribs.

FiberForm is also cited for its short cycle time — injection molding tends to be faster compared to metal machining. For example, 40 window closures can be produced within an hour. In addition, thermoplastics use offers the ability to weld components, in addition to imparting high impact strength, resistance to high temperatures, chemical and environmental influences and flame-retardant properties.

For example, compared to its metal counterpart (590 grams), the composite overmolded window plugs produced by NIAR weighs 20% less, and the team is already working on further optimizing the structure to make it about 40% lighter. NIAR’s next step is to subject the window plugs to further functional tests required for certification — with regard to durability — so that it is ready for series production.

NIAR and KraussMaffei have been partnering successfully for 2 years. “KraussMaffei has not only set up a machine with multiple capabilities, but has also been actively helping us on-site with process development,” says NIAR’s Seneviratne. “Our students also gain a tremendous amount of hands-on experience and get to interact with the supply chain for several new capabilities we introduced in recent years. Our goal is to transfer the efficient processes such as FiberForm from automotive production to aviation.”