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  • Rhenium platinum aluminum superalloys jet turbine blades

    Pebble adds rhenium to world-class titles

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Jun 8, 2023

    While the recent call from conservationists and sportsmen for the Trump administration to block permits has cast a shadow of doubt on the development of a mine at Pebble, there is no denying the controversial Alaska project encompasses a world-class store of precious, industrial and critical minerals. A recent recalculation of the Pebble resource shows the deposit hosts roughly a third of the world's known rhenium, an extremely rare metal that lends its exceptional heat...

  • nitinol nickel-titanium alloy Mars rover NASA aerospace memory metal

    Shape memory metal gets new job on Mars

    Rose Ragsdale, For Metal Tech News|Updated Jun 8, 2023

    Two metals, nickel and titanium, come together in a unique alloy that is gaining popularity in new applications, including in outer space. Known as "nitinol," this high-demand metal is prized for its ability to snap back to a heat-trained shape after being pulled, twisted or deformed. Accidentally discovered by metallurgist William Buehler at the Navy Ordinance Laboratories in 1959, nitinol has been used in increasingly sophisticated applications over the years, finding...

  • James Webb Space Telescope JWST NASA rocket launch Christmas Hubble mirror

    Reflecting on the Webb telescope mirrors

    A.J. Roan, Metal Tech News|Updated Jul 12, 2022

    Although delayed by a few extra days, a historic event occurred this Christmas with the launch of what is set to become mankind's most powerful "eye" into the unknown, the James Webb Space Telescope. Composed of 18 4.3 feet diameter hexagonal-shaped mirror segments, with a central primary mirror of 21.4 feet, years of innovation, ingenious problem-solving, and sheer determination have set the stage for a view into the cosmos we may never have even conceived of before....

  • NASA Artemis 1 Marshall Space Flight Center NEA Scout Alpha Centauri asteroid

    Solar sail craft ready for space mission

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Jul 12, 2022

    While it is not quite a space yacht sailing to Alpha Centauri at 134 million miles per hour, NASA's Near-Earth Asteroid Scout will be the first spacecraft to sail on solar winds to a destination beyond Earth's orbit. "NEA Scout will be America's first interplanetary mission using solar sail propulsion," said Les Johnson, principal technology investigator for the mission at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. "There have been several sail tests in Earth orbit, and we are now...

  • NASA beryllium aluminum alloys critical minerals James Webb Space Telescope

    Critical minerals forge strong alliance

    A.J. Roan, Metal Tech News|Updated Jul 10, 2022

    As two of the 35 minerals and metals considered to be critical to the economic and national security of the United States, beryllium and aluminum are fundamental to many sectors for their natural properties and even more so when they join together to create beryllium-aluminum alloys. Most, if not everyone, has heard of aluminum. As the second most abundant metallic element in the Earth's crust after silicon, its unique lightweight properties, malleability and durability have...

  • Graphene could make light sail spacecraft imagined by Carl Sagan a reality

    Sailing to Alpha Centauri with graphene

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Jul 10, 2022

    From coronavirus killing facemasks, to ultra-fast charging superbatteries and high-performance headphones with "stunning" sound quality, graphene has emerged as a miracle material with qualities that are likely to change life on Earth. Now, researchers believe this high strength 2D material could unlock mankind's ability to travel to other solar systems. Liquid fuel rockets can get humans to the most popular destinations across our home solar system in a reasonable amount of...

  • titanium vanadium alloys aerospace redox renewable energy grid batteries

    U.S. Vanadium calls for government help

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Jul 10, 2022

    U.S. Vanadium Holding Company LLC, an Arkansas-based producer of high-purity vanadium pentoxide, is urging the United States government to take steps to bolster domestic production of vanadium. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, roughly 94% of the titanium used in the U.S. last year went into stronger, lighter, and more durable steels and other alloys. Vanadium-alloyed steels are used in virtually every high-strength structural steel application in military equipment,...

  • 3D printed turbine engine combustor made using NASA's new GRX-810 alloy.

    Sci-fi GRX-810 alloy created by NASA

    A.J. Roan, Metal Tech News|Updated Apr 26, 2022

    Dubbed GRX-810, a new metal alloy developed by NASA using a 3D printing process that dramatically improves the strength and durability of components and parts for aviation and space exploration – resulting in better and longer-lasting performance. Although it is currently unknown exactly what mix of metals goes into GRX-810, it is described as an oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) alloy – a metal that contains nanoscale oxide particles – that can endure temperatures over...