New Partnership Expands Research into Rechargeable Battery Systems

Energy storage influences every part of modern life, from the cell phone in your pocket to the electric car on the highway. However, seeing the chemistry of what is happening inside a battery while it is in use is indeed tricky, but it could have remarkable opportunities for identifying new materials as well as improving the battery itself. Now, the Next-Generation Energy Conversion and Storage Technologies Lab (NECSTL) at the University of Pittsburgh’s Energy Innovation Center has announced a new energy research partnership with Malvern Panalytical that will enable the lab to do exactly that. The NECSTL, headed by Prashant N. Kumta, PhD, focuses on energy conversion and storage, including rechargeable battery systems. Malvern Panalytical’s Empyrean X-ray Platform, a multipurpose diffractometer, will be used in the lab to identify solid-state materials by determining their internal structure, composition and phase while they are in use. Read More: https://stage.engineering.pitt.edu/News/2019/Malvern-Panalytical-Research-Partnership/
Maggie Pavlick

The Promise of Nuclear Engineering at Pitt

The nuclear industry in the U.S. is at a crossroads, as several plants are scheduled for permanent shutdown, including three in Pennsylvania, the second-largest nuclear energy-producing state. However, in his brief tenure at Pitt, Professor Heng Ban, director of the Swanson School’s Stephen R. Tritch Nuclear Engineering Program, sees opportunity ahead for students, alumni and faculty researchers. Dr. Ban joined Pitt in 2017 from Utah State University (USU), where he served as a Professor of Mechanical Engineering and founding Director of the Center for Thermohydraulics and Material Properties. In addition to continuing to serve as principal investigator on a fuel safety research program at USU, he holds a research portfolio of nearly $1 million per year in nuclear-related research. He believes that Pittsburgh’s nuclear history – and Pitt’s distinctive program – allow the Swanson School to better compete in a global energy industry. Read More: https://www.engineering.pitt.edu/News/2019/Heng-Ban-Nuclear-Engineering-Feature/
Paul Kovach

Intensification of Hydride-Dehydride Powder Production by Upcycling Machining Chips

"Intensification of Hydride-Dehydride Powder Production by Upcycling Machining Chips" presented by @PittMEMS and @Pitt_IE team at the #ManufacturingPAInnovation Expo @PittEngineering@PittUPCAM Read More: https://www.engineering.pitt.edu/News/2019/PAMIP-Awards/

Tevis Jacobs Receives NSF CAREER Award

Tevis Jacobs received the National Science Foundation’s $500,000 CAREER Award this year to improve nanoparticle performance. Jacobs plans to work with his Surfaces and Small-Scale Structures Laboratory to advance the understanding of micro- and nano-surfaces and their changing properties in order to engineer more stable nanoparticles. The NSF describes the CAREER Award as a prestigious grant that is “in support of early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department of organization.” Jacobs said his previous work prepared him for the grant for the CAREER Award. “In my grant,” Professor Jacobs explained, “I mentioned what I was going to do in the five years and then the 10 years or 15 years total. Forces you more than a typical award to do that planning. Helps you to think bigger.” Read More: https://pittnews.com/article/146854/news/engineering-professor-receives-nsf-career-award/
Lauren Rude, For The Pitt News

Manufacturing Assistance Center receives 2019 Carnegie Science Award

2019 Carnegie Science Awards include six honorees from the Swanson School of Engineering including the MAC (Manufacturing Assistance Center) Leadership in Career and Technical Education: University of Pittsburgh Manufacturing Assistance Center Since 1994, the University of Pittsburgh Manufacturing Assistance Center (MAC) has connected thousands of people with meaningful careers in manufacturing. The programs at MAC are accelerated and often available at no cost to the students, so unemployed and underemployed individuals can be connected to a job and a living wage in as little as six weeks. In addition, MAC has strengthened career pathways for high school students across Southwestern Pennsylvania by offering certification opportunities to partnering high schools and career and technical centers. With the opening of the MAC Makerspace in 2018, MAC has provided a place for future manufacturers to engage with technological tools and resources that would otherwise be inaccessible to them. Read More:  https://www.engineering.pitt.edu/News/2019/2019-Carnegie-Science-Awards/
Kaitlyn Zurcher, Carnegie Science Center Senior Manager of Marketing

Paper Published on the Growth of Carbon Nanotube Forests

Check out the recent paper from the Bedewy Research Group on the mechanochemical modulation of Carbon Nanotube Growth by Chemical Vapor Deposition!  https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acs.chemmater.8b03627

University of Pittsburgh and General Carbide Corporation Receive Grant to Research 3D Printed Tungsten Carbide

Tungsten carbide is one of the most versatile metal compounds and is renowned for its durability and strength, making it perfect for cutting tools, boring machines, and surgical instruments. Although its use in additive manufacturing (AM), or 3D printing, would seem ideal, tungsten carbide is susceptible to fractures and breakage when exposed to the extreme laser melting process used in printing metals. However, a recent award to the University of Pittsburgh and General Carbide Corporation in Greensburg, Pa. will enable research into better base powders and 3D printing methods for more effective and economical use of tungsten carbide in additive manufacturing. The project was financed in part by a $57,529 grant from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) and the first round of the PA Manufacturing Innovation Program (PAMIP). Cost share from Pitt’s Swanson School of Engineering and General Carbide will provide a total funding of $145,000. Principal investigator is Markus Chmielus, assistant professor and the student fellows are from the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science. The award will also fund two women materials science and engineering students Katerina Kimes (graduate) and Pierangeli Rodriguez De Vecchis (undergraduate) as fellows in fundamental and applied research. “Additive manufacturing is increasingly adopted by industry to build highly complex metal parts, but the rapid local heating and cooling during energy beam-based 3D metal printing produces large thermal gradients which causes tungsten carbide to crack,” Dr. Chmielus explained. “Binder jet 3D printing is more effective because it selectively joins powder particles with a binder, one microscopic layer on top of another and without any temperature fluctuations during printing.”Still key to utilizing tungsten carbide, however, is that after a part is printed, it needs to withstand a process called “sintering” and potentially “hipping” that will densify and harden it for use. To achieve that goal, Dr. Chmielus and General Carbide will investigate various tungsten carbide base powders that can be utilized in a binder jet 3D printer, as well as optimize the printing process and subsequent sintering and hipping. “This research will enable General Carbide to expand our portfolio with more complex and versatile parts at a lower cost by partnering with the Swanson School and leveraging its expertise in binder jet 3D printing and additive manufacturing process optimization,” noted Drew Elhassid, Chief Metallurgist and Manager of Lab, Pressing and Powder Production at General Carbide. “Additive manufacturing is especially useful when needed to create the most demanding but low-count parts that we wouldn’t necessarily build on a consistent basis.”“With the Manufacturing Innovation Program, the Wolf Administration aims to connect our best and brightest students with manufacturers to drive new technology and innovation in the manufacturing sector,” said Sheri Collins, deputy secretary for technology and innovation at the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. “As manufacturing processes become more and more complex, these projects will keep Pennsylvania at the forefront of manufacturing innovation.” ### Writer: Paul Kovach Image below: Carbide part samples from General Carbide Corporation.

Solar energy shines in the City of Pittsburgh

The future of the state’s solar energy pursuits is bright — and Pitt plans to contribute, projecting that 50 percent of its energy will come from solar and other renewable sources by 2030. @ThePittNews interviews Paul Leu from @Pitt_IE@PittEngineering ----------------- Renewable energy in Pennsylvania has a cloudy past. But the future of the state’s solar energy pursuits is bright — and Pitt plans to contribute, projecting that 50 percent of its energy will come from solar and other renewable sources by 2030. But Pennsylvania will undertake its solar project first. As a result of a two-year award of $550,000 from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Sunshot Program, the Commonwealth plans to reduce solar energy costs by 50 percent from 2020 to 2030 in a project called “Finding Pennsylvania’s Solar Future.” Read More: https://pittnews.com/article/138524/top-stories/solar-energy-shines-in-city/

Making a Transparent Flexible Material of Silk and Nanotubes

Article Author: Paul Kovach - University of Pittsburghhttps://www.engineering.pitt.edu/News/2018/Bedewy-ACS-Silk-Fibroin-Research/ The silk fibers produced by Bombyx mori, the domestic silkworm, has been prized for millennia as a strong yet lightweight and luxurious material. Although synthetic polymers like nylon and polyester are less costly, they do not compare to silk’s natural qualities and mechanical properties. And according to research from the University of Pittsburgh’s Swanson School of Engineering, silk combined with carbon nanotubes may lead to a new generation of biomedical devices and so-called transient, biodegradable electronics.The study, “Promoting Helix-Rich Structure in Silk Fibroin Films through Molecular Interactions with Carbon Nanotubes and Selective Heating for Transparent Biodegradable Devices” (DOI: 10.1021/acsanm.8b00784), was featured on the Oct. 26 cover of the American Chemistry Society journal Applied Nano Materials. “Silk is a very interesting material. It is made of natural fibers that humans have been using for thousands of years to make high quality textiles, but we as engineers have recently started to appreciate silk’s potential for many emerging applications such as flexible bioelectronics due to its unique biocompatibility, biodegradability and mechanical flexibility,” noted Mostafa Bedewy, assistant professor of industrial engineering at the Swanson School and lead author of the paper. “The issue is that if we want to use silk for such applications, we don’t want it to be in the form of fibers. Rather, we want to regenerate silk proteins, called fibroins, in the form of films that exhibit desired optical, mechanical and chemical properties.” As explained by the authors in the video below, these regenerated silk fibroins (RSFs) however typically are chemically unstable in water and suffer from inferior mechanical properties, owing to the difficulty in precisely controlling the molecular structure of the fibroin proteins in RSF films.  Bedewy and his NanoProduct Lab group, which also work extensively on carbon nanotubes (CNTs), thought that perhaps the molecular interactions between nanotubes and fibroins could enable “tuning” the structure of RSF proteins. “One of the interesting aspects of CNTs is that, when they are dispersed in a polymer matrix and exposed to microwave radiation, they locally heat up,” Dr. Bedewy explained. “So we wondered whether we could leverage this unique phenomenon to create desired transformations in the fibroin structure around the CNTs in an “RSF-CNT” composite.”According to Dr. Bedewy, the microwave irradiation, coupled with a solvent vapor treatment, provided a unique control mechanism for the protein structure and resulted in a flexible and transparent film comparable to synthetic polymers but one that could be both more sustainable and degradable. These RSF-CNT films have potential for use in flexible electronics, biomedical devices and transient electronics such as sensors that would be used for a desired period inside the body ranging from hours to weeks, and then naturally dissolve. “We are excited about advancing this work further in the future, as we are looking forward to developing the science and technology aspects of these unique functional materials,” Dr. Bedewy said. “ From a scientific perspective, there is still a lot more to understand about the molecular interactions between the functionalization on nanotube surfaces and protein molecules. From an engineering perspective, we want to develop scalable manufacturing processes for taking cocoons of natural silk and transforming them into functional thin films for next generation wearable and implantable electronic devices.” About the NanoProduct LabThe NanoProduct Lab (nanoproductlab.org), also known as the Bedewy Research Group, focuses on fundamental experimental research at the interface between nanoscience, biotechnology, and manufacturing engineering. The group explores basic scientific discoveries and applied technological developments in the broad area of advanced manufacturing at multiple length scales, creating solutions that impact major societal challenges in energy, healthcare, and the environment. This work was supported by the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation (MCSI) at the University of Pittsburgh. M.B. is grateful for the Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award from Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU). Fabrication and characterization were performed, in part, at the Nanoscale Fabrication and Characterization Facility, a laboratory of the Gertrude E. and John M. Petersen Institute of NanoScience and Engineering, housed at the University of Pittsburgh. The work was also supported in part by the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (NRF-2018R1A4A1025169). Image below, left: ACS Applied Nano Materials cover. Image below, right: Schematic diagram illustrating the structural changes of RSF-CNT composite film exhibited during microwave- and vapor-treatment.

The Metallurgy of Advanced High Strength for Zinc-Coated Applications and Beyond - A short course with Dr Anthony DeArdo (November 14, 2018)

Register Here The Metallurgy of Advanced High Strength for Zinc-Coated Applications and Beyond A short course with Dr Anthony Deardo  November 14, 2018 | 09:00 AM - 04:15 PM | Benedum Hall 102 Professor: Anthony J. DeArdo University of Pittsburgh Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Purpose and Goals: This one-day course is intended to introduce interested stakeholders to the physical metallurgy, processing, microstructure and mechanical properties of Advanced High Strength Steel substrates that are used for galvanized, galvannealed and bare products and applications. Who Should Attend: The course is aimed at professionals working in, or associated with high strength steels, including zinc or aluminum coatings companies, the fabrication industries such as sheet metal forming and welding, equipment and material suppliers, and professionals interested in galvanizing and formability. Typical delegates would include senior production operators, engineers, technical and quality control personnel. Learning Outcomes: Theoretical and practical understanding of the metallurgy of the new AHSS, especially high strength dual-phase steels processed on continuous galvanizing (CG) lines. Understanding of the processes, product and properties of AHSS steels, especially dual-phase steels that are used to make body-in-white and other coated components for the automotive and construction industries. It is critical to note that the processes used to apply the protective coatings are, themselves, heat treatments that can importantly alter the microstructure and properties of both the steel substrate and the coating.  This course will teach the attendees how to optimize the beneficial effects while minimizing the detrimental effects of the processing. Pre-requisites: None Cost: $1,500 (includes handout, coffee breaks and lunch provided) Course Outline (9:00-11:30 a.m.) Lecture 1: Introduction What is steel and what is the differentiation among common steel (AKDQ), high strength steel (HSLA) and advanced high strength steel.?  Why are the AHSS so special?  Difference between galvanizing AKDQ vs. AHSS. Overview of families of AHSS (DP, TRIP, Martensitic, Hot Stamped and TWIP) The critical mechanical properties of sheet steel?  Brief review of processing- microstructure-property relations as they apply to CG line processing. (11:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m.) Lunch (12:00-2:00 p.m.) Lecture 2: Case Study - Processing Zinc-Coated DP steels on a Continuous Galvanizing (CG) Lines What is the Dual-Phase (DP) microstructure and how is it formed from the cold rolled state during the CG line processing?  What are the critical features of the microstructure and control points of the process? Typical compositions & starting conditions: cold rolled ferrite-pearlite hot band Intercritical annealing (1382-1562F / 750-850C) and associated metallurgical events: (i) Annealing cold rolled ferrite, (ii) Forming austenite, (iii) Transformations upon cooling from annealing T to zinc pot (860F/460C), (iv) Transformations from zinc pot to room temperature, (v) microstructure-property relationships, (vi) achieving Generation III properties. Supercritical annealing above the AC3 temperature Subcritical annealing below the AC1 temperature (2:00-2:15 p.m.) Break (2:15-3:15 p.m.) Lecture 3: Variables affecting the CG line annealing response. Influences of:  Composition, Hot band coiling temperature, % Cold reduction, Microalloying and Annealing path (new approaches) (3:15-4:15 p.m) Guided tour of research facilities on in Swanson School of Engineering (4:15 p.m.)  Adjourn

Oberg Industries and Swanson School of Engineering Extend Additive Manufacturing Research Partnership

Article by Paul Kovach (August 28, 2018) … After a successful two-year inaugural collaboration, representatives from Oberg Industries and the University of Pittsburgh’s Swanson School of Engineering have agreed to extend their research partnership. Established in 2016, the agreement capitalizes on the Swanson School’s faculty expertise in computational modeling and design optimization with Oberg expertise in complex tooling and precision machined or stamped metal components. With the renewed association, Oberg will continue to provide full-time employees in the Swanson School’s ANSYS Additive Manufacturing Research Laboratory (AMRL) to provide technical expertise to faculty and students while also engaging in corporate outreach for testing, design and prototyping. Oberg will promote the partnership to its customer partners to broaden corporate activity at Pitt while maintaining priority industrial access for its education, training, prototyping, testing, design and production uses.“Oberg was one of our first corporate partners in additive manufacturing and we are excited to continue this relationship,” said David Vorp, associate dean for research. “Our collaboration has enabled our faculty and students not only take full advantage of the AMRL capabilities but also have helped us attract outside funding.” Albert To, associate professor of mechanical engineering and materials science and one of Pitt’s AM researchers, added that Oberg was instrumental in helping to found the Swanson School’s Modeling & Optimization Simulation Tools for Additive Manufacturing (MOST-AM) Consortium. “MOST-AM has greatly helped us expand our reach to industry leaders in additive manufacturing, creating a win-win for our research and company growth,” Dr. To said. “My colleagues and I are grateful to Oberg Industries for being an inaugural partner and allowing us to better explore the potential for additive manufacturing.” “Our partnership with the University and the AMRL continues to drive innovation and value creation for our customer partners,” said David L. Bonvenuto, CEO of Oberg. “Teams from the University and Oberg are working together to help our customers design products that leverage the latest additive technology with the ability to do prototype builds, production and post-processing at the AMRL and Oberg.”Since 2014, additive manufacturing researchers at the Swanson School have attracted more than $10 million in grants from America Makes, National Energy Technology Laboratory, National Science Foundation, and Research for Advanced Manufacturing in Pennsylvania. ### About Oberg IndustriesHeadquartered just north of Pittsburgh, Pa., Oberg Industries is a diversified manufacturer with over 900 employees worldwide specializing in the production of advanced, precision machined or stamped metal components and precision tooling. With $150 million in sales, Oberg’s global manufacturing footprint includes operations in Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Costa Rica. Each manufacturing facility is ISO certified and operates under one or more of the following standards: ISO 9001:2015, ISO 13485:2003, and AS 9100:2009 Rev. D. Oberg is a strategic contract manufacturing partner for companies in the Aerospace, Automotive, Consumer/Industrial Products, Defense, Energy, Construction and Housing, Medical Device, Metal Packaging and Munitions markets. The company’s website is www.Oberg.com. 8/28/2018 Contact: Paul Kovach

Gleeson leads in the field of high temperature corrosion

Any industry that operates in a high- temperature environment needs structural and functional materials that can withstand heat and associated surface reactions. To help these materials resist corrosion at high temperatures, scientists have developed alloys and coatings that can naturally form a protective scale layer. While some think that research in this field is complete, Brian Gleeson, the Harry S. Tack Professor and Chair of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science at the University of Pittsburgh, published an article in Nature Materials explaining that there is still much room for advancement and discovery. Gleeson leads the High Temperature Corrosion Lab in Pitt’s Swanson School of Engineering where his group focuses on testing and assessing the high-temperature corrosion behavior of metallic alloys and coatings. “From a practical standpoint, any component that is exposed to a high temperature in a reactive environment is potentially at risk of excessive surface degradation,” said Gleeson. “This includes the aerospace, power generation, metal processing, automotive, waste incineration, and chemical processing industries. For these industries, high-temperature corrosion testing and assessment is often needed to aid in material selections or to generate essential design or life-prediction data.” Research by Gleeson and colleagues combines experiment with theory and advanced characterization to understand the complex interplay between the chemical and kinetic factors affecting protective-scale formation in single- and multi-oxidant environments. To provide extended protection, the scale that forms is typically an oxide (e.g., Al2O3, Cr2O3 or SiO2) that is both stable and adherent to the high-temperature component. The initial stage of corrosion reaction is an area where Gleeson believes there is considerable room for discovery. It is an important part of a given oxidation process where an alloy or coating composition forms a continuous thermally grown oxide (TGO) scale. “The TGO layer is critical because it makes the material more resilient to degradation in harsh environments,” said Gleeson. “The lifetime of a particular alloy or coating is determined by the tenacity of this layer and its ability to heal or reform in the event of damage.” Gleeson thinks that more can be done to gain a better understanding of this important step in the overall reaction. He said, “Commonly recognized oxidation theory lacks the ability to accurately predict whether a given alloy or coating composition will be able to form a continuous protective scale layer.” Researchers in the HTC Lab are probing the nature of scale formation under harsh environment conditions that mimic actual service. Beyond understanding the formation of the TGO layer, Gleeson believes that more needs to be understood about the complex oxidizing environments during the development of these scales. The type of gas surrounding the material or the level of humidity can play a major role in the lifetime of a material. “Water vapor, which is commonly found in these environments, is known to have a detrimental effect on the scale-forming process.” As detailed in his Nature Materials article, different scales develop on alloys oxidized in dry air than alloys oxidized in wet air containing 30 percent water vapor. “The oxidizing environment is becoming increasingly more complex and goes beyond just exposure to air. Moving forward, researchers will need to understand the role of oxidizing species, such as O2, H2O, and CO2, in affecting protective scales.” To gain a better overall understanding of the oxidation process, including the underlying kinetic and thermodynamic factors, Gleeson encourages researchers to improve experimental and computational methods to observe and model oxidation. He said, “Researchers need to develop a multiscale predictive understanding of this initial stage and focus on the interactions and effects of alloy constituents and gaseous oxidants.” According to Gleeson, “What largely stands in the way of advancing understanding on the kinetic and thermodynamic factors, which influence protective TGO-scale formation and maintenance in harsh service environments, is the misguided notion that high-temperature corrosion is a passé field with little room for discovery.”
Leah Russell

Ravi Shankar and collaborators make a breakthrough in 4D printing

Four-dimensional (4D) printed objects are 3D structures capable of changing shape in time. This transformation is achieved by using stimuli-responsive materials. University of Pittsburgh Professor Ravi Shankar and collaborators at the University of Texas at Dallas have now demonstrated a platform that may help improve the way researchers morph these structures. The collaboration was led by Taylor Ware, assistant professor of bioengineering at UT Dallas, and Cedric Ambulo, a graduate student researcher in Ware’s lab. The study, “Four-dimensional Printing of Liquid Crystal Elastomers” (DOI: 10.1021/acsami.7b11851), was published in ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces in October 2017. Since its release, it has achieved recognition as being “first of its kind” and was awarded best poster at the 2017 International Liquid Crystal Elastomer Conference. “Previous strategies for stimuli-responsive materials require mechanical programming, which involves physically manipulating the material by stretching or bending it to help program the actuation,” said Shankar, professor of industrial engineering at Pitt’s Swanson School of Engineering. “In this work, we demonstrate a platform for programming the molecular-level order in macroscopic 3D structures so that the actuation can be triggered without external loading or training.” Their platform works by orienting molecules within a printable ‘ink’. On exposure to light, the ink cross-links into a rubbery material while maintaining molecular orientation. By controlling how the material is deposited, they can build 3D structures with encoded molecular orientation which allows for the control of the structure’s shape change when it is heated. The research team used liquid crystal elastomers (LCE), a polymer that can change shape in response to a variety of stimuli, including heat and light. “In order to undergo reversible shape change, LCEs should be cross-linked in an aligned state,” explained Shankar. “To do this, we controlled the print path used during 3D printing, whereby 3D structures with locally controlled and reversible stimulus response can be fabricated into geometries not achievable with current processing methods.” The resulting 4D models are capable of twisting, bending, and curving on demand. The structure will stay in one state until it is prompted by a stimulus to change shape. By printing objects with controlled geometry and stimulus response, the research team can create magnified shape transformations using snap-through instabilities. “Snap-through instabilities can be seen in nature when observing a venus flytrap catching their prey. The snapping action is used to magnify the power density and speed of actuation,” said Shankar. “Our group mimicked this action by creating curved geometries encoded with molecular-level programming that when exposed to a thermal stimulus, evolve and snap between discrete shapes.” Scientists are just scratching the surface for the future of this technology. According to Shankar, “There is a lot of potential for innovation with these unique materials. There are numerous applications for 4D printing including advancements in soft robotics, implantable medical devices, and consumer products.” This material is based upon work supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research under award number FA9550-17-1-0328. Any opinions, finding, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Air Force.
Leah Russell

Pitt-led engineering team receives $1 million DOE award to improve 3D printing technology for nuclear industry

PITTSBURGH (July 6, 2018) … Additive manufacturing (AM), or 3D printing, is an advanced manufacturing process capable of fabricating complex components by sintering layers of powders together. This process requires support structures to maintain the component’s structural integrity during printing. Unfortunately, removing these supports is not only expensive, but can also be difficult-to-impossible if the supports are located in the interior of the component.  This limits the adoption of AM by industries such as nuclear energy, which rely on cost-effective manufacturing of complex components.To find an effective solution to these complex processes, the University of Pittsburgh’s Swanson School of Engineering will be the lead investigator on a $1 million award to advance design and manufacture of nuclear plant components via AM. The award is part of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)Office of Nuclear Energy’sNuclear Energy Enabling Technologies (NEET) program. The novel research will be directed by Albert To, associate professor of mechanical engineering and materials science (MEMS) at the Swanson School. Co-investigators include Wei Xiong, assistant professor of MEMS at Pitt, and Owen Hildreth, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the Colorado School of Mines. Corporate collaborators in Pittsburgh include Curtiss-Wright Corporation and Jason Goldsmith at Kennametal Inc. Read More Here....

Four dimensional printed structures may enable new generations of soft robotics, implantable medical devices and consumer products.

UT-Dallas and Pitt Collaborate on 4D Printing Breakthrough Four-dimensional (4D) printing is a term that describes additive manufacturing of stimuli-responsive materials. This process results in three-dimensional structures capable of morphing between predetermined shapes after printing.  Previous material strategies require mechanical programming to achieve shape change or required that the material operate in water, however in this new publication, “Four-dimensional Printing of Liquid Crystal Elastomers” University of Pittsburgh Professor Ravi Shankar worked in partnership with UT Dallas faculty (Taylor H. Ware) and students (Cedric P. Ambulo, Julia J. Burroughs, Jennifer M. Boothby, Hyun Kim) demonstrate a platform for programming the molecular-level order in macroscopic 3D structures. Their idea centers on aligning liquid crystal elastomers by controlling the print path during printing, whereby 3D structures with locally controlled and reversible stimulus response can be fabricated into geometries not achievable with current processing methods.  Having been published in October 2017, this publication has achieved recognition from numerous research peers as being “first of its kind”, has been awarded the best poster award by the International Liquid Crystal Elastomer Conference 2017, and currently has a patent application pending. LCEs are a class of stimuli-responsive polymers that undergo large, reversible, anisotropic shape change in response to a variety of stimuli, including heat and light. Unlike many materials that undergo reversible shape change, these materials require neither external loads nor aqueous environments. The UT-Dallas/Pitt team also exploited this platform to create structures, which can snap between discrete geometries by exploiting snap-through instabilities. Snap-through instabilities have been observed in nature (e.g. Venus flytrap, Hummingbird’s beak..) to magnify the power density and speed of actuation. Utilizing similar ideas, this team showed how 3D printed, molecularly-ordered structures can snap between shapes and generate large actuation power-densities in response to an ambient stimulus (e.g. heat, light, solvent, etc.). Such actuators make ideal candidates for applications, including soft robotics, biomedical implants, adaptive optical structures etc.This material is based upon work partially supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research under award numbers FA9550-17-1-0328 and FA9550-14-1-0229." "Any opinions, finding, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Air Force."
Elizabeth Allison

NCDMM Honors Howard A. Kuhn as the Recipient of the 2018 Lawrence J. Rhoades Award

Reposted from the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM). View the article here. Prestigious Award Recognizes Achievement in Dedication to Advancement of Manufacturing Technology Presented at NCDMM’s Annual SUMMIT Event Blairsville, Pa. — May 9, 2018. The National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM) proudly announces that today at its annual SUMMIT event, it awarded its highest honor, the Lawrence J. Rhoades Award, to Howard A. Kuhn, Ph.D., P.E. Each year, the NCDMM awards the Lawrence J. Rhoades Award to an individual who shares Mr. Rhoades’ tireless commitment, futuristic vision, and unwavering dedication to the defense manufacturing industry. “On behalf of all of us at the NCDMM, I am most honored to present the Lawrence J. Rhoades Award to our long-time friend and esteemed colleague, Dr. Howard Kuhn,” said NCDMM President and Executive Director Ralph Resnick. “Throughout his illustrious 50-year career, Howard has been a force within both the manufacturing industry and academic institutions, serving as an esteemed, innovative thought-leader and mentor. Howard also shares many of the same extraordinary qualities as Larry Rhoades and namesake of this award. You could say they are cut from the same cloth. Like Larry, Howard is also a visionary, as well as a collaborator in the truest sense of the word, possessing an almost effortless ability to bring and inspire mutual efforts together to advance manufacturing technology for the betterment of our industry. He has set a standard that many aspire to meet. “Therefore, in recognition of his tireless commitment, steady leadership, dedication, and actions on behalf of the national manufacturing community and the mission of NCDMM, we congratulate Dr. Howard Kuhn as the 2018 NCDMM Lawrence J. Rhoades Awardee,” continued Mr. Resnick. NCDMM established the Lawrence J. Rhoades Award to honor the memory of Mr. Rhoades whose entrepreneurial spirit and dedication to the advancement of manufacturing processes was known industry-wide. Mr. Rhoades was one of the founding fathers of the NCDMM, and an inaugural member of the Board of Directors where he served until his untimely death in 2007. At the University of Pittsburgh’s Swanson School of Engineering, Dr. Kuhn is an adjunct Professor in industrial engineering, instructing courses in manufacturing, product realization, entrepreneurship, and additive manufacturing. He also conducts research on additive manufacturing of biomedical devices for tissue engineering at the University. Dr. Kuhn also serves as a consultant at local industry-leading organizations, including America Makes, the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute, which is managed by the NCDMM, and The Ex One Company. At America Makes, he is a Technical Advisor, teaching a course, titled “Fundamentals of Additive Manufacturing Materials and Processes.” Upon its founding in August 2012, Dr. Kuhn also served as the Acting Deputy Director of Advanced Manufacturing Enterprise. At Ex One, he is currently a Research Consultant, but also previously served as the Director of Prometal Technology for Ex One. Previously, Dr. Kuhn, as the co-founder of Concurrent Technologies Corporation (CTC), served as the company’s Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for 12 years. He also co-founded Deformation Control Technology, a consulting firm serving the metalworking industry. Prior to this, Dr. Kuhn held joint appointments in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Department of Material Science at Drexel University and the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Kuhn is a Fellow of the American Society for Materials International and SME. In 2008 and 2011, respectively, he received the ASM Gold Medal and the SME Eli Whitney Productivity Award. In 2014, America Makes awarded Dr. Kuhn with its Distinguished Collaborator Award for his exceptional commitment and dedication to advancing additive manufacturing technology, practices, and innovation in the manufacturing industry through collaborative partnerships and contributing to the overall mission of America Makes. Dr. Kuhn is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University and pursued all of his undergraduate, graduate, and doctorial degrees in mechanical engineering at the university. He is a registered professional engineer in Pennsylvania. ### About NCDMM NCDMM delivers optimized manufacturing solutions that enhance the quality, affordability, maintainability, and rapid deployment of existing and yet-to-be developed defense systems. This is accomplished through collaboration with government, industry, and academic organizations to promote the implementation of best practices to key stakeholders through the development and delivery of disciplined training, advanced technologies, and methodologies. NCDMM also manages the national accelerator for additive manufacturing (AM) and 3DP printing (3DP), America Makes—the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute. For additional information, visit NCDMM at ncdmm.org. NCDMM, 5/9/2018

Makerspace at Pitt MAC Creates Opportunity For Community Involvement

industrial

Last week, the University of Pittsburgh celebrated the launch of a new makerspace at its Manufacturing Assistance Center in Homewood with a small ceremony. The facility will feature tools including a 3D printer and woodworking equipment and host a series of instructional workshops on different “making” techniques. "The makerspace helps entrepreneurs design products, develop products, prototype products and begin to manufacture them in small batches," said Bopaya Bidanda, chair of the industrial engineering department at Pitt and the center’s director. Listen to Dr. Bidanda's interview here: http://wesa.fm/post/makerspace-homewood-facility-creates-opportunity-community-involvement#stream/0

Project Aims to Recycle the Unrecyclable

Distinguished Service Professor and co-director of the University of Pittsburgh Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation Eric Beckman, along with Assistant Professor Susan Fullerton and Associate Professor Sachin Velankar, is looking to create a recyclable material that can replace types of plastic packaging that can't be recycled due to their use of various layers of materials that can't be separated. Read More: https://www.pittwire.pitt.edu/news/project-aims-recycle-unrecyclable

Vascular Bypass Grafting: A Biomimetic Engineering Approach

Pitt bioengineer Jonathan Vande Geest and his research team receive a $673K NIH grant to construct a biomimetic, small-diameter vascular graft. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh are developing synthetic grafts that mimic the body’s own blood vessels to mitigate many of the complications of bypass surgery. Read More: http://www.engineering.pitt.edu/News/2018/Vande-Geest-Vascular-Graft/

Congratulations to our recent class of Pitt MAC CNC Programming/Operations graduates

Congratulations in particular to Marj Thomas. Marj will be starting her new job at Penn United on Monday. We could not be more thrilled for her and wish all of our graduates the best of luck. #h2p #PittMAC #womeninmanufacturing Read More: https://www.facebook.com/upittmac/

The holidays came a little early with the Rabbit Laser installation at the #MACMakerspace.

The MAC Makerspace will be available for the community and offer educational programming, small business development and classes. Stay tuned for details regarding our grand opening!  Read More: https://www.facebook.com/upittmac/
Liza Allison

Pitt and UPMC Researchers Collaborate to Save More Organs for Transplants

Each year, the United States suffers an extreme shortage of organ donations, with only a quarter of patients in need receiving a transplant. Many transplantable organs are lost when a donor’s heart fails, and the organs stop receiving vital blood flow. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh can potentially double the amount of successful organ donations by developing a novel stent to maintain blood flow to organs, even during the donor’s final heart beats. Read More: http://www.engineering.pitt.edu/News/2017/Chun-Organ-Transplant-Stent/

MS&T17 in Pittsburgh!

The Materials Science and Technology Conference for 2017 was held in Pittsburgh during October 8-12. From the Chmielus group, we had: Dr. Markus Chmielus gave an invited talk in the Additive Manufacturing of Functional Materials symposium, and also co-chaired the same symposium. Jakub Toman gave a talk on epitaxial growth of Ni-Mn-Ga. Amir Mostafaei gave a talk on the effect of surface roughness on additive manufactured alloy 625 samples, and presented a poster on the additive manufacturing of denture frames. Erica Stevens presented a poster on the additive manufacturing of magnetocaloric materials. Colleen Hilla (UG) gave a talk on the characterization of atomized powders using microCT. Katerina Kimes (UG) gave a talk on the additive manufacturing of magnetocaloric materials. Read More: http://chmieluslab.org/mst17-in-pittsburgh/

DINING SERVICES EXPANDS SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES AND FOOD OPTIONS

The student Grub Club has spoken: This fall, Pitt’s dining halls feature new recipes from around the globe and an expanded variety of plant-based dishes, as well as locally sourced organic chicken. And there’s an emphasis on sustainability — even in the to-go containers and bags at Pitt’s grocery spots. Read More: https://www.pittwire.pitt.edu/news/dining-services-expands

PMMD Lab will develop computational tools for additive manufacturing with the QuesTek Innovations LLC supported by a NASA STTR grant

PMMD lab together with Dr. Albert To's group in mechanical engineering will collaborate with the QuesTek Innovations LLC developing an ICME modeling tool for the additive manufacturing. This project is a STTR phase I project to proof the concept proposed by QuesTek and Pitt on ICME modeling of additive manufacturing. The project will work on process-structure-property modeling for advanced alloys. Expect Victory!

Chmielus Group Presents at ICOMAT 2017

We're back from ICOMAT 2017 in Chicago! ICOMAT - International Conference on Martensitic Transformations Below are some of the highlights of our trip!   Monday: Erica gave a talk describing recent progress with laser-deposited magnetocaloric Ni-Mn-Co-Sn. Amir and Katerina presented posters on binder jet printing of magnetocaloric and magnetic shape… Read More: http://chmieluslab.org/icomat-2017/

Dr. Leu's research was featured in the Swanson School of Engineering Annual Report.

https://issuu.com/pittswanson/docs/2016_swanson_school_of_engineering_/24?e=8116214/2406130