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Inquiry Is sue 1
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2016
Inqui r y I s sue
1
| 2016
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“For example, we had a customer who wanted an alloy of
tungsten and boron, two metals that are hard to combine,
but one of our technicians had the expertise to meet the
customer’s needs,” said Besser. “That comes from his years
of experience working in this environment.”
Besser said “enabling science” is the MPC’s mantra.
“Once a satisfied customer said to me ‘No one else in the
country can do this work for me,’ and he was right.”
RARE-EARTH MATERIALS PRODUCTION
If you think of the MPC as a pie, one of the largest slices
would be the production of rare-earth metals.
Rare earths have been part of the Ames Laboratory since
Frank Spedding, the Laboratory’s first director, got involved
in metallurgical work for the Manhattan Project. The ion-
exchange separation process Spedding developed at Ames
Laboratory to purify rare-earth oxides gave rise to the
knowledge base the MPC utilizes today for producing highly
pure rare-earth metals for clients in academia and industry.
The largest portion of MPC’s rare-earth-using clients is
generally from research institutes with condensed matter
physics, materials chemistry, and materials science programs
involved in fundamental research.
According to Trevor Riedemann, MPC assistant scientist,
the MPC also provides rare earths to industrial clients from
large multinationals to start-up companies that are looking for
better materials to optimize properties of existing products or
products under development.
“What all of our clients have in common is a strong
research component,” said Riedemann. “And the rare
earths help them fine-tune whatever materials properties
they’re studying.”
Riedemann explained when clients call, they’re usually
looking for high-purity rare-earth metals because purity is
critical to the success of today’s materials research.
“And no one can match the purity of our rare-earths,”
Riedemann said.
Riedemann added all MPC metals are provided on a cost-
recovery (non-profit) basis. And because rare-earth metals
can cost as much or more than gold per ounce, the MPC
works to meet customer needs in the most efficient manner.
“Our high-purity-metals are expensive because input
costs are high and rare-earth production is a labor-intensive
process,” said Riedemann. “But because the rare earths
provide scientists a fabulous ‘tool set’ for fine-tuning a
material’s properties or systematically unraveling the
mysteries of materials science, they are willing to pay the
high price. Scientists understand it’s hard to do high-quality
materials science with low-quality materials.”
PRECISION-ALLOY PREPARATION
Precision-alloy preparation plays an integral role in the
MPC success story, according to Besser, who also heads the
MPC precision-alloy section.
“If a scientist wants an alloy that contains specific amounts
of iron and carbon, we begin by purchasing the highest purity,
or clean, metal we can find,” said Besser. “And then we mix it
to the precise composition asked for, melt it, and serve it up
in exactly the form the client wants.”
The MPC also focuses on material size and fabrication.
Besser saidwhilemany commercial providers can only provide
large quantities of materials, the MPC can accommodate
much smaller requests.
“Researchers want only what they need, and we can
provide anywhere down to a gram, half gram or even smaller
amounts of metal,” Besser said.
Once the customer has decided on the amount of material
needed, the MPC can then fabricate it to their specifications.
“Sometimes customers want their material in a very
specific form,” said Besser. “For example, once we started
with a cast ingot of Galfenol
about an inch in diameter
and as long as your forearm.
When we were done
working with it, we had
hundreds of feet of wire;
rolled, swaged and drawn
until it was the dimension
the customer needed. The
wire was used in an energy-
harvesting project.”
Customer satisfaction is
the most essential element
of theMPC’s success, which
Besser said requires extensive communication with clients.
“Sometimes customers want one thing, but that might be
nearly impossible for us to produce. So we’ll talk with them
about options, plan A and plan B, and almost always we can
guide the interaction to a realistic conclusion,” said Besser.
“Response to need is very important to us.”
Arc-cast ingots of high-purity Erbium
metal, one of the rare-earth metals, are
prepared for MPC customers.
Beads of scandium metal are shown
on a cast on a copper hearth plate.
Scandium is one of the high-purity
rare earth metals prepared for
MPC customers.
Jacob Fischer, undergraduate research assistant, prepares the
injection casting system for operation. The injection casting
system is used to study the solidification behavior of alloys by
rapidly solidifying ingots with diameters on the order of 1-2mm.
f ter 34 year s of produc i ng research and
developmental quantities of metals for internal Ames
Laboratory, university, industry, and government
facilities, the Materials Preparation Center (MPC)
has developed an international reputation as the go-to
center for scientists’ materials needs.
The MPC offers unique capabilities in purification,
preparation and characterization of high-purity rare-
earth metals and alloys, intermetallic compounds, and
single crystals that are not commercially available.
Since inception in 1982, MPC scientists have been
involved in over 5,000 projects. The largest percentage
of those projects has been with U.S. industry, followed
by U.S. universities, foreign institutes and universities,
and federal laboratories.
“Many of our customers over the years have
been repeat customers,” said Matt Besser, manager
of the MPC.
On any typical day, MPC staff produces materials
for materials scientists, chemists and physicists
conducting laboratory-scale research experiments.
But occasionally a scientist will request material for a
project that’s a bit out of the ordinary.
Two of the MPC’s more memorable requests
came from NASA. One was for the production of
materials for use on the Space Shuttle Endeavor’s
Brilliant Eyes Ten-Kelvin Sorption Cryocooler
Experiment (BETSCE). That successful project led
to more work with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
for the preparation of materials for the instrument
cooling system on board the European Space Agency’s
PLANCK space satellite.
Another key ingredient in the MPC’s success is
its materials supply chain, which Besser said assures
customers a quick turnaround on the metal they’re
requesting.
“I have a collection of elements in place, and if I
don’t have the one a customer is looking for on hand, I
know where to go to find it,” Besser said.
Once the MPC makes a sought-after alloy, it employs
its experience with a wide variety of Ames Laboratory
equipment and techniques to fashion the metal into
whatever form the customer wants, from wires to ribbons
and more.
The MPC offers what Besser calls “an incredible
knowledge base” built up over time from the work done
by the MPC’s staff.
Materials Preparation Center
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