Illinois' Leadership in Advanced Materials Research

By Sammy Tin, PhD, Associate Professor of Materials Engineering,
Mechanical, Materials, and Aerospace Engineering (MMAE) Department at IIT

Materials scientists and engineers are constantly seeking to develop novel new materials and improve upon existing ones in order to promote technological growth.  For example, remarkable improvements in the performance and efficiency of advanced turbine engines for aerospace applications can be attributed to the integration of innovative materials in the high-pressure turbine or "hot stage" of the engine.  Refinement of alloy chemistries combined with advanced manufacturing processes designed to control the grain structure of the turbine blade components have resulted in a an approximate 1.4% reduction in specific fuel consumption.  For a large commercial jetliner, such as a Boeing 777, this corresponds to a fuel savings of over 200,000 gallons per year and an annual four million pound reduction of harmful CO₂ emissions!

As a result, there is a constant demand for improved gas turbine engine materials to improve fuel consumption and enhance thrust for jet aircraft.  The turbine blade epitomizes the complexity of high temperature, structural components performing critical functions in these engines. The blade must maintain dimensions over hundreds and even thousands of hours to optimize performance. The blades are often coated and contain internal cooling channels since in many applications the combustion gas temperature exceeds the melting point of the alloy. The superalloys are a class of nickel (Ni)-base alloys that have been developed over 60 years to meet the stringent demands of turbine blade applications. These alloys represent a mature technology with alloying, microstructure control and processing approaching the limits of performance.

At IIT, substantial research efforts are being dedicated towards advanced materials research.  These include the development of novel methods to develop new, stronger materials, and extend the temperature capability of high performance Ni-base superalloys for aerospace applications to energy-efficient thermal processing of aluminum and bainitic steels for automotive applications.  Materials research here at IIT is focused on understanding the fundamental science and physics governing the behavior and exploiting those desirable characteristics using innovative engineering practices.  This requires detailed characterization of the microstructure and knowledge of the intrinsic behavior of the material.  Understanding the interrelationships between properties, microstructure and chemistry of advanced materials is extremely important as it enables us to devise engineering solutions to overcome inherent material limitations. Researchers at IIT are currently applying these principles towards the development of new Ni-base superalloys that may potentially be utilized in ultra-efficient gas turbine engines like those used on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and Airbus A350XWB.

Professor Philip Nash and Professor Sammy Tin, along with the research staff within IIT's Thermal Processing Technology Center (TPTC), are working on a variety of research projects pertaining to the development, design and characterization of advanced materials.  For example, Prof. Nash is investigating processes for fabricating silver alloys reinforced with carbon-nano-tubes for use in high-performance electrical switches.  Embedding carbon nano-tubes in the silver alloy to create a nano-composite material enhances their performance by increasing the mechanical integrity of electrical contacts while making them resistant to arcing when subjected to large electrical currents.  The TPTC was originally established to support the research needs of local small to medium sized manufacturing businesses and houses both state-of-the-art experimental and computational laboratory facilities for advanced materials research.

Additionally, Professors Murat Vural and Xiaoping Qian from the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department are also active in advanced materials research at IIT.  Prof. Vural is working with researchers from the Army Research Laboratory and investigating the high strain rate deformation behavior of advanced aluminum alloys that will be used for lightweight armor in tanks and military transport vehicles.  Prof. Qian's research interests are aimed at the design and manipulation of nano-scale structures and materials.  Using an atomic force microscope (AFM), he is developing innovative manufacturing techniques that enable control and assembly of nano- to micro-scale devices and structures. 

Throughout IIT, researchers investigating innovative materials technologies are being sponsored by government funding agencies, such as the National Science Foundation (NSF), Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), Office of Naval Research (ONR), Department of Energy, (DOE), etc., and a wide variety of small to large sized companies. Many of these projects are also performed in collaboration with Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Fermi National Laboratory (FNL) or a variety of manufacturing industries such as Rolls-Royce, Ladish Forgings, Reference Metals, Webster-Hoff, A. Finkl and Sons, International Titanium Powder, etc.

Advanced materials are vital to the continued development of modern societies as they often serve as enabling technologies in a wide range of engineering structures and devices. In many applications, the useful life or performance of the device is often limited by the properties associated with the underlying material used in their construction. To help keep pace with societal needs for technological advancement and growth, world-class engineers and scientists at IIT are actively exploiting the unique properties and characteristics associated with different classes of materials used in a diverse range of applications.  From laptop computers in homes and offices to passenger jets flying overhead, all of these devices may harness advanced materials technology developed at IIT.

  

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 1: Ni-base superalloy turbine blade and disk used for aerospace propulsion.

Figure 2: Nano-manipulation and sensing of particles for manufacture of nano- and micro-scale materials and devices