Here’s what we are hearing:

GE Aviation expects to add 200 more area jobs

GE Aviation Systems’ $50 million investment on the University of Dayton campus bodes well for the company and the area, the company’s president and chief executive. In the past five years, GE Aviation has added 400 jobs at its three Dayton-area plants. In 2013, the company’s new Electrical Power Integrated Systems research and development center off River Park Drive will be operating. An initial 50 people will work there, but within five years, the center should employ 150 to 200 researchers, said Lorraine Bolsinger, GE Systems president and chief executive. At the center, UD researchers will work with GE Aviation scientists and engineers to create new advanced electrical power technologies such as new power systems for aircraft, longer-range electric cars and smarter utility power grids for more efficient delivery of electricity, GE Aviation said.

Alcoa’s “smog-eating” technology to bolster sustainability at new electronics recycling hub in North Carolina

Alcoa recently unveiled one of the first commercial building installations of Reynobond with EcoClean, the architectural panel that cleans itself and the air around it, at the new Electronic Recyclers International facility in Badin, N.C. The product is installed at ERI’s Southeast regional electronics recycling hub, which is expected to create up to 200 new jobs in central North Carolina. Introduced in 2011, EcoClean was developed by Alcoa scientists through a process that leverages patented Hydrotect technology to apply a titanium dioxide coating, called EcoClean, to the pre-painted aluminum surface of Alcoa’s Reynobond architectural panels. The coating works with natural sunlight, acting as a catalyst to break down organic pollutants on its surface and in the air around it into harmless matter which is then washed away by rainwater. Ten thousand square feet of EcoClean has the smog-removal power of approximately 80 trees, equivalent to offsetting the nitrogen oxide created by the pollution output of four cars per day.

Tnemec’s insulating coatings first to include Cabot aerogel

The Tnemec Co. has introduced the first thermal insulating coatings featuring Enova aerogel by Cabot Corp. Series 971 Aerolon Acrylic and Series 975 Aerolon Epoxy are fluid-applied, high-build coatings that are designed to resist high operating temperatures when spray-applied to piping, tanks, valves or other steel substrates in refineries, processing plants and other industrial facilities. The Aerolon coatings are comparable to most conventional forms of industrial insulation. The thermal insulation properties of Aerolon coatings provide safe-touch performance on hot pipes and other surfaces to prevent serious worksite accidents. And their low K-value ratings offer thermal efficiencies that result in substantial energy cost reductions. Aerolon coatings are water-based with practically zero volatile organic compounds, minimizing environmental impact. Once mixed, Aerolon resembles a slurry that can be spray applied. Aerolon coatings are part of a complete system that includes specialty primers and topcoats, Tnemec said.

Surmet-led team wins DARPA Phase II award for ALON Manufacturable Graded Refractive Index (M-GRIN) lenses

During the M-GRIN program’s first phase, Surmet demonstrated the ability to create ALON GRIN lens blanks with axial gradients. During Phase II Surmet will develop the ability to extend the magnitude and spatial extent of these gradients, using processes compatible with large volume manufacturing. At the culmination of the Phase II effort, Surmet will use proprietary fabrication processes to produce several prototype ALON GRIN lenses and deliver them to DARPA. The University of Rochester will develop the metrology used to characterize the ALON GRIN lens blanks and lenses produced during this program. The U of R will also lead the design effort to exploit the advantages of ALON M-GRIN lenses for Advanced DoD optical systems. Ed White Consultants will guide the manufacturing readiness assessment of the MGRIN technology. Surmet will also include DoD Prime Contractors in the program to facilitate the transition of the ALON M-GRIN technology into military systems.

3M expands US Paints and Coatings Lab

3M Energy and Advanced Materials Division announced the rededication of its newly-expanded US Paints and Coatings Laboratory. With a significant investment in new analytical equipment and additional technical personnel, the 3M EAMD Paints and Coatings lab is now even better equipped to provide outstanding customer service for a growing global market. The expanded capabilities of the lab, located in St. Paul, Minnesota, will enable improved levels of technical support and formulation assistance to customers around the world. For example, 3M research specialists use American Society for Testing and Materials’ test methodology to evaluate the performance of formulations that incorporate 3M products, including 3M Ceramic Microspheres, 3M Fluorosurfactants, 3M Glass Bubbles and 3M Stain Resistant Products.

Alfa Aesar launches catalog and periodic table app

Alfa Aesar, a Johnson Matthey Company, has unveiled the Alfa Aesar App for iPhone, iPad and Android. Users of the app will have access to a fully-functional digital version of Alfa Aesar’s popular print catalog as well as reference materials. The Alfa Aesar app is available free to download from the iTunes Store and Google Play. In addition to a full listing of Alfa Aesar products and technical specifications, the iPad version will also provide users with an interactive periodic table that details properties for each element. The app also links to the Alfa Aesar website, allowing users to quickly purchase products they find within the app. Users will also be able to save catalog pages as PDFs, email content to a friend, or add notes and bookmarks.

Keyence offers super-resolution digital microscope with automated measurements

Pioneering the field of digital microscopy, Keyence has released its latest microscope system, the VHX-2000. The VHX Series digital microscope was designed to alleviate the shortcomings of traditional, optical light microscopes - shallow depth-of-field, short working distance, lack of portability and versatility, sample limitations, etc. By integrating advanced zoom optics with a CCD camera, 17″ LCD monitor, light source, controller and analysis/reporting software, the VHX streamlines testing and improves the speed and efficiency of the inspection process. With a magnification range from 0.1x - 5000x, the VHX Series enables a wide range of microscopic observation from macro-scale stereoscopic imaging to the detailed analysis of an SEM. Many lighting techniques are also supported including bright and dark field, transmitted, polarized, and differential interference observation.

Diamon-Fusion International completes large-scale coating and restoration project for Claremont McKenna College

Diamon-Fusion International Inc., a global developer and exclusive licensor of patented hydrophobic nanotechnologies, announced the completion of a coating and glass restoration project for Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, Calif. The project consisted of applying DFI’s flagship Diamon-Fusion coating to over 15,000 square feet of glass at various sections of the newly constructed Kravis Center, designed by well-known architect Rafael Viñoly-Menendez. The center consists of a five-level, 162,000 square-foot academic and administrative facility, serving as the western gateway to the Claremont McKenna campus. Through DFI’s patented nanocoating process, the treatment to the glass facade creates a water repellent effect which enables ease of cleaning and protection against scratches, abrasion and environmental elements, therefore considerably reducing the overall costs of maintenance to the building. The nanocoating is optically clear, and does not affect the natural reflection of the glass exterior.

Share

Credit: Katie Fehrenbacher, GigaOm.

Bloom Energy is making a big push to establish a foothold along the Eastern Seaboard. Today, Bloom is holding a ground-breaking ceremony a its new “Bloom Box” solid oxide fuel cell manufacturing plant in Newark, Delaware, at a site that was once a Chrysler assembly plant (Bloom’s other manufacturing is in California, and this essentially doubles the company’s capacity). The company also announced several new customers in the East.

Plans for the Delaware manufacturing hub were actually revealed last summer, and the hope then was that the facility would employ 900. No specific job numbers were mentioned in today’s announcement, but the numbers discussed in 2011 are in line with the number of workers at Bloom’s California facility.

Interestingly, the property is owned by the University of Delaware, which is also developing a Science and Technology Campus on grounds, and the hope is that the Bloom facility will provide an anchor for the campus.

One of the deal-sealers for this development is an agreement between Bloom and Delmarva Power & Light, an East Coast utility,  for a whopping 30 MW of Bloom Boxes.

The company also announced several new customers, including Owens Corning, Urban Outfitters, Washington Gas and AT&T (the latter already uses Bloom units in California facilities). Stories surfaced in March that Apple also had reached a deal to install Bloom energy servers in a North Carolina facility.

The company also is rolling out a new line of SOFC units that, according to the company, feature a 20 percent gain in efficiency and double the energy density (based on footprint of the installation).

It also touts that the fuel cells change the energy paradigm for their customers in that the Bloom Boxes will provide the basic power for the companies’ core operations. In other words, instead of the electrical grid providing the basic power and the fuel cells providing backup power, the SOFCs become the primary source and the grid becomes the backup.

Katie Fehrenbacher at GigaOm has the story in an interesting post and the above video interview with Bloom’s Asim Hussein, the company’s director of product marketing.

Share

• Electrical Engineering Solutions has announced to be currently working on a challenging furnace rebuild appointment for Consol Glass, one of the largest glass manufacturers in Africa. Tthe rebuild is at Consol’s Bellville plant. The existing B4 furnace produces approximately 285 tons per day, and the rebuilt B4 furnace will increase capacity to 320 tons per day.

• PPG Industries has announced that it will continue to be patient with its glass business but, according to chair and chief executive officer Charles Bunch, it is not ruling out a sale. The company’s glass segment consists of glass fiber and flat glass production.

• According to reports, quick action by firefighters and efficient response by local utilities prevented a more serious outcome after a molten glass spill at Johns Manville’s Richmond, Va, facility in the US on April 20, 2012.

• Seville Industries, of Italy, TX, is in the process of buying a western Pennsylvania glass plant that shut down nearly two years ago, with plans to refurbish and re-sell the operation. Seville’s business involves liquidating manufacturing facilities, like the Owens-Illinois plant that closed in July 2010 in Clarion, Pa., about 60 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.

• Xinyi Glass Holdings Ltd. announced that it held a ceremony for igniting the furnace, for trial run, of its second high-quality float glass production line at its complex in the Wuqing Development Zone in Tianjin, China. With a daily melting capacity of 600 tons, the line is expected to commence its production by the end of May.

• Austria’s RHI AG has submitted a bid for Serbian state-owned basic materials manufacturer Magnohrom. RHI had planned to complete the acquisition in the first half of 2012, and is expected to spend €65 million on the deal.

Share

Schematic of a planar solid oxide fuel cell. The ferritic stainless steel interconnects are coated to prevent poisoning of the cathode by volatile chromium compounds. NexTech Materials has just completed a one-year demonstration of a successfull manganese cobalt oxide coating. Credit: Olivera Kesler, University of Toronto.

When our neighbors down the street at NexTech Materials (Lewis Center, Ohio) came in to work recently and saw that nothing had happened in the lab overnight, they knew they had reached a big milestone.

NexTech has been running a continuous test of it manganese cobalt oxide coatings on SOFC interconnects and reached the one-year milestone in March. The test (still going) has been running at expected and accelerated operating temperatures, and the coated interconnects have been subjected to hundreds of thermal cycles. This work is a continuation of testing NexTech reported on last year when it first began performing accelerated stability tests which, according to the company, predicted a service life of over 40,000 hours (equivalent to about 4.5 years) at 750°C. Thus, the actual one year of service begins to offer some pretty strong confirmation of the predicted durability of the interconnects.

SOFC interconnects physically and electrically connect the individual cells in series and collect the electricity generated by the cells. They are exposed to both the oxidizing and reducing sides of the cell (anode and cathode) at operating temperatures in the range of 650-800°C, so they must be chemically very stable, oxidation resistant, electrically conductive, etc. Chromium-rich ferritic stainless steels, like 441, are good candidate materials because they are mechanically stable at those temperatures, compatible with other SOFC components, inexpensive and their oxide scale is electrically conductive.

Unfortunately, at the cathode side, which is the air channel, volatile chromium oxides and chromia-oxy-hydroxide compounds form and can poison the cathode. These species can eventually reach the triple phase boundary in the electrolyte and impair the electrochemical reaction that is the essence of a fuel cell.

Matt Seabaugh (L) and Neil Kidner. Kidner is working on scaling-up NexTech's MCO interconnect coating process. Credit: NexTech.

The best approach to avoiding the problem has been to coat the interconnects, usually with MCO. According to a NexTech press release, there are a number of high-cost coating manufacturing methods tried that use high-cost manufacturing methods. NexTech engineers say they have developed a process based on technology licensed from Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited that uses “relatively inexpensive yet high-speed equipment, thereby reducing the coating cost by nearly 67%.” (NexTech’s website has a nice video showing coatings being applied.) NexTech CEO, Bill Dawson says the company sees the coating as a “significant technical and economic breakthrough to improve SOFC stack life while reducing SOFC stack costs.”

The NexTech work has been supported by a collaboration of commercial partners and the DOE SBIR program. Matt Seabaugh, director of NexTech’s commercial services division, Nexceris, says the project is a “demonstration of small business, technology integrators and government agencies collaborating to create new technologies and products for a world market.” The company says it has applied for US and international patents on its materials and is working with several SOFC stack manufacturers to assume “a portion or all of their interconnect business.”

For interconnects testing, when the “big news” is “no news,” that’s a good thing.

Share

A new industry-university-government lab coalition is looking for ways to retain intrinsic glass strength. This young man demonstrates the strength of glass from 1/4 mile up in Chicago’s Willis Tower observation platform “birdcage.”

Catch the latest in news and information in the May issue of The Bulletin, now available online.

The American Ceramic Society’s membership magazine is available to all on the website. Check out the latest news from the ceramic industry and Society activities. Check out the advertisers, too, to find out who knows ceramics and how to work with them.

The May issue feature articles are:

• Usable Glass Strength Coalition: Patience, perseverance and progress, by Lou Mattos
• Transparent ceramics for lasers — A game-changer, by Martin Richardson and Romain Gaume
• Topological constraints and rigidity of network glasses from molecular dynamics simulations, by Mathieu Bauchy

Click here to become a member and get The Bulletin delivered to your mailbox nine times per year!

Share