Sunday, July 19, 2015

Corrosion- A Problem

Today, with the economy being what it is and few dollars being spent on research, one wonders where growth is occurring. Everything seems to be at a standstill waiting for Washington to do something. It used to be that Defense drove the country and the research dollars spun off for the benefit of all. Today, cyber technology and robotics seem to be where the action is. The big action in materials research remains as advanced manufacturing.
However, there are still mundane things to consider. One area still costing the world billions of dollars in losses is corrosion. This covers a wide area. One need only look at autos after a good snowy winter, when tons of salt have been put on roads. If you live in areas such as Buffalo, New York, you can expect to see large areas where the salt has corroded the fenders and the body of automobiles.
If you live at the shore, not only are autos the problem, but also aluminum window frames succumb to what is known as pitting corrosion.
I could continue, but I would like to center in on high temperature corrosion. In this case we have equipment that we would like to run at higher and higher temperatures in corrosive atmospheres. Currently nickel base superalloys are the workhorse materials for these applications, such as jet engines. We have just explored Mars and experienced a fly-by of Pluto. There is less and less space on earth, and earth is becoming a more dangerous place to live. Perhaps we are ready to establish a new frontier, such as the moon for starters. To do that we need alloys thaat surpass the performance of superalloys. What alloys will be developed?
What I am saying is that there is a vast area that is important to our every day living and to our future that is currently being ignored, or so it seems. Recently we have an opportunity to use our technology to resolve one of these problems. Originally the technology was developed to provide wear resistance to components subjected to movement and shock. We are now discovering that the technology just might solve some corrosion problems as well. MagnaTech hopes to enjoy the opportunity to resolve one of these problems. Perhaps you too may have a similar type problem. MagnaTech would be delighted to assist you in the resolution of this problem.