This week's mix features innovation in additive manufacturing materials.

A well-known government agency used a LabRAM II to mix powder metals that not only resulted in discovery of an innovative nano-scale coating, but achieved a specific viscosity that is optimal for 3-D printing. The effort also pioneered a new metal alloy.

Use of RAM enabled production of DS (dispersion-strengthened) "superalloys" through additive manufacturing processes without need of resource-intensive steps such as mechanical alloying to incorporate dispersoids. The resulting DS material exhibited a 50% increase in strength at room temperature over a baseline alloy. More notably, the addition of nanoscale dispersed Y2O3 in the NiCoCr improved its high temperature ultimate strength by >35% and increased its ductility almost three-fold over the baseline NiCoCr.

This economical fabrication technique pioneered a new approach to producing high-temp/high strength materials that until now have otherwise been either too difficult or practically impossible to fabricate.