Todd Leonhardt

Todd Leonhardt, passed away on May 29. Todd was director of research and development and chief metallurgist for Rhenium Alloys Inc. An expert on high-temperature refractory metals, Todd spent over 25 years working with rhenium and rhenium-containing alloys. Todd was active in MPIF and served as President of the Refractory Metals Association (RMA) from 2014–2018, receiving the MPIF Distinguished Service to Powder Metallurgy in 2023.

Left to right: Tom Corbett receives prize from APMI president Rob Hayes

APMI International is pleased to announce the winner of the PowderMet2024 conference registration giveaway! Tom Corbett of JIT Tooling was the lucky winner of a Full Conference registration package. Tom was entered into the drawing through his support of the industry by attending the majority of the West Penn Chapter technical sessions this season. 

Be sure and congratulate Tom when you see him at the conference!

The Powder Metallurgy industry will gather at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh for PowderMet2024 & AMPM2024, June 16-19. The premier event of the Americas on powder metallurgy and metal additive manufacturing, the conferences will:

•    Announce the winners of the Design Excellence Competition
•    Offer knowledge transfer through technical sessions and Special Interest Programs
•    Showcase leading powder producers, equipment manufacturers, and service providers
•    Provide unprecedented networking opportunities
•    Introduce over 40 NSF and CPMT conference grant recipients 
 

U.S. Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro tours the Navy's Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence facility.

Recently on a table at Sea-Air-Space, the U.S. Navy’s largest annual trade show, were three metal parts. These were no ordinary metal widgets, but metal AM parts built with 3D printers and delivered in less than a year, ready to go on ships. Earlier in April, the Navy finished a 45-day review of its shipbuilding programs to assess delays caused by the COVID pandemic. It found many, including key vessels like aircraft carriers and submarines, were far behind schedule due to a lack of workers and a fragile supply chain.

Metal additive manufactured clubs aren’t new, but until now they have been limited to protypes. The Cobra LIMIT 3D iron set represents a technology shift in iron construction by creating weight reduction that combines the look and feel of a blade-style club with the MOI of a larger clubface. The feel component is key. Through the AM process, the engineers are able to tune acoustics without internal polymers while also creating a stable head at impact.

With this resource, you get access to the most up-to-date information as well as networking tools, notifications, and more. Get started at https://guidebook.com/g/powdermet2024-ampm2024/ on your mobile device to download the app.

(This is a private app and only those registered for the event can gain access.)

Be sure to join the PM industry in Pittsburgh-register today!

Veterinarians and gorilla keepers at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden outfitted Gladys, an 11-year old gorilla, with the world’s first 3D-printed titanium cast, made by GE Additive.

Gladys was pretty hard on her traditional cast, resulting in a more robust solution. “We’re hoping that this one will be more gorilla proof,” said Dr. Mike Wenninger, Cincinnati Zoo’s director of animal health. It should be as it is made of the same titanium material that was used for the screws and plates that repaired her fractured arm.

A team of Rice University students has developed a cold spray metal additive manufacturing device that relies on pressure and velocity rather than temperature to create a metal part. The project won an Excellence in Capstone Engineering Award and first place in the Willy Revolution Award for Outstanding Innovation at the annual Huff OEDK Engineering Design Showcase

 Drs. Enrique J. Lavernia and Julie M. Schoenung, professors in the Department of Materials Science & Engineering, Texas A&M University, have joined forces to write “Metallic Powders for Additive Manufacturing: Science and Applications,” published by Wiley, Inc.

Talk 'N Technology presentations are provided by student grant recipients at the annual PowderMet and AMPM conferences. To further advance the excellent research & development by the grant recipients and their universities, APMI will provide the students’ presentations and posters to its members as a benefit. 

Date: Thursday, May 9th, 2024
Time: Social Hour: 5:30–6:30 p.m. • Dinner: 6:30 p.m.
Place: Wildwoods Bar & Grill
Meeting Sponsor: Osterwalder
Speaker: Bob Orsulak
Topic: Electric Press Technology for PM Part Production

BONUS: Any individual that attends 5 of the 7 West Penn technical sessions during the 2023–2024 season will be entered to win a complementary full conference registration to attend PowderMet2024 / AMPM2024, June 16–19, in Pittsburgh!

RESERVATIONS MUST BE MADE NO LATER THAN NOON ON FRIDAY, MAY 3

The University of Utah Powder Metallurgy Research Laboratory, in partnership with the Center of Powder Metallurgy Technology and National Technology Laboratory, was selected for an award of $3.4 million to develop a powder metallurgy-based process technology to produce iron and steel products with drastically reduced energy consumption and carbon dioxide gas emissions. This project represents an opportunity to demonstrate to the manufacturing industry how powder metallurgy can be a gateway to sustainability. The funding is one of the larger federal investments in powder metallurgy in recent decades.

The award was part of the April 18, 2024, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announcement of $28 million in funding for 13 projects across 9 states to advance zero-process-emission ironmaking and ultra-low life cycle emissions steelmaking. The transformative technologies funded through this program would be the first to meet both emissions and cost parity goals, meaning the new, transformative concepts must be cost competitive with existing technologies.