Russian Skoltech researchers have used a 3D printer to fabricate samples of bronze-steel alloys previously unknown to materials science and investigated their mechanical characteristics. Blending the distinct properties of bronze and steel, the novel alloys could be used to manufacture combustion chambers for aircraft and rocket engines that would simultaneously benefit from steel’s ability to withstand extreme temperatures and bronze’s capacity to conduct heat away from the chamber and thus prevent the engine from overheating. The study came out in Materials & Design. Skoltech Materials Associate Professor Mr Igor Shishkovsky said “3D printing is promising for manufacturing composite parts, endowed with the properties of the two distinct materials that make up the composite. Consider, for example, that steel is resistant to the high temperatures created by fuel combustion in an operating engine. This is great, but compared with bronze, steel is a modest thermal conductor, so the engine coolant cannot siphon heat away from it as effectively to prevent overheating and damage. Well, with 3D printing, you can actually get the best of both worlds by manufacturing a combustion chamber that seamlessly goes from being bronze on the inside for better temperature management to being steel on the outside for holding the structure together.” Mr Shishkovsky was the principal investigator on the study that reported the first-ever synthesis of a bronze-steel alloy using a 3D printing technique called direct laser deposition, which melts and fuses powdered ingredients by a laser beam at every successive point in the metal part just as it’s being created. In fact, the Skoltech team combined bronze and steel in two different ways, obtaining both so-called quasi-homogeneous alloys and sandwich structures. In the former, the two materials are more or less evenly intermixed throughout the sample, while the latter consist of a series of alternating 0.25-millimeter-thick layers of bronze and steel. The researchers used one type of steel but varied its content in the alloy from 25% to 50% and experimented with three different common varieties of bronze. The study confirmed that the two materials fused well, without defects forming, and investigated the bronze-steel alloy’s structural and mechanical properties. To do this, the team grew vertical bars from the bottom up and examined their shape, chemical composition, and microstructure. “
Russian Skoltech researchers have used a 3D printer to fabricate samples of bronze-steel alloys previously unknown to materials science and investigated their mechanical characteristics. Blending the distinct properties of bronze and steel, the novel alloys could be used to manufacture combustion chambers for aircraft and rocket engines that would simultaneously benefit from steel’s ability to withstand extreme temperatures and bronze’s capacity to conduct heat away from the chamber and thus prevent the engine from overheating. The study came out in Materials & Design. Skoltech Materials Associate Professor Mr Igor Shishkovsky said “3D printing is promising for manufacturing composite parts, endowed with the properties of the two distinct materials that make up the composite. Consider, for example, that steel is resistant to the high temperatures created by fuel combustion in an operating engine. This is great, but compared with bronze, steel is a modest thermal conductor, so the engine coolant cannot siphon heat away from it as effectively to prevent overheating and damage. Well, with 3D printing, you can actually get the best of both worlds by manufacturing a combustion chamber that seamlessly goes from being bronze on the inside for better temperature management to being steel on the outside for holding the structure together.” Mr Shishkovsky was the principal investigator on the study that reported the first-ever synthesis of a bronze-steel alloy using a 3D printing technique called direct laser deposition, which melts and fuses powdered ingredients by a laser beam at every successive point in the metal part just as it’s being created. In fact, the Skoltech team combined bronze and steel in two different ways, obtaining both so-called quasi-homogeneous alloys and sandwich structures. In the former, the two materials are more or less evenly intermixed throughout the sample, while the latter consist of a series of alternating 0.25-millimeter-thick layers of bronze and steel. The researchers used one type of steel but varied its content in the alloy from 25% to 50% and experimented with three different common varieties of bronze. The study confirmed that the two materials fused well, without defects forming, and investigated the bronze-steel alloy’s structural and mechanical properties. To do this, the team grew vertical bars from the bottom up and examined their shape, chemical composition, and microstructure. “
