Strengthening Metal Through Oxidation – A Radical Research Approach With Great Potential?

Metal 3D printing is used in numerous fields and possibilities for expanding its potential are constantly being discussed in the aerospace, automotive and shipbuilding industries. Large-format parts are now being produced from metals using 3D processes and the technologies are being tested in increasingly extreme environments, including in space. Despite the numerous advances in this field, the engineers involved face constant challenges in terms of technology and materials: Porosity, isotropy and corrosion are just some of the difficulties that need to be overcome to ensure the durability and efficiency of manufactured parts. But what if these challenges could be turned into an advantage? Could the supposed disadvantages of the materials perhaps turn out to be advantages after all?

This speculation led Professor Changhong Ke to a radical research assumption. The lecturer in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Binghamton University’s Thomas J. Watson College of Engineering and Applied Science wants to find out whether there is a way to make metal stronger through oxidation. With the help of nanotubes, which he embeds in metal for additive manufacturing, he wants to find out whether the annoying corrosion can also be put to positive use.

Professor Changhong Ke incorporates nanotubes into additively manufactured aluminum to study the effects of corrosion (photo credits: Jonathan Cohen)

This bold assumption is based on the properties of boron nitride, which could potentially be used profitably in combination with metals. Boron nitride is a compound that is already used in cosmetics, pencil leads and in the dental sector. Professor Changhong Ke believes that microscopic structures made of boron nitride could strengthen metals so that they react less strongly to humid environments such as seawater and could even give them strengthening properties. “You can’t avoid oxidation, so we are trying to take advantage of it by turning it into a new, reinforcing mechanism to make the material stronger,” Ke said.