Alloy Design, Production and Processing

Specialty alloys are produced in development or small production size lots using powder processing, electron beam melting and vacuum arc remelting. Extensive experience exists for the production of reactive, refractory, and precious metal alloys. An example of a high performance alloy developed and produced at ORNL is the iridium DOP-26 alloy. This platinum group alloy is used to encapsulate radioactive materials for NASA deep space missions. The alloy was designed for high-temperature strength and ductility to survive impact damage from potential accident scenarios. Other examples of developmental alloys are refractory alloys for the friction stir welding tool for welding heat resistant alloys. Further processing of ingots is accomplished by extruding, rolling, and heat treating to produce finished sheet and/or foils.

• Vacuum Arc Remelting
• Vacuum Electron Beam Melting
• Extruding
• Heat treating
• Rolling
• Sintering