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A D V A N C E D M A T E R I A L S & P R O C E S S E S | J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 6 1 2 PROCESS TECHNOLOGY sheet, but one of the rollers rotates more quickly than the other. This not only presses the sheet thinner, but also creates a sheer strain due to the differ- ent roller speeds. The crystal structure within the titaniummoves forward fast- er on the side of the fast roller than the other, effectively distorting and break- ing down the crystalline structure, cre- ating small grains. Researchers repeated the pro- By embedding ductile, large-grained columns (colored specks) in a harder, ultrafine-grainedmatrix (black background), titanium’s strength was improved without impairing its ductility. Courtesy of Yuntian Zhu. MAKING METALS BOTH STRONG AND DUCTILE Researchers at North Carolina State University, Raleigh, and the Chi- nese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, de- veloped a technique to make titanium stronger without sacrificing ductility. The new technique manipulates the grain size to give the metal the strength of ultrafine-grained titanium with the ductility of coarse-grained titanium. Asymmetric rolling was used to pro- cess a 2-mm-thick sheet of titanium. The sheet passes between two rollers that apply pressure to each side of the

LINCOLN ELECTRIC TO BUILD NEW WELDING CENTER The Lincoln Electric Co., Cleve- land, will invest $30 million in a new Welding Technology Center on its Eu- clid, Ohio, campus. The center will fo- cus on training welding educators and industry leaders to address the rising demand for welding education and ca- reer pathways in welding and advanced manufacturing. Lincoln Electric will also dedicate resources to support welding training for veterans at this facility. Construction will begin early this year with an opening anticipated in 2017, marking the centennial anniver- sary of Lincoln’s legacy welding school, the longest-running welding school in the U.S. The new 130,000-sq-ft center will double Lincoln’s welding education capacity to 180 welding booths and will include high-tech classroom and seminar spaces. It will also showcase the company’s latest technologies and solutions into a comprehensive welding curriculum. lincolnelectric.com.

cess until the metal was 0.3 mm thick, then exposed the sheet to 475°C for five minutes. This allowed some of the small grains to consume each other and form large grains. This second process creates a patchwork quilt of small and large grains. The resulting material is as strong as the small-grained titanium because the surrounding layer of small grains makes it difficult for the large grains to deform. The material also re- tains the ductility of the large grains, because once enough strain is applied the small and large grains want to deform at different rates. For more in- formation: Yuntian Zhu, 919.513.0559, ytzhu@ncsu.edu, www.ncsu.edu.

BRIEFS

New Star Metals, Burr Ridge, Ill., changed its name to Material Sciences Corp. (MSC). Founded in 2010, New Star added the original MSC to its list of acquisitions in March 2014. MSC joined several other business units as a global supplier of metal products and processing, engineering services, and supply chain management to the automotive, construction, and consumer products industries. materialsciencescorp.com.

Private equity firm MidOcean Partners, New York, completed the sale of Noranco Inc., Toronto, to Precision Castparts Corp., Portland, Ore., on October 30, 2015. Noranco is a supplier of complex machined compo- nents and assemblies for mission-critical landing gear, aerostructures, and aero engine applications. noranco.com, precast.com.