SBIR-STTR Award

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is that it removes the limitations of the previous methods used to join ceramics and metals and allows for new ceramic and metal bonded parts to infiltrate novel markets. Many new ceramic and metal bonded parts will be fabricated for the automotive, aerospace, chemical, defense, excavation and nuclear industries where they are in high demand due to the favorable properties of both materials being joined. One immediate opportunity for this type of bond is the impact chisel market. Long term opportunities from this project will result in superior products being created for the cutting tool market, armor, wear plates, thermal insulation, electrical components, and many others. This new capability will change many manufacturing processes and allow engineers more design possibilities. In addition to aiding the educational experience of university students involved in part testing, this project will ultimately result in the creation of U.S. manufacturing jobs for the mass production of ceramic and metal bonded parts. The intellectual merit of this project is to utilize and greatly expand upon the findings of impact bonding dissimilar metals from previous bodies of work to advance the scientific understanding of how ceramics impact bond to metals and how these bonded joints survive or potentially degrade when undergoing intense impact fatigue cycle testing. Although fatigue cycle testing on metal/ceramic interfaces has been documented when the joint is formed through other methods, the PI and team seek to perform fatigue cycle testing when metal/ceramic interfaces are optimized for strength and durability by the use of near net-shaped impact bonding. Previous methods of attaching ceramics to metals have been limited to brazing and adhesives, each of which is limited by temperature and strength. Other mechanical methods of joining ceramics and metals will simply not hold up during impact fatigue cycling due to the different compression properties of the joined materials. This project aims to produce pioneering publications on impact bonding ceramics and metals and will also further enhance the knowledge of high velocity impact bonding systems. Of particular interest is the impact bonding of ceramics/composites such as tungsten carbide to hardened steel because of immediate industrial applications.

This SBIR Phase II project will create an industrial process for bonding ceramics to metals at the molecular level. Attempts thus far have not been successful in creating robust bonds due to incongruities of the materials being bonded. The objective of this project is to develop a sophisticated, computer controlled, automated bonding machine that will rapidly and safely impact-bond net-shaped ceramic carbides to tool steel in configurations that were previously not available. An automated bonding machine will allow for a cost-effective way to rapidly produce high quality near-net or net-shaped parts. It is expected that as this simple method is popularized, new opportunities for design configurations will be realized in multiple industries; as single parts can take advantage of the properties multiple material, such as the strength and wear resistance of ceramics, with the properties of another, such as the light weight properties of aluminum. Engineers may incorporate cheaper, lighter, stronger, and multipurpose material parts into new product designs. For instance, many new ceramic and metal bonded parts may be fabricated for the automotive, aerospace, chemical, defense, excavation, and nuclear industries. This project will ultimately result in the creation of U.S. manufacturing, sales, and engineering jobs as the mass production of ceramic and metal bonded parts become commercially available.The impact-bonding occurs within a bonding machine and uses a portable and very powerful cartridge technology recently developed by the PI, an expert in aluminum/water reactions. The cartridges are initiated in an enclosed chamber with a low voltage, which causes the disassociation of water molecules and rapid oxidization of aluminum that generates very high-pressure hydrogen in a safe and controlled manner and without the use of high voltage, explosives or flammable gun propellants. Key technological subjects of this research include the impact-energy, generated hydrogen propulsion, and the post-bond impact-energy absorption. The goal is a manufacturing process that will produce dissimilar material composite parts with superior joint strength that will survive impact-fatigue-cycles in harsh environments such as mining, demolition, excavation, construction, oil gas drilling, and many more potential industries. Other mechanical methods of joining ceramics and metals, such as brazing and adhesives, have not sustained impact fatigue cycling. The superior products are wear resistant and will benefit several industries to include the cutting tool market, electrical and thermally insulated components, ballistic armor, and others. This project aims to produce pioneering publications on impact bonding ceramics and metals and will also further enhance the knowledge of high-velocity impact bonding systems.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.