JUST ADD WATER!
The Army Research Laboratory’s new nanomaterial paves the way for ef ficient and green energy solutions.
by Ms. Jacqueline M. Hames L
ike many great scientific advancements, the U.S. Army Research Laboratory’s (ARL) new nanomate- rial was invented by accident. Materials engineers at ARL on Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, were
trying to engineer a nanostructured aluminum alloy in January 2017 when, during polishing and hardness testing, they discov- ered the aluminum powder was disappearing—it was reacting with the water used in the polishing process to create hydrogen. While the discovery surprised ARL scientists, they knew they had come across something quite extraordinary.
“Tis is the main thing: It can generate power on demand in the field, wherever we need it,” Dr. Anit Giri, materials engi- neer with the Materials and Manufacturing Science Division at ARL, said of the powder.
EUREKA Te nanogalvanic aluminum-based powder came about as scien- tists were researching better, stronger materials for armoring Soldiers and vehicles—specifically, an aluminum with the strength of steel. Tis effort to make better materials for armor is ongoing, despite the excitement of new discoveries like the powder.
Dr. Chad Hornbuckle, materials engineer on the powder’s devel- opment team, explained that the original intent was to create a nanostructured aluminum alloy that would have increased strength, making a material that was lightweight like aluminum but comparable in strength to steel. A material on the nanoscale is less than 100 nanometers long, Hornbuckle said. (A nanome- ter is one-millionth of a millimeter; a millimeter is very small, but is visible to the naked eye.) Te nanoscale is often used to measure dimensions of matter on an atomic level.
“All metals are made up of grains, similar to sand on a beach, but instead of being sand, it’s whatever your metal is,” Hornbuckle explained. “We were trying to make a bulk piece of aluminum, but the grains themselves were on the nanometer scale.”
Te aluminum material they were trying to create began as a powder, and during the usual analysis process, it had to undergo hardness testing, said Anthony Roberts, also a materials engi- neer on the development team. Te team pressed the powder into a compact, a solid piece, to polish to a mirror shine for the hardness test. “Well, while we were polishing it, we noticed it disappeared, so we made another compact, and we start polishing it, and we noticed it started disappearing real quick,” Roberts said.
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