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Sintering Center Established With $ 1
Million Grant from Commonwealth
March 1, 2000 University Park, Pa. --- With the aid of a
$1 million grant from the Pennsylvania Technology Investment
Authority (PTIA), Penn State engineers have established a Center
for Innovative Sintered Products (CISP) to serve the powder
metal and particulate materials industry -- 40 percent of which
is concentrated in Pennsylvania's north central region.
Dr. Randall German, who holds the Brush Chair in Materials at
Penn State, heads the new center. He says the CISP team, which
includes 35 Penn State faculty members, is targeting activities
in three thrust areas: functionally designed structures, time
compression technologies and complex precision structures. These
targeted activities are expected to improve product quality,
features, size range, shape, complexity and material base for
the industry; and decrease the time to market and cost of
product development.
Companies that become members of the new center can participate
in industry-sponsored projects in the targeted areas, serve as test beds for next generation engineered systems, and host
student interns at industry sites.
Sintering involves heating and/or compacting powdered materials
to form precise solid shapes. The process is being adapted to a
broad range of applications since it produces high-quality,
high-performance components at lower cost than traditional
methods.
Cemented carbide producers that fabricate metal cutting tools
are the largest user industry. However, the automotive industry
is also a major consumer. The average new car, for example,
contains more than 30 pounds of powder metal parts, up from less
than 8 pounds 20 years ago. Automotive demand and more
specialized applications, such as powder metal injection
molding, are driving a 10 percent annual growth rate in the U.S.
industry which has annual sales of $23 billion.
Although the new Center is not expected to be in full operation
until midyear, more than 30 Pennsylvania companies and 50
outside the Commonwealth have already become members. The Center
is supported by cash and in-kind contributions plus industry and
federal government research grants and contracts currently
totaling $ 2.5 million. Powder suppliers, electronic and ceramic
fabricators, powder metallurgy parts makers, equipment
fabricators, refractors firms, end users, and related companies
are eligible for membership.
Penn State has for nearly a decade been a major source of
workforce and technology development assistance for the industry
through the College of Engineering's P/M Lab which was created
by German in the early 1990s. The largest powder metallurgy
laboratory in the world, the P/M Lab has been merged into CISP.
P/M Lab projects have included developing more environmentally
friendly lubricants for powder metals compaction,
high-performance magnets made from amorphous metals, liquid
phase bonding for low-cost hard facing, and software for design
of sintering processes. They have also been improving fatigue
resistance of auto components and incorporating laser tooling
with computer assisted design (CAD) into new tooling processes
among many other projects.
Penn State's DuBois Campus, which is partnering with CISP, is
located in the geographic heart of Pennsylvania's powder metal
industry, which employs an estimated 10,000 people in Elk,
Cameron, Clearfield and Jefferson counties. Penn State DuBois
has long served the education and technology needs of the
traditional powder metals industry by assisting with product
development and process improvement and by offering a range of
courses leading to certificates and degrees.
The new center has also established partnerships with the
Community Education Council, St. Mary's Area School District,
the American Ceramic Society, ASA International, the Center for
Powder Metallurgy, the Metal Powder Industries Federation and
the North Central Pennsylvania Regional Planning and Development
Commission.
CISP currently has a website at
http://www.pmlab.psu.edu/CISP Some
features soon to be available at the site are a chat room,
technical briefs, access to students' resumes, and industry job
postings. Links to member web pages will also be added in the
future.
For full information the on Pennsylvania Technology Investment
Authority (PTIA) program, the Department of Community and
Economic Development release is at
http://www.ds.psu.edu/academics/programs/associate/mate/www.dced.state.pa.us
The contact is Erica Clayton at (717) 783-1132.
Contacts:
Barbara Hale (814) 865-9481 (o)/ (814) 238-0997
bah@psu.edu
Vicki Fong (814) 865-9481 (o)/ (814) 238-1221
vyf1@psu.edu
EDITORS: Dr. German is at (814) 865-2121 or
rmg4@psu.edu
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