Alloy Design
QuesTek meets materials, manufacturing and quality challenges by working to design, develop and deploy new custom alloys in a manner that saves time and money while reducing risk.
QuesTek moves the boundaries of what is possible. If there is a way to create an alloy that will achieve the client’s desired outcome, we will find it.
QuesTek has designed and improved alloys for some of the largest, most well-known companies in the world and won funding for dozens of government and military programs. Our expertise in Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME) allows us to design novel high-performance alloys that meet specific performance requirements.
We serve several demanding industries and develop solutions across the periodic table:
Industries: Additive Manufacturing, Aerospace, Agriculture, Automotive, Consumer Electronics, Defense, Energy, Medical & Dental, Oil & Gas, Space
Alloy Systems: Aluminum, Cobalt, Copper, Magnesium, Nickel, Niobium, Steel, Tungsten
- Proprietary Materials
QuesTek has been granted 18 US patents for advanced alloys, five of which were developed specifically for Additive Manufacturing (AM). QuesTek currently has fourteen US patents pending for additional novel materials. The majority of our proprietary materials are licensed to leading material manufacturers, but we have also shown that we can build and manage custom supply chains for specific, high-performance applications of our proprietary materials for both corporate and government end-use clients.
QuesTek’s additive-specific alloys include
- An AM aluminum alloy that maintains high strength at temperatures over 250C for extended life (e.g., 1000 hours at temperature);
- An AM aluminum alloy that has room temperature strength on the order of 7000 series aluminum alloys (without ceramic particle dispersion which can reduce fatigue strength;
- A true print and go 17-4 AM stainless steel alloy, which under proper printing parameters, meets wrought 17-4 properties without the need of post printing solution treat or age;
- A higher strength Nickel 718 alloy;
- Nickel Aluminum Bronze;
- A carburizable Ferrium C64 for gears and other high toughness high wear applications;
- HEA’s;
- Gradient Niobium AM alloy compositions;
- Equiaxed, isotropic titanium alloys.
- The QuesTek Approach
QuesTek has demonstrated that industry can utilize ICME to complement and accelerate traditional trial-and-error development methods and in 2023, QuesTek ushered in the digital transformation of materials science with the launch of our ICMD®software platform. This aligns with the goals of the Materials Genome Initiative, which aims to reduce the time required to develop and deploy new materials by half.
The QuesTek approach is comprehensive, precise, faster and more cost-effective.
Systems-Based Design
Systems-based design approach utilizing mechanistic, physics-based models to key process-structure and structure-property linkages, drawing from both commercial and proprietary databases
Replacing legacy trial-and-error approaches with parametric materials design informed by efficient usage of advanced materials characterization
Treat material as a system, linking process-structure-properties to meet defined performance goals Modeling and characterization at all length-scales relevant to materials design and processing
- Clients
The U.S. government and Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) programs fund risky low-Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) research. QuesTek has been awareded funding for over 50 programs aimed at designing novel high-performance alloys that meet specific performance requirements — 30 patents are pending. This includes aluminum, titanium, copper, nickel, tungsten, molybdenum, different types of steel and all the main alloy systems.
QuesTek works with industry-leading OEMs to qualify, transition and deploy the novel alloys developed under these SBIR-funded programs to existing and next-generation platforms. Furthermore, QuesTek has a proven track record of designing and improving alloys directly for industry. These engagements focus on industry clients’ very specific use requirements across a wide range of applications and include the largest, most well-known companies.
Client Success: Next-Generation Gear Steel
- Ferrium® C64® increases oil-out survivability by >5x
- Industry standard = 15 minutes; Ferrium® C64® = 80 minutes
- Enables an up-to 25% increase in power density
- Contract with Bell Textron for next-gen Army helicopters
Client Success: Breakthrough in Industrial Gas Turbines
QuesTek’s computational models successfully designed a new single-crystal nickel superalloy that could be cast at the required scale for IGT blades and contained significantly less expensive rhenium.
Achieved the property goals with just one design iteration and without the need for extensive experimental trials.
Development timeline was decreased from a typical span of over a decade to just three years and reducing costs from potentially $10M to about $2.5M.
Challenge: existing single-crystal alloys could not be cast into the large-scale blades required for IGTs, and the cost issue associated with high rhenium content remained unaddressed.
Current standard nickel-based superalloys used in turbine blades constrained Industrial Gas Turbines (IGTs) to operate at lower temperatures, reducing fuel efficiency and the lifespan of turbine blades.
DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) generated a solicitation addressing Advanced Fossil Energy Technology Research. Program Partner Siemens wanted to transition to single-crystal alloys for their superior high-temperature performance, to boost efficiency.