Issued patent
Oxide Dispersion Strengthened Medium Entropy Alloy
An issued NASA patent from the Technology Transfer catalog.
About this technology
Overview
Innovators at the NASA Glenn Research Center have developed a new oxide dispersion strengthened medium entropy alloy (ODS-MEA) using additive manufacturing (AM). ODS alloys, in which nano-scale ceramic particles are distributed within the metal, were originally developed to enhance mechanical properties (e.g., creep resistance, tensile strength, microstructure integrity) at extreme temperatures. Thus, such alloys show promise for metal components of gas turbines, rocket engines, nuclear reactors and other high-temperature applications. However, the conventional mechanical alloying process to produce such alloys is highly inefficient, time-consuming, and costly. By contrast, NASA's ODS-MEA is designed for production via selective laser melting. The alloy can be fabricated into complex geometries and is resistant to stress cracking and dendritic segregation. It is not susceptible to deleterious phase changes when exposed to extreme temperatures and requires limited post-processing.