LYNNTECH INC. — Department of Defense STTR Phase I: The use of novel magnesium materials with desirable properties can provide significant wei

Description

The use of novel magnesium materials with desirable properties can provide significant weight reduction and improved fuel economy in military, automobile, and aerospace applications. The proposed project aims to develop a microplasma discharge based magnesium vaporization process for manufacturing of novel magnesium alloys and composites. The method utilizes operation of a microplasma discharge in a regime that provides localized superficial heating for efficient magnesium vapor production. Excessively high temperatures and large cooling requirements associated with conventional thermal plasma processes can be avoided. The effect of various operating parameters will be carefully studied and a scalable prototype device will be developed, to demonstrate efficient production of magnesium vapor. Additionally, based on advanced characterization of magnesium particles produced by the microplasma process and a systematic study of structure property-relationships for the magnesium system, alloys or composites that cannot be made by conventional processes will be selected as the candidate material for development. A preliminary process design, energy calculation, and cost estimation will be performed for manufacturing of the selected material at a suitable scale. Thus the development technical and economic feasibility for manufacturing of magnesium-based material via the microplasma vaporization process will be demonstrated.