Thermodynamic Databases: Critical Tools for Developing and Processing High Performance Materials

CompuTherm, LLC proposes to develop and experimentally validate thermodynamic databases for nickel, aluminum, and titanium based alloys. Thermodynamic databases are critically needed by the materials industry to accelerate the development of new materialsfor applications such as turbine engines. Databases greatly reduce the need for costly and time-consuming trial-and-error experiments. Unfortunately, existing databases do not meet the needs of industry due to insufficient chemical elements, improper modeltypes, and inconsistencies. In Phase I, CompuTherm LLC successfully demonstrated the feasibility of using our new USAF SBIR funded software, PANDAT, to quickly produce core databases for nickel, aluminum, and titanium-based alloys. In Phase II, we willdevelop the concepts from Phase I into commercially viable products for simulating real alloys: a 17-component nickel alloy database, a 15-component aluminum alloy database, and a 17-component titanium alloy database. Several companies-General ElectricCompany, Ford Motor Company, ALCOA, Howmet Castings, and Ladish Inc.-expressed great interest in these databases and agreed to provide $79,000 hard investment and $160,000 in-kind support for the proposed database development. The proposed databases,integrated with our PANDAT software, will provide critical data for time and money-saving simulations for processes such as solidification.