Commercialization of bulk nanostructured metals and alloys

Abstract

Almost 30 years of research elucidating the mechanisms and reproducibility of nanostructuring has enabled the progressive emergence of reliable methods to manufacture bulk nanostructured metallic materials with superior properties. This article reviews examples of the use of nanostructured metals in engineered products that are currently commercially available, or will soon become available for specific biomedical, aerospace, electronics, and energy industry applications. The examples illustrate how the making and marketing of nanostructured materials follow similar development stages as other new advanced materials, but with additional challenges at each stage. Challenges include the difficulties of scaleup, intricacies of nanoscale characterization, the lack of consensus standards for product quality, competition with long-established conventional materials, regulatory hurdles associated with nanoscale technology, and consumer/user education on the virtues and limitations of nanostructuring. Finally, we discuss how the experiences to date with nanostructuring by various methods have established precedents that can guide manufacturing process development for advanced nanostructured metal and alloy applications.

Texture evolution in high-pressure torsion processing

“…Nevertheless, it has been demonstrated that HPT processing can lead to more significant grain refinement than ARB and ECAP processing [49][50][51][52][53][54] and in addition HPT produces a higher fraction of high-angle grains boundaries (HAGBs) [55,56]. It is reasonable to conclude, therefore, that processing by HPT will attract more attention with the increasing current emphasis on the commercialization of bulk nanostructured materials [57].…”

Advanced Photocatalysts for CO2 Conversion by Severe Plastic Deformation (SPD)

“…Although the application of SPD for CO 2 photoreduction is currently limited to the HPT method, which produces only small amounts of samples, the fundamentals developed by HPT should be used in the future to develop new methods with upscaled sample sizes and higher potential for industrial applications. This last issue is a general requirement of SPD for future commercialization in almost any application [ 173 ].…”

How Streptococcus mutans Affects the Surface Topography and Electrochemical Behavior of Nanostructured Bulk Ti

“…This is associated with insufficient mechanical strength [ 13 ], which can be enhanced by grain refinement to the nanoscale using large plastic deformation techniques [ 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 ]. Nanostructuring allows not only the reduction of the diameter of the Ti implant, but it also allows its immediate loading, which has been confirmed by in vivo trials [ 10 , 18 ]. Nevertheless, long-lasting dental materials must simultaneously demonstrate advantageous mechanical and surface properties in the complex oral environment, which contains a variety of inorganic (e.g., fluoride ions [ 19 , 20 , 21 ]) and organic species (e.g., proteins [ 22 , 23 ] and bacteria [ 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 ]).…”

“…However, the increased reactivity of nanocrystalline material can also lead to accelerated corrosion processes in more aggressive conditions [ 15 , 35 ]. Although nanostructured Ti for dental applications has been extensively studied in regard to fabrication methods [ 15 , 36 ], properties characterization [ 37 , 38 , 39 ], and commercialization [ 18 ], little is known about its behavior in the presence of oral bacteria [ 40 , 41 ]. Hence, this study seeks to shed light on the effect of S. mutans on the surface morphology and electrochemical properties of nanostructured bulk Ti.…”