APWORKS has announced that the first of its second-generation Scalmalloy materials is ready for application.
Scalmalloy CX has been developed specifically for cryogenic temperature applications. It is said to boast good fracture toughness and ductility at very low temperatures down to 22 Kelvin.
Traditional cryogenic temperature applications, such as liquid hydrogen storage and pumping, use stainless steel components. But, per APWORKS, the high density of steel can be detrimental to the performance of aerospace applications. The company says that the low density and 'excellent' properties of Scalmalloy CX 'make it ideal' for the next generation of hydrogen propulsion technologies.
So far, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) has tested the Scalmalloy CX material, sharing their results at the recent ICEC/ICMC conference, with APWORKS now set to commence application work in-house. The company confirmed on LinkedIn that it will initially only produce the new material variant on its own machines internally, making it more widely available once it has 'sufficient experience to support others.' This is the same approach it took with the original Scalmalloy material and, the company says, will minimise risk for the end-user.
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
On an upcoming episode of the Additive Insight podcast, APWORKS CEO Jon Meyer confirmed work was ongoing in the development of cryogenic applications, 'which might be relevant to the future of hydrogen-fuelled aircraft.'
Meyer told the Additive Insight podcast: "We see a lot of potential in hydrogen. Scalmalloy CX is tailored towards high strength and ductility and toughness at cryogenic temperatures, so down to 22 Kelvin. That could be very useful in those applications where today you're using stainless steel for a lot of components around hydrogen storage and management of hydrogen.
"Stainless steel is not the lightest material in the world. It has very good strength, but when you get down to minimum wall thicknesses, the things are heavy. If you're flying vehicles, rather than a tanker carrying LPG across the world, that matters. So, something like Scalmalloy CX could be really good."
Meyer confirmed on the Additive Insight podcast that APWORKS is also working on a high-temperature Scalmalloy variant, as well as a variant for electrical and thermal conductivity.
The Additive Insight podcast episode featuring APWORKS CEO Jon Meyer will be broadcast in September.
