Guest talk: Douglas C. Hoffman, Amorphous Metals (AMs) & Composites for NASA Spacecraft Hardware; Science & Applications

Section Technologist, Mechanical Fabrication and Testing, Jet Propulsion Lab; Materials Science and Applied Physics, Caltech

Abstract

NASA JPL is the world’s leader in robotic space exploration, as demonstrated by the recent success of the Mars Science Laboratory and its rover, Curiosity. JPL missions require engineering for extreme environments, which results in innovative materials solutions. Developing and implementing materials for these missions is the focus of the new JPL Metallurgy Facility, founded by Dr. Hofmann. Among the materials studied in this facility are Amorphous Metals (AMs), a unique class of non-crystalline alloys that have been the subject of intense scientific research since their invention at Caltech in 1960. During the 1990’s, NASA funding for microgravity research on the Space Shuttle and International Space Station lead, in part, to the development of AMs that could be formed into hardware several centimeters thick – so called Bulk Metallic Glasses (BMGs). These alloys have found widespread commercialization in products such as golf clubs, cell phone cases, jewelry, and sports equipment. Current NASA and JPL funding aims to develop applications for AMs in spacecraft hardware, such as gears, coatings, mirrors, paneling, foams and shielding. Each of these applications has been identified as an area that could benefit from the unique mechanical properties or processing ability of AMs. They exhibit high hardness and low wear resistance (for gears and coatings), net-shaped processability similar to plastics (for mirrors), and benchmark energy absorption capabilities (for panels, foams and shields). Work in the new JPL Metallurgy Facility, in collaboration with Caltech and Industry, to develop amorphous metal technology will be discussed.

Bio

 

Dr. Douglas Hofmann is a Principal Investigator in the areas of Metallurgy and Materials Science and is the Section Technologist for Mechanical Fabrication and Test (357). He is also a Lecturer and Visiting Associate in Materials Science and Applied Physics at the California Institute of Technology. He received his B.S. and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California at San Diego in 2003 and 2004, respectively, and earned his M.S. and Ph.D. in Materials Science in 2006 and 2008 from Caltech. From 2008-10, he worked as a Head of Research and Development for Liquidmetal Technologies Inc., working towards the industrialization of amorphous metals and composites. In 2010, he was hired at JPL, where he has worked as a scientist and as the founder of the new Metallurgy Facility. His research group at Caltech, currently made up of three Ph.D. candidates, has contributed to the development of the field of bulk metallic glass composites. He is an author of more than 20 peer-reviewed journal publications, including articles in Science, Nature, Nature Materials, and The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. He also has written several patents and patent applications at Caltech, several of which have been licensed for commercial production.