TABLE OF CONTENTS

KENNAMETAL CEO LEADS MS&T KEYNOTES
Biomaterials and Materials Informatics Round Out Keynote Topics

NANOTECH TAKES MANY FORMS AT MS&T '05
Hot Topic Receives Attention in Distinguished Lecture, Panel Discussion, Sessions, and Short Course

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MS&T WORKSHOP DISCUSSES ROADMAP FOR MEASUREMENT STANDARDS
NIST Project Seeks Input on Assessing U.S. Measurement System

TMS HOSTS MATERIALS SOCIETIES COUNCIL ON ADVOCACY
Summit Produces Mission Statement and Objectives

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AIST JOINS MATERIAL ADVANTAGE PROGRAM
Students Benefit from Resources of Four Societies

HOW TO . . .
. . . Nominate a Colleague for a TMS Society-Level Award

TMS ACCREDITATION COMMITTEE EVALUATES 20 PROGRAMS THIS FALL
Committee Seeks New Volunteers, Particularly from Industry

WASHINGTON NEWS FROM FMS
White House Issues Guidance to Agencies for New R&D Budgets

Biomaterials and Materials Informatics Round Out Keynote Topics

Turning technical developments into revenue-producing products will be the focus of Markos I. Tambakeras's (pictured) keynote speech at the Materials Science and Technology 2005 (MS&T '05) Conference. Tambakeras, chairman, president, and chief executive officer of Kennametal, will headline the keynote sessions at MS&T '05, to be held September 25–28 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Two additional keynote presentations will be featured at MS&T '05. Alan J. Russell, executive director of the Pittsburgh Tissue Engineering Initiative will present a talk on the topic of regenerative materials, addressing the possibilities of what can be learned from the design and synthesis of materials that communicate with living systems. In another keynote session, "Moving Materials Informatics Forward," panelists will discuss the potential for developing and applying informatics, a tool used in the biomedical field to improve information capabilities, to materials science and engineering. The discussion will be moderated by Toni Marechaux of the U.S. National Academies.

For a preview of the MS&T '05 technical program offerings, see the July issue of JOM.

Hot Topic Receives Attention in Distinguished Lecture, Panel Discussion, Sessions, and Short Course

From its transformative role in society to issues of commercialization, nanotechnology will be well represented at the MS&T '05 conference. A highlight of the MS&T meeting, the ASM/TMS Distinguished Lectureship in Materials and Society will focus on the transformative effects of nanoscale science and technology in a presentation delivered by William J. Madia of Battelle (pictured). Following Madia's speech will be a special session, Frontiers of Materials Science 2005: Perspectives on Nanotechnology, featuring presentations on government's role in nanotechnology along with its impact on our energy future and materials engineering education. Rounding out the session will be a panel discussion, Commercialization of Nano: Industrial Perspectives, featuring representatives from Pittsburgh companies PPG Industries, Bayer MaterialScience, U.S. Steel, and Alcoa. Steven Zylstra of the Pittsburgh Technology Council will moderate.

Additional nanotech program elements include a four-session nanomaterials symposium on synthesis and characterization, nanocomposites, and nanofilms and the one-day short course, "Introduction to Nanomanufacturing and Nanotechnology." Through this course, instructors Arvind Agarwal of Florida International University and Sudipta Seal of the University of Central Florida will provide attendees with an understanding of engineering nanomaterials. The course has an application-oriented focus without going deep into the mathematical and analytical complexities of nanomanufacturing.

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NIST Project Seeks Input on Assessing U.S. Measurement System

Identifying emerging national measurement needs as well as timely solutions to priority needs is the aim of a major new collaborative activity sponsored by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). NIST is initiating a process to determine unsatisfied requirements for measurements and standards that will lead to the development of an action-plan roadmap for improving measurement standards. Recognizing that the success of the program will require active participation by metrology users, standards developers, and instrument manufacturers, NIST will conduct an interactive workshop at MS&T '05 that presents an overview of the project and requests participation in accurately assessing U.S. Measurement System needs. As the U.S. measurement institute, NIST conducts metrology research and provides calibrations, reference materials, and other measurement-related tools and services.

Summit Produces Mission Statement and Objectives

In June, TMS and the Materials Research Society (MRS) hosted the first Materials Societies Council on Advocacy at TMS headquarters in Warrendale, Pennsylvania. The two-day summit began with a discussion of current advocacy efforts being made by each society, which allowed the council to identify potential areas for cooperation. Presentations by Ron Kelley, Washington representative for MRS, and Karin Esbiansky-Pavese, an MRS/OSA Congressional fellow in Senator Joe Lieberman's office, showed the group additional opportunities and key choices that would need to be made in order to be successful.

The mission of the group was defined in this statement: "One mission of the Materials Societies Council is to equip and energize our constituents to be effective advocates for the materials profession and its manufacturing base through interactions with government policy makers and the public at large to ensure a robust economy and a secure, sustainable way of life." Based on this mission, the group identified the following focus areas as deserving the most attention:

• Passage of MSE-favorable legislation
• Materials as a visible technology sector at the heart of innovation
• Politically active society members
• Technologically savvy government policy makers

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Students Benefit from Resources of Four Societies

For 2006, the Association for Iron and Steel Technology (AIST) has signed on as a full partner in the Material Advantage program, a joint program that now brings together the resources of four professional societies for materials science and engineering students. In 2004, the Material Advantage program was launched, with participation from TMS, ASM International, and the American Ceramic Society, offering students full membership benefits of each society for a single membership rate of $25. The addition of AIST means all Material Advantage student members will have access to more scholarship money, an electronic and rotating print subscription to Iron & Steel Technology magazine, access to on-line industry news, and discounts on AIST meeting registration and publications.

. . . Nominate a Colleague for a TMS Society-Level Award

Each year, TMS honors outstanding members of the materials science and engineering community with awards for various achievements and service to the field. To distribute these awards, TMS relies on its members to recommend qualified candidates. Professional member awards are divided into two categories: division-level awards and society-level awards. TMS offers 11 professional awards at the society level, meaning that the awards are granted by TMS as a whole and not affiliated with any particular division. Nominations for these awards are due by October 31.

Each society-level award recognizes a specific facet of a materials professional's career, so first view the list of available society-level awards to determine which one best suits the colleague you wish to honor. Awards honor such varying contributions as success in technology transfer, publication of an outstanding paper, service to TMS, contributions to education, leadership in the materials community, and accomplishments in specific fields of technology. Some awards, such as that of TMS Fellow, honor professionals who have served long and distinguished careers, while others, such as the Robert Lansing Hardy award, honor young professionals showing exceptional promise.

Once you have matched a nominee with an appropriate award, you may begin the nomination process. While requirements differ for each award, most require submission of a nomination form, a current biography, and letters of endorsement for the nominee. Winning nominees will be notified in July 2006.

Committee Seeks New Volunteers, Particularly from Industry

TMS is seeking qualified program evaluators to participate in the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) process for accrediting materials, ceramics, polymeric materials, biomaterials, and metallurgical engineering programs. This fall, 20 programs are coming up for accreditation and the TMS Accreditation Committee must provide qualified evaluators for each of these visits.

"The experience of working with a team that consists of program evaluators from each discipline provides an opportunity to see the whole big picture of engineering education," said Ashok Saxena, chair of the TMS Accreditation Committee.

The committee is seeking volunteer program evaluators from academia, federal research labs, and industry. There is a particular shortage of evaluators from industry, according to Saxena, who suggests that industry members who currently serve or have served on industrial advisory boards of academic programs would make ideal candidates for the positions. Applicants will be reviewed during the Accreditation Committee meeting at MS&T '05. To participate, potential evaluators should submit a full resume, letter of intent, and names of references to Gail Miller, TMS executive assistant, at gailm@tms.org or call (724) 776-9000, ext. 238.

White House Issues Guidance to Agencies for New R&D Budgets

The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has released its annual guidance to federal agencies as they develop their R&D budgets for fiscal year 2007. OMB directs that agencies should maximize the coordination and planning of their R&D programs through the interagency National Science and Technology Council, a part of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Two areas singled out for such coordination are federal collections of scientific data, and R&D assessment.

The administration will give highest priority to interagency R&D in approving budget requests. Agencies are directed to give special focus to the following cross-cutting programs:

• Homeland Security R&D
• High-End Computing and Networking R&D
• National Nanotechnology Initiative
• Priorities in the Physical Sciences, with special attention to instrumentation and facilities for development of next-generation light sources and resolution of electronic, chemical, and mechanical properties of structures with sub-nanometer resolution
• Understanding Complex Biological Systems
• Energy and Environment, including the president's Hydrogen Fuel Initiative

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EDITORS' CHOICE

The editors of TMS publications select the must-read papers from the latest editions:

JULY JOM: "From Electric Corsets to Self-Cleaning Trousers: The Materials Science and Engineering of Clothing" by Maureen Byko
In the late 1800s, George Scott, a physician, purported to combine technology, fashion, and health into "Dr. Scott's Electropathic Corsets and Belts." Those products no longer exist, but if he were alive today, Scott might be pleased to know that textile R&D has advanced in diverse directions, including combinations of electrical devices and clothing. This feature article takes a look at the role of materials science and technology in clothing and textiles. [READ]

JULY JOM: "Magnesium: The First Quarter Millennium" by George C. Holywell
From its discovery in the mid-1700s, through wars and geopolitical changes, to the present, magnesium has been studied extensively and processing techniques have evolved. This article provides an overview of the history of magnesium production worldwide.[READ]

JULY JOM: "Nickel Laterite Technology—Finally a New Dawn?" by Michael G. King
This paper describes progress made in nickel laterite technology since 1998, when high-pressure acid leaching, a low-cost method to recover nickel from laterite ores, was introduced in Western Australia. The article discusses developments in nickel laterite technology in relation to four essential factors: economic incentive, technology developments since 1998, corporate commitments since 1998, and challenges remaining.[READ]

JUNE JOM: "Novel Rare-Earth-Containing Lead-Free Solders with Enhanced Ductility" by M.A. Dudek, R.S. Sidhu, and N. Chawla
Several lead-free material systems are available as replacements for traditional lead-based solders in microelectronic packaging, including near-eutectic combinations of tin-rich alloys. Although these materials have superior mechanical properties as compared to the Pb-Sn system, much work remains in developing these materials for electronic packaging. Small additions of rare-earth elements have been shown to refine the microstructure of several lead-free solder systems, thus improving their mechanical properties. This study investigated the effect of the addition of lanthanum on the melting behavior, microstructure, and shear strength of an Sn-3.9Ag-0.7Cu alloy. The influence of LaSn3 intermetallics on microstructural refinement and damage evolution in these novel solders is discussed. [READ]

JULY JOM: "Modeling Peirce-Smith Converter Operating Costs" by Ka Wing Ng, Joel P.T. Kapusta, Ralph Harris, Albert E. Wraith, and Roberto Parra
A cost model for the operation of copper converters is developed in this study, allowing an evaluation of the economic impact of changes to operating procedures and/or injection technologies. The model uses material and enthalpy balances for the slag and copper blows in a Peirce-Smith converter. The length of the converting cycle is calculated from the capacity of the blowers and the required blast along with the times required for other operations such as charging and skimming and idle time. Downtime, labor, and materials for converter lining repair as well as other costs such as oxygen enrichment are also considered in the cost calculations. The model is formulated in a spreadsheet using common programming language and is easily extended to examine the costs of alternative operating strategies or injection technologies such as high-pressure, shrouded injection. Example calculations showing the cost benefits of changing operating procedures and technology are presented. [READ]

JULY JOURNAL OF ELECTRONIC MATERIALS: "Changes in Interfacial Bonding Energies in the Chemical Activation of GaAs Surfaces" by Ning Liu and Thomas F. Kuech
The bonding chemistry and the role of the additional HCl-based prebonding treatment when combined with ozone and oxygen plasma treatments on the GaAs/GaAs direct bonding were investigated using multiple internal transmission Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (MIT-FTIR) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The results showed that the additional HCl-based pretreatment led to an increased bonding strength and a qualitative reduction in the void density. The removal of the initial native oxide facilitates the diffusion of water to the GaAs wafer surface where it can react to form primarily Ga-based oxides, leading to a substantially increased bond strength compared to those without the removal of interfacial native oxide. [READ]

JULY JOURNAL OF ELECTRONIC MATERIALS: "Low-Base-Resistance InP/InGaAs Hetrojunction Bipolar Transistors with a Compositionally Graded-Base Structure" by K. Ouchi, H. Ohta, M. Kudo, and T. Mishima
To reduce base resistance of an InP/InGaAs heterojunction bipolar transistor grown by gas-source molecular beam epitaxy, the doping characteristics of carbon-doped InGaAs and the dependence of doping concentration on current gain were investigated. Using a thicker graded base was found to increase current gain significantly, resulting in increased doping level in the InGaAs: C-base layer. In particular, an 80-nm-thick graded base produces a base sheet resistance of 285/sq and maintains a practically useful current gain of 23 and a high cut-off frequency of 139 GHz. [READ]

JULY JOURNAL OF ELECTRONIC MATERIALS: "Hemisphere-Shaped Silicon Crystal Wafers Obtained by Plastic Deformation and Preparation of Their Solar Cells" by Kazuo Nakajima, Kozo Fujiwara, and Wugen Pan
Hemisphere-shaped crystal wafers can be prepared by the plastic deformation of Si crystal wafers. To obtain hemispherical Si wafers, graphite convex and concave dies were used. An Si wafer was set between dies and pressed at high temperatures. The Si wafer was pressed by an overweight of 200 N at various temperatures. The deformation regions in which well-shaped (100) and (111) wafers can be obtained by plastic deformation were determined using parameters of thickness and temperature. In order to demonstrate that the shaped wafers are of sufficiently high quality to be used in the preparation of devices, solar cells were fabricated using the hemispherical Si wafers pressed at 1,120°C and 1,200°C. The conversion efficiency of the hemispherical solar cells is 8.5–11.5%. It was clarified from the conversion efficiency of solar cells that the quality of the shaped crystal wafers can be improved by a proper annealing process. Thus, the hemispherical shaped wafers are of high quality to be used in the preparation of devices. [READ]

METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS TRANSACTIONS A: "Three Dimensional Materials Science and Phase Transformations and Deformation of Magnesium Alloys" by Various
The July issue of Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A has two symposia: one on three-dimensional materials science and one on phase transformations and deformation of magnesium alloys. The Three Dimensional Materials Science Symposium was chaired by Marc Degraff, Jonathan Spowart, and Jeff Simmons. The Phase Transformations and Deformation of Magnesium Alloys Symposium was chaired by J.F. Nie. Both of these deal with timely topics, and the papers are well written. The rest of the issue has articles on alloy phases, transport phenomena, mechanical behavior, the environment, welding and joining, solidification, materials processing, composite materials, and light metals.[READ]

ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION OF MATERIALS IN NUCLEAR POWER SYSTEMS-WATER REACTORS
Salt Lake City, UT
Aug. 14-18, 2005

INTL CONFERENCE ON SILICON CARBIDE AND RELATED MATERIALS
Pittsburgh, PA
Sept. 18-23, 2005

MS&T '05
Pittsburgh, PA
Sept. 25-28, 2005

INTL SYMPOSIUM ON SUPERALLOYS 718, 625, 706 AND DERIVATIVES
Pittsburgh, PA
October 2-5, 2005

2006 TMS ANNUAL MEETING
San Antonio, TX
March 12-16, 2006

2006 SOHN INT'L SYMPOSIUM
Abstracts Due: Nov. 15
San Diego, CA
Aug. 27-31, 2006

MS&T '06
Cincinnati, OH
Oct. 15-19, 2006

2007 TMS ANNUAL MEETING
Orlando, FL
Feb. 25-Mar. 1, 2007

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