TABLE OF CONTENTS

MATERIALS AND SOCIETY CONVERGE . . .
. . . at TMS 2008 Annual Meeting in March

ALUMINUM COMPANIES TALK SUSTAINABILITY
Plenary Session Brings Together Top Aluminum Producers

FROM OUR SPONSOR: KEYENCE
3D Surface Analyses with Topographic Displays and More

THANK YOU FOR WORKING AT OUR SCHOOL!
Students Show their Appreciation for TMS Volunteer Efforts

TOP TEN . . .
. . . Moments from the TMS 2008 Annual Meeting

FROM OUR SPONSOR: ET '08: THE PREMIER SEMINAR AND EXPO DEVOTED TO ALUMINUM EXTRUSION TECHNOLOGY
The Most Anticipated Event in the Universe Delivers Cutting-Edge Information and Problem-Solving Resources

BRING THE ANNUAL MEETING HOME . . .
. . . with 2008 Proceedings

OVERHEARD . . .
. . . Out-of-Context Quotes from the Annual Meeting

TMS 2009 PLANNED FOR SAN FRANCISCO
Symposia Proposals for 2009 Annual Meeting Due March 31

FROM OUR SPONSOR: NANOCT: ANALYSIS OF INTERNAL MICROSTRUCTURES WITH HIGH-RESOLUTION COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY
phoenix|x-ray Systems+Services, Part of GE Inspection Technologies

JOM READER POLL . . .
. . . on NAE Grand Challenges of Engineering

WASHINGTON NEWS FROM THE FEDERATION OF MATERIALS SOCIETIES
New Congressional Caucus, Just for Nerds?

. . . at TMS 2008 Annual Meeting in March

Efficient metal production. Infrastructure development. Clean energy. Educating the future engineer. Reflecting a growing international need for sustainable technologies and a well-trained workforce to deliver these solutions, the TMS 2008 Annual Meeting in March brought engineering's role in society into focus with a series of highlighted sessions on Materials and Society. A total of 3,765 materials scientists and engineers gathered in New Orleans, Louisiana, for TMS 2008, the society's 137th technical conference. More than 2,000 papers were presented at 56 symposia over the course of five days, March 9–13.

Materials and Society themes permeated many other areas of the technical program, as well, including a high-profile session on sustainability in the aluminum industry and a discussion on improving the living conditions of the world's poorest people at the 2008 Women in Science Breakfast. A service project prior to the conference allowed attendees to put these ideas into action, while the meeting of new committees related to materials and society and energy use in metal production promised that these issues would continue to be addressed in the future.

In addition, the conference was the site of workshops, tutorials, and short courses; networking events; student competitions; and an exhibition of 155 companies demonstrating their products and services. This issue of TMS e-News will provide an overview of the meeting and its outcomes and show how to get involved in next year's conference, which is already under development.

Plenary Session Brings Together Top Aluminum Producers

As a metal, aluminum has the potential to make vehicles more lightweight, and its recyclability makes it an appealing choice for environmentally friendly applications. But to be truly sustainable, this energy-intensive industry must also be able to reduce energy consumption in the production of new aluminum and find clean power supplies. At the TMS 2008 Annual Meeting, leaders from some of the world's largest aluminum producers addressed how their companies were working to meet these challenges for the future. Representatives from Alcoa, Hydro, Rio Tinto Alcan, and United Company Rusal spoke at this unique plenary, which was organized by Hydro's Halvor Kvande (pictured), who delivered the Hydro presentation. The session reunited several of the companies that participated in the popular TMS 2005 Annual Meeting session, The Role of Technology in the Global Primary Aluminum Industry, also organized by Kvande.

A question and answer session with the panel of speakers followed the presentations, and a summary of this discussion will be published in the August 2008 issue of JOM. Below are links to individual announcements on the outcomes of the session published by three of the participating companies, including details on a new global research project and the development of new smelting technology that was unveiled during the session.

3D Surface Analyses with Topographic Displays and More

The KEYENCE VHX-600 Digital Microscope incorporates a 54 mega-pixel 3CCD Mode and a high-performance graphic engine. It produces sharp 3D images, surface profiles, and displays detailed 3D topographic images with pseudo-color and automatic, dynamic 3-axis scale calculations. A 20 times greater depth-of-field than conventional microscopes plus 3D image composition provide incomparable image quality. Includes built-in TFT display, on-screen measurements, particle counting, glare suppression, 160 GB HDD, CD-R/RW, LAN and more. Details and specs.

Students Show their Appreciation for TMS Volunteer Efforts

"Our school looks beautiful!" reads one of the thank you cards from the students at the Mary D. Coghill Elementary School in New Orleans, where 55 TMS volunteers dedicated an afternoon to improving the school's campus. On March 8, prior to the start of the conference, these TMS meeting attendees added color and fun to the campus of this school, which had been damaged in Hurricane Katrina.

Volunteers brightened the functional, but austere, modular campus where the Coghill School holds classes with murals on the classroom walls, a welcome sign at the school's entrance, brightly painted planters filled with vegetation, picnic tables, and tetherball stands.

TMS would like to thank all the volunteers who participated in the project, the local service group Hands On New Orleans that coordinated the effort, and the corporate sponsors and individual donors who financially supported the project. The activity, the first of its kind at a TMS meeting, was a project of the TMS Foundation, which hopes to hold similar events in future annual meeting host cities.

. . . Moments from the TMS 2008 Annual Meeting

So many activities took place at the TMS 2008 Annual Meeting that perhaps the best way to describe them all is succinctly. So here are ten of the top moments from the TMS 2008 Annual Meeting: moments of triumph, unexpected recognition, and new or out-of-the-ordinary meeting activities:

10. Clark Wins an iPod^®: For test-driving page-turning JOM in the exhibit hall, Justin Clark of Toyota was selected as the winner of the JOM iPod giveaway.

9. Furnace Systems Technology Workshop Opens its Doors: In its third year, this popular—and usually sold out—industry-focused workshop opened its doors to all TMS Annual Meeting attendees for the event's final sessions.

8. Leadership Changes Hands: Robert Shull of the National Institute of Standards and Technology ended his term as TMS president and Diran Apelian of Worcester Polytechnic Institute began his.

7. Long-Time and First-Time Companies Mix in Exhibit Hall: 155 companies exhibited at TMS 2008, including 24 first-time exhibitors and five companies that celebrated their 20-year anniversary with TMS.

6. Presentation Draws Camera Crew: Presenter Stephen Nelson's talk on the geology of the Katrina disaster attracted a local New Orleans reporter and camera crew.

5. Winner Surprised by Award Announcement: At the Extraction & Processing Division luncheon, Mark E. Schlesinger was named the first recipient of the TMS University Materials Council Education Resource Award.

4. Receptions Promote Networking: The first ever series of Opening Receptions provided meeting attendees with an opportunity to connect with colleagues, eat, and drink before the technical sessions began.

3. Tennessee Wins Materials Bowl: Paul Cutler and Brandon Goodwin, the two-man team from the University of Tennessee, defeated Boise State University to become the second team to have their school's name engraved on the Materials Bowl trophy.

2. Boise State Student Wins Poster Competition: Mariela Bentancur, an undergraduate from Boise State University, took home the $2,500 grand prize in the TMS Technical Division Student Poster Competition.

1. Volunteers Leave a Lasting Impression: Now that the conference is over and the exhibit packed up, TMS's presence will remain in New Orleans in the colorful drawings and outdoor equipment at the Mary D. Coghill school.

The Most Anticipated Event in the Universe Delivers Cutting-Edge Information and Problem-Solving Resources

ET '08—the Ninth International Aluminum Extrusion Technology Seminar and Exposition—is the world's longest running educational event devoted to all facets of the aluminum extrusion industry. Approximately 130 technical papers present forward-thinking research on die design and technology, metallurgy, extrusion equipment, process improvement, and product applications. Attracting a wide cross-section of industry professionals, ET '08 also includes the ET Expo, Extrusion Showcase, networking events, and more.

ET '08
May 13–16, 2008
Gaylord Palms Convention Center
Orlando, Florida USA

Register now and receive a useful gift while supplies last! Visit et08.org for details.

. . . with 2008 Proceedings

In total, nine print proceedings were published from the TMS 2008 Annual Meeting and are now available for purchase, including three new supplemental proceedings volumes that collect published conference proceedings from a variety of symposia on a particular topic. The supplemental proceedings are divided into three volumes:

• Volume 1: Materials Processing and Properties
• Volume 2: Materials Characterization, Computation, and Modeling
• Volume 3: General Paper Selections

. . . Out-of-Context Quotes from the Annual Meeting

Collecting quotes overheard in sessions and hallways and republishing them with absolutely no context to clarify them has become a tradition in TMS e-News. So here are a few statements overheard at the TMS 2008 Annual Meeting to get you thinking and to give you an idea of the discussions that took place at the conference:

"Solid waste landfills give new meaning to the term 'gross national product.'"

"Here's a Lord of the Rings Mithril ring. It's not yours to keep."

"One should never underestimate the will of an incumbent material to fight back."

"Here's a breakthrough concept: Lighter cars use less fuel."

"By adding sustainability to any course, you'll fill up the classroom."

"We need to avoid the Field of Dreams approach of we will build it if we can and then later find a market for it."

"How much uncertainty is shown here? Basically the entire graph."

"So many times we send out a resume and cover letter fast to meet a deadline instead of well to present ourselves as the best that we are."

"The way a biologist thinks can mesh with the way a materials engineer thinks."

"The greatest value is in the products that we produce rather than the ones that we recycle."

"Education is not for knowing more but for behaving differently."

Symposia Proposals for 2009 Annual Meeting Due March 31

In 2009, the TMS Annual Meeting will be held February 15–19 in San Francisco, California. The Pyrometallurgy Committee of the TMS Extraction & Processing Division has already announced plans to hold an international symposium at the meeting to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of Peirce-Smith Converting. TMS is now seeking additional symposia proposals for the 2009 conference through March 31.

To submit a proposal, visit CMS Plus, the on-line conference and proceedings management system through the link below. Log in to the system, click on "Propose a Symposium" from the menu on the left of the screen, and follow the directions to submit a proposal for the TMS 2009 Annual Meeting. Once symposia are finalized, the conference will open up for abstract submissions. See future editions of TMS e-News for more information.

phoenix|x-ray Systems+Services, Part of GE Inspection Technologies

High-resolution X-ray tomography allows the visualisation and spatial analysis of internal microstructures of small samples. The new nanotom is the first 180 kV nanoCT system worldwide that is tailored completely to highest-resolution applications in the fields of material science, microelectronics, geology, etc. Unprecedented CT results demonstrate the possibility to analyse the 3D-microstructure of small objects (e.g. biological and geological samples, molded plastics, light metal castings) with minimal preparation and the exceptional resolution of less than 0.5 microns per volume pixel (voxel).

By granting the user the ability to navigate the internal structure of an object slice-by-slice in a non-destructive manner, the system creates new analysis capabilities thus far have been unreachable: Any internal detail showing a contrast in material, density or porosity can be visualized and distances can be measured. This opens a new dimension of the 3D-microanalysis and will partially substitute destructive methods like traditional slicing—saving costs and time per sample evaluated.

. . . on NAE Grand Challenges of Engineering

The JOM Reader Poll asks readers to weigh in on topical questions related to the latest issue of the journal. For the upcoming April issue, JOM asks the following question:

The U.S. National Academy of Engineering has released a list of 14 grand challenges that engineers face in the 21st century and is now asking the public to vote for the challenges they deem most important. Which one would you choose?

• Make Solar Energy Affordable
• Provide Access to Clean Water
• Provide Energy from Fusion
• Restore and Improve Urban Infrastructure
• Develop Carbon Sequestration Methods
• Advance Health Informatics
• Manage the Nitrogen Cycle
• Engineer Better Medicines
• Reverse-Engineer the Brain
• Enhance Virtual Reality
• Prevent Nuclear Terror
• Advance Personalized Learning
• Secure Cyberspace
• Engineer the Tools for Scientific Discovery

New Congressional Caucus, Just for Nerds?

The science and technology community gained a new Congressional proponent when physicist Bill Foster was elected to fill the seat of retired Rep. J. Dennis Hastert. The Illinois Democrat will serve the remainder of this year and will compete in the November election for a full two-year term. As his campaign biography states, Rep. Foster "has played a leading role in several groundbreaking experiments in elementary particle physics (over the last 25 years). He also managed several multimillion dollar accelerator construction and research projects and led teams of engineers and physicists to help build the latest round of Fermilab's giant particle accelerators. Along the way he designed and built equipment using a number of advanced technologies, including high-speed electronics, superconducting magnets, analog and digital integrated circuit design, and high-power electronics. Bill has received several awards for these technical developments."

Foster is talking about forming an informal "nerd caucus" with the other two physicists in the House—Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) and Rep. Vern Ehlers (R-MI). "It would be sort of like the nerd corner in the cafeteria in high school," he told Congressional Quarterly.

ABOUT e-NEWS

TMS e-News is a monthly e-mailed newsletter that provides information on The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society's membership, meetings, publications, and other activities of interest.

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News Editor:
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OPEN ACCESS ARTICLES

The following articles from TMS journals and web sites are available to all readers at no charge. This month’s featured articles are:

JOM: "Learning from Systems Biology: An 'Omics' Approach to Materials Design" by Krishna Rajan
An understanding of systems biology provides an excellent paradigm for the materials scientist. Ultimately, one would like to take an "atoms-applications" approach to materials design. This paper describes how the concepts of genomics, proteomics, and other biological behaviors that form the foundations of modern biology can be applied to materials design through materials informatics. [READ]

Journal of Electronic Materials: "Formation of Intermetallic Compounds Between Liquid Sn and Various CuNi_x Metallizations" by V. Vuorinen, et al.
Interfacial reactions between liquid tin and various copper-nickel alloy metallizations as well as the subsequent phase transformations during the cooling were investigated with an emphasis on the microstructures of the reaction zones. It was found that the extent of the microstructurally complex reaction layer (during reflow at 240°C) does not depend linearly on the nickel content of the alloy metallization. On the contrary, when copper is alloyed with nickel, the rate of thickness change of the total reaction layer first increases and reaches a maximum at a composition of about 10 at.% Ni. [READ]

Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A: "A New Constitutive Model for the Finite Element Simulation of Local Hot Forming of Aluminum 6xxx Alloys" by S. Gouttebroze, et al.
A new internal variable constitutive model for use in finite element (FE) simulation of local hot forming of 6xxx aluminum alloys is presented. The model relates the flow stress to the temperature, total strain rate, and internal variables, which represent the dislocation density and the contributions to the hardening stress from elements in solid solution and precipitates. The time evolutions of the internal variables are modeled by an equation representing the accumulation/annihilation of dislocations and by a precipitate model developed elsewhere, taking into account a size distribution of precipitates. The parameters of the constitutive model have been fitted to tensile tests at different temperatures, strain rates, and precipitate states. [READ]

Materials Technology@TMS: Education: "JOM Focus on Biological Materials and Biomaterials Science" by Cathy Rohrer
This article reviews the growing importance of the field of biology in materials science and engineering, pointing to a series of articles in the March issue of JOM as examples. [READ]

Materials Technology@TMS: Integrated Computational Materials Engineering: "JOM Focuses on Materials Informatics" by Cathy Rohrer
This article reviews a series of articles presented in the March 2008 issue of JOM on varied aspects of materials informatics. Falling under the umbrella of "materials informatics" are high-throughput data generation via either experimentation or computation, data storage and dissemination, and various forms of data mining and data analysis including pattern recognition, data visualization techniques, and mathematical model development. [READ]

Materials Technology@TMS: Lead-Free Solders: "The Fourth Element: SnAgCuX Research at Ames Laboratory" by interview with Iver Anderson
In the July 2007 issue of JOM, Iver Anderson, senior metallurgist at the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory and adjunct professor at Iowa State University; Jason Walleser, a graduate student at Iowa State; and J.L. Harringa of Ames Laboratory published the article, "Observations of Nucleation Catalysis Effects during Solidification of SnAgCuX Solder Joints." Here, Anderson describes the progress made on this work since the article's publication and possible future directions for research on Sn-Ag-Cu (SAC) solders. [READ]

Materials Technology@TMS: Magnesium: "The Economics of Using Magnesium Sheet" by Theresa M. Lee, Richard Roth, and Randolph Kirchain
There is significant pressure on automakers to develop components with lighter weight materials to address increased fuel economy regulations and customer demand for improved fuel efficiency and performance. Low density materials become increasingly appealing even when considering their higher cost. Magnesium, which is the lowest density structural metal is a promising solution. [READ]

Materials Technology@TMS: Materials for Nuclear Power: "Infusion of Nanotechnology into Nuclear Technology" by I. Charit and K.L. Murty
Nuclear science and technology has made steady progress leading to the current 'nuclear renaissance' and perhaps leading to a fusion reactor becoming a reality in generating electricity. The United States had seen a long stagnancy period in this important field, quite evident from the fact that no new commercial nuclear reactor had been ordered for a long time. But the tide has started to turn, and the comeback talk ('nuclear renaissance') is buzzing around. [READ]

Materials Technology@TMS: Superalloys: "The Role of Precious Metals in Oxidation Resistant Coatings" by B.A. Pint
It has been well-known for many years that platinum and other precious or platinum group metal (PGM) additions to alumina-forming nickel-base alloys improve the adhesion of the thermally grown external α-Al₂O₃ layer or scale. This article reviews some of the work being done with PGM additions. [READ]

Programs, on-line registration, and more:

5th International Conference on Advanced Materials and Processing (ICAMP-5)
Harbin, China
September 3-6, 2008

2008 International Hydrogen Conference: Effects of Hydrogen on Materials
Moran, Wyoming
September 7-10, 2008

11th Intl. Symposium on Superalloys (Superalloys 2008)
Champion, Pennsylvania
September 14–18, 2008

3rd Global Foundry Sourcing Conference 2008
Qingdao, China
September 16-17, 2008

The 13th National Conference & Exhibition on Titanium
Luoyang, China
September 17-18, 2008

10th CNS International Conference on CANDU Fuel
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
October 5-8, 2008

Materials Science & Technology 2008 Conference and Exhibition (MS&T'08)
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
October 5-9, 2008

2008 Global Symposium on Recycling, Waste Treatment and Clean Technology (REWAS 2008)
Cancun, Mexico
October 12-15, 2008

2008 Fourth International Conference on Multiscale Materials Modeling (MMM-2008)
Tallahassee, Florida
October 27-31, 2008

Processing Materials for Properties-III (PMP-III)
Bangkok, Thailand
December 7-10, 2008

2nd International Conference on Thermomechanical Simulations and Processing of Steel (SimPro'08)
Ranchi, India
December 9-11, 2008

TMS 2009 Annual Meeting
San Francisco, California
February 15-19, 2009

5th International Materials Symposium (MATERIAiS 2009)
Abstracts due: 10/31/2008
Lisbon, Portugal
April 5-8, 2009

International Deep Drawing Research Group Conference 2009 (IDDRG 2009)
Abstracts due: 12/1/2008
Golden, Colorado
June 1-3, 2009

Electronic Materials Conference (EMC 2009)
University Park, Pennsylvania
June 24-26, 2009

European Metallurgical Conference 2009 (EMC2009)
Innsbruck, Austria
June 28 - July 1, 2009

Conference of Metallurgists (COM 2009) Nickel-Cobalt 2009
Sudbury, Ontario, Canada
August 23-26, 2009

14th International Conference on Environmental Degradation in Nuclear Power Systems
Virginia Beach, Virginia
August 23-27, 2009

Thermec 2009: Sixth International Conference on Advanced Materials and Processes
Abstracts due: 11/7/2008
Berlin, Germany
August 25-29, 2009

2009 International Symposium on Liquid Metal Processing and Casting
Abstracts due: 1/15/2009
Sante Fe, New Mexico
September 20-23, 2009

5th International Conference on Science and Technology of Ironmaking (ICSTI'09)
Abstracts due: 10/31/2008
Shanghai, China
October 19-22, 2009

Materials Science & Technology 2009 Conference and Exhibition (MS&T'09)
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
October 25-29, 2009

TRANSFAC '09 - International Conference on Innovative Solutions for the Advancement of the Transport Industry
Detroit, Michigan
October 31 - November 3, 2009

TMS 2010 Annual Meeting
Seattle, Washington
February 14-18, 2010

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