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TECHNOLOGY LICENSING OPPORTUNITY

Fabrication of High Entropy Alloys Utilizing Commercial Alloys and In-Situ Process Control

Using additive manufacturing presents a novel approach to fabricating HEAs that optimizes material composition, microstructure, and properties.

Opportunity: Idaho National Laboratory (INL), managed and operated by Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC (BEA), is offering to enter into a license or collaborative research agreement to commercialize this fabrication technique for high entropy alloys. This technology transfer opportunity is part of a dedicated effort to convert government-funded research into job opportunities, businesses, and, ultimately, an improved way of life for the American people.

Overview: High entropy alloys (HEAs) are a class of materials that have unique properties, making them attractive for use in a wide range of industrial applications such as nuclear, aerospace, and petroleum. However, the cost of conventional manufacturing of pure metal and pre-alloyed powders has limited their use in real-world applications.

This technology aims to successfully print a CoCrFeNi high entropy alloy as a functionally graded material (FGM) to a standard commercial alloy such as SS316L or Inconel 718. Using LENS, a unique ability to feed from three powder feeders at an optimized ratio and process parameters, the team plans to hybridize SS316L, Inconel 718, and STELLITE21 to fabricate a CoCrFeNi multi-principal element composition. This compositional design would include additions of Mo, Nb, and impurities of Ti, Si, and C.

Benefits:

• This technology employs a high-energy laser heat source with multiple powder feeders, giving operators in-situ heat input and material composition control.


• This allows for the optimization of material composition, microstructure, and properties.


• Using a combination of commercial alloys to reach HEA-like compositions of multi-principal element alloys can significantly reduce the cost of feedstock material.

Target Applications:

• Industries that require high-performance materials that can withstand high temperatures and corrosive environments.


• LENS makes this technology commercially viable, affordable, and repeatable, making it attractive to various engineering applications.

Development Status: TRL 2; early stage concept.

IP Status: Patent Application No. 18/069,023, “Methods of Forming a Multi-Principal Element Alloy,” BEA Docket No. BA-1296.

INL seeks to license the above intellectual property to a company with a demonstrated ability to bring such inventions to the market. Exclusive rights in defined fields of use may be available. Added value is placed on relationships with small businesses, start-up companies, and general entrepreneurship opportunities.

Please visit Technology Deployment’s website at https://inl.gov/inl-initiatives/technology-deployment for more information on working with INL and the industrial partnering and technology transfer process.

Companies interested in learning more about this licensing opportunity should contact Andrew Rankin at td@inl.gov.

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