Metals

News and Updates

NIST Team Uses Neutron Beams to Authenticate Historic Coins and Spot Fakes

April 29, 2025

Imaging antique coins with beams of low-energy neutrons, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and their colleagues have

A black and white image of the aluminum alloy under a microscope. Most of the image is light grey, but there are many small black spots that have lines extending out from them like cracks.

Rare Crystal Shape Found to Increase the Strength of 3D-Printed Metal

April 7, 2025

NIST researchers have found special atomic patterns called quasicrystals in 3D-printed aluminum alloys.

An elongated test instrument with steel cylinders that rapidly heats and applies force to a material.

Spotlight: Test Instrument Puts Materials Under Forces at High Speeds to Mimic Many Instantaneous Situations in the Real World

March 16, 2024

This elongated test instrument, the first of its kind in the world, puts materials under two extreme conditions in fractions of seconds.

Blog Posts

Trey Diulus poses sitting in the lab with a large, complex scientific instrument in the foreground.

Curiosity to Career: Encouraging Students to Pursue STEM Education

NIST Researchers Measure Greenhouse Gases During the Solar Eclipse

Passing Photons Through Chicken, VR for First Responders, and 3D-Printed Metal: A Sample of Stories on NIST Social Media

Events

Artificial Intelligence for Materials Science (AIMS) Workshop

Wed, Jul 9 - Thu, Jul 10 2025

As part of the JARVIS workshop series, the 6th Artificial Intelligence for Materials Science (AIMS) workshop will be

Projects and Programs

PhaseSeparation-predictions in Mo(S,Te)2 on Bulk

Advanced Materials Design: Electronic and Functional Applications

Ongoing

Accelerating Materials Discovery using Machine Learning and AI Using machine learning and AI techniques along with high-throughput DFT calculations materials with specific properties are identified to accelerate the the discovery process for a variety of applications. Some of the specific materials

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µMAG: Micromagnetic Modeling Activity Group

Ongoing

µMAG advances the state of the art in micromagnetic modeling by establishing and maintaining communications among interested researchers, by defining a collection of standard micromagnetic problems, and by leading the development of a public reference implementation of micromagnetic software.

Ab initio theoretical modeling for predicting structure and properties in advanced materials

Ongoing

Project activities include: Electronic structure of semiconductor-oxide interfaces. Thermodynamics of flexible microporous materials for gas storage Gas adsorption in microporous materials Analysis of topological materials, including magnetic topological insulators High-throughput screening of

EBSD grain orientation map for additively manufactured Ti-6Al-4V showing elongated prior-Beta grain morphology in the build direction (vertical in this image)"

Additive Manufacturing Fatigue and Fracture

Ongoing

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS FACILITIES and CAPABILITIES PUBLICATIONS - see individual staff webpages on right POST-DOCTORAL OPPORTUNITIES - jump to section below Metal additive manufacturing (AM) is not used in fatigue and fracture critical applications despite industrial need. The goal of this project is

Publications

A Historical Review of Cryogenic Mechanical Testing in Type 304 Stainless Steels – State of the Art and Current Outlooks

May 8, 2025

Author(s)

Nicholas Derimow, Jake Benzing, Timothy Weeks

Of the austenitic stainless steels, Type 304 has become ubiquitous throughout industry. While our inclinations as a metallurgical community may be to assume

On the chemomechanics of bubble growth in hydrogen attack of plain carbon steels

May 2, 2025

Author(s)

May Martin, Kshitij Vijayvargia, T Nguyen, Mohsen Dadfarnia, Aleksandar Staykov, Petros Sofronis, Masanobu Kubota, John Pugh

High temperature hydrogen attack (HTHA) is a form of degradation of carbon steels exposed to high temperature and high-pressure hydrogen whereby internal

Microstructural Features and Metastable Phase Formation in a High-Strength Aluminum Alloy Fabricated Using Additive Manufacturing

April 25, 2025

Author(s)

Andrew Iams, Jordan Weaver, Brandon Lane, Lucille Giannuzzi, Feng Yi, Darby LaPlant, John Martin, Fan Zhang

Additive manufacturing (AM) has captured recent attention for its potential to fabricate high-strength aluminum alloy components. A detailed understanding of

Quantifying grating defects in X-ray Talbot-Lau interferometry through a comparative study of two fabrication techniques

April 24, 2025

Author(s)

Alexandre Pereira, Simon Spindler, Zhitian Shi, Lucia Romano, Michal Rawlik, Federica Marone, Martin Stauber, Marco Stampanoni, Daniel Josell

The performance of an X-ray grating interferometry system depends on the geometry and quality of the gratings. Fabrication of micrometer-pitch high-aspect-ratio

Software

Fluxon in Niobium at 4.5 K. The black contours represent the magnetic lines of force in this superconductor. Total phase shift corresponds to h/2e.

HolograFREE

An electron hologram is a fringe modulated image containing the amplitude and phase information of an electron transparent object. The HolograFREE routines

Tools and Instruments

Nanocalorimeter Measurement System

This Nanocalorimeter Measurement System is used for nanocalorimetry measurements at fast heating rates (100 °C/s to 100,000 °C/s) and measurements of samples

Positron Annihilation Lifetime Spectrometer

Positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy uses positrons to probe material defects/voids/free volume at the sub-nm scale. The general working principle is

Instrument scientists Conan Weiland (left) and Nick Quackenbush (right) at the Hard X-ray Photoelectron Spectrometer (HAXPES).

Hard X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (HAXPES)

The Hard X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (HAXPES) end station uses a tunable, focused X-ray beam in the tender spectrum (2.0 keV to 7.5 keV) to probe the depth

Vector Potential Photoelectron Microscope (VPPEM)

The Vector Potential Photoemission Microscope endstation sits at the end of both the SST-I and SST-II beamlines, providing both soft (0.1 keV to 2.2 keV) and

Metals

News and Updates

NIST Team Uses Neutron Beams to Authenticate Historic Coins and Spot Fakes

Rare Crystal Shape Found to Increase the Strength of 3D-Printed Metal

Spotlight: Test Instrument Puts Materials Under Forces at High Speeds to Mimic Many Instantaneous Situations in the Real World

Blog Posts

Curiosity to Career: Encouraging Students to Pursue STEM Education

NIST Researchers Measure Greenhouse Gases During the Solar Eclipse

Passing Photons Through Chicken, VR for First Responders, and 3D-Printed Metal: A Sample of Stories on NIST Social Media

Events

Artificial Intelligence for Materials Science (AIMS) Workshop

Projects and Programs

Advanced Materials Design: Electronic and Functional Applications

µMAG: Micromagnetic Modeling Activity Group

Ab initio theoretical modeling for predicting structure and properties in advanced materials

Additive Manufacturing Fatigue and Fracture

Publications

A Historical Review of Cryogenic Mechanical Testing in Type 304 Stainless Steels – State of the Art and Current Outlooks

On the chemomechanics of bubble growth in hydrogen attack of plain carbon steels

Microstructural Features and Metastable Phase Formation in a High-Strength Aluminum Alloy Fabricated Using Additive Manufacturing

Quantifying grating defects in X-ray Talbot-Lau interferometry through a comparative study of two fabrication techniques

Software

HolograFREE

Tools and Instruments

Nanocalorimeter Measurement System

Positron Annihilation Lifetime Spectrometer

Hard X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (HAXPES)

Vector Potential Photoelectron Microscope (VPPEM)

Awards

Mark Stoudt Named ASM Fellow

Dr. Ursula Kattner Honored with 2020 William Hume-Rothery Award

MML Project Leader Enrico Lucon Receives ASTM International Award of Merit

MML Group Leader Frank DelRio Named ASME Fellow