(Press-News.org) COLUMBUS, Ohio – A new alloy promises to lessen welders' risk of breathing toxic fumes on the job.
The alloy is a welding "consumable" – the material that melts under the welder's torch to fill the gap between parts that are being joined.
The new nickel alloy consumable is more expensive compared to those already on the market, but worth the cost in situations where adequate ventilation is a problem.
That's why two Ohio State University engineers invented the alloy – specifically to aid military and commercial welding personnel who work in tight spaces.
In tests, welds made with the new consumable proved just as strong and corrosion-resistant as welds made with commercial stainless steel consumables. When melted, however, the new alloy does not produce fumes of hexavalent chromium, a toxic form of the element chromium which has been linked to cancer.
All stainless steels contain chromium, but Gerald Frankel and John Lippold, both professors of materials science and engineering at Ohio State, determined that the consumable alloy that joins stainless steel parts together doesn't have to contain the metal.
Use of the new alloy essentially eliminates hexavalent chromium in the welding fumes.
The university has three issued US patents and a pending European patent application covering a series of alloys – based on nickel and copper but with no chromium – all of which can be used with standard welding equipment.
The new alloy is expensive, however. The engineers estimated that it would cost five to 10 times more than standard welding consumables, depending on metal prices.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration sets limits on workers' exposure to hexavalent chromium in welding fumes, which affect welders themselves and their surrounding coworkers. Reduced exposure to such toxic fumes requires either extreme ventilation or use of a chromium-free consumable.
Frankel said that the high cost of the alloy would be justified in situations where ample ventilation may be impossible.
"I always think of someone welding a steel pipe, deep inside a ship at sea," he said. "Ventilation might not be possible, and a breathing appartus for the welder would make working in a confined space even more difficult. In that case, using our alloy would lower the amount of ventilation needed, and help reduce costs overall."
Frankel is a corrosion expert; Lippold is a welding expert. Lippold was already looking for ways to limit the amount of another metal – manganese, which can cause neurological damage – in welding consumables, when Frankel approached him about chromium.
"We came up with an alloy that is compatible with stainless steel from a corrosion perspective, and a welding process that results in high quality welds," Lippold said. "It is a drop-in replacement for stainless steel comsumables welders use now."
Sometimes welders use a consumable as a bare metal wire, and other times they need to use an electrode made from a metal core coated with flux – a chemical agent that removes impurities from the weld. The Ohio State alloy works for either application.
In the laboratory, the researchers performed electrochemical tests to optimize the composition for corrosion resistance. They also performed mechanical tests of the weld joint to test the alloy's strength. The new alloy's performance was comparable to standard commercial welding consumables for stainless steel.
Frankel and Lippold have begun further testing of their alloy with Euroweld, Ltd., a manufacturer of specialty welding materials headquartered in Mooresville, North Carolina.
The engineers are now working on ways to lower the cost of the consumable.
The university will license the alloy and its applications for commercial development.
###
The Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program – a partnership of the Department of Defense, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Department of Energy – funded this research.
Contacts: Gerald Frankel, (614) 688-4128; Frankel.10@osu.edu
John Lippold, (614) 292-2466; Lippold.1@osu.edu
Written by Pam Frost Gorder, (614) 292-9475; Gorder.1@osu.edu
Welders can breathe easier with chromium-free alloy
2011-02-14
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Kenya's fisheries management promotes species that grow larger and live longer
2011-02-14
Marine conservationists from the Wildlife Conservation Society working in Kenya have found that better fisheries management that includes restricting fishing gear is producing more predatory and longer-lived species and is improving fishing even in adjacent areas where no management is taking place.
During a 10-year study, conservationists recording fish catches found that the implementation of fishing regulations—and particularly the banning of small-mesh seine nets that indiscriminately capture all fish—allowed practically all fish species to recover, especially ...
Extensive research demonstrates fructose does not increase food intake or impact weight
2011-02-14
A new comprehensive review, recently published in Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, concludes that fructose does not increase food intake or impact body weight or blood triglycerides in overweight or obese individuals.
The review examined data regarding the normal consumption of fructose and any subsequent development of alterations in lipid or and/or glucose metabolism or weight gain in overweight people. Researchers were unable to find any relationship between fructose and hyperlipidemia or increased weight. These findings support the results of a similar ...
New online tool predicts probability of death from stroke
2011-02-14
TORONTO, On – February 10, 2010 – Researchers at St. Michael's Hospital and the Institute for Clinical and Evaluative Sciences (ICES) in Toronto have developed a new tool that will help doctors predict the probability of death in patients after an ischemic stroke.
The study, published in the journal Circulation, found that the tool determined the likelihood of death in stroke patients 30 days and one year after an ischemic stroke. An ischemic stroke, the most common type of stroke, occurs when an artery to the brain is blocked. The tool, available online for doctors ...
Childhood physical abuse linked to peptic ulcers
2011-02-14
TORONTO, ON – Victims of childhood physical abuse are more than twice as likely to develop ulcers than people who were not abused as children, according to a new study from researchers at the University of Toronto.
"We found a strong and significant association between individuals who were abused during childhood and those were diagnosed with peptic ulcers later in life," says lead author Esme Fuller Thomson, Professor and Sandra Rotman Chair at U of T's Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work. "I originally thought the link would be explained by factors such as stress, ...
Study shows that defensive military alliances enhance peace
2011-02-14
Countries that enter into defense pacts with other nations are less likely to be attacked, according to new research from Rice University. And those countries are not more likely to attack others.
The study, "Defense Pacts: A Prescription for Peace?", was published recently in the journal Foreign Policy Analysis. It was co-authored by Rice University Associate Professor of Political Science Ashley Leeds and Jesse Johnson, a Rice graduate student in political science.
For their research, Leeds and Johnson did exhaustive analysis of defense agreements from 1816 to 2001 ...
Non-dopaminergic drug preladenant reduces motor fluctuations in patients with Parkinson's disease
2011-02-14
Tampa, FL (Feb. 10, 2011) -- Preladenant, a non-dopaminergic medication, reduces off time in patients with Parkinson's disease receiving standard dopamine therapy, an international study led by the University of South Florida found.
Results of the double-blind, randomized clinical trial are reported online today in the journal Lancet Neurology. The findings suggest that preladenant may offer a new supplemental treatment for Parkinson's disease without some of the complications of levodopa and other standard dopamine treatments.
"The goal of treatment is to provide ...
Lake-effect theory sinks, but quake timing questions go on
2011-02-14
EUGENE, Ore. -- (Feb. 10, 2011) -- A chronology of 1,000 years of earthquakes at the southern end of the San Andreas Fault nixes the idea that lake changes in the now-dry region caused past quakes. However, researchers say, the timeline pulled from sediment in three deep trenches confirms that this portion of the fault is long past the expected time for a major temblor that would strongly shake the Los Angeles Basin.
The new study, appearing in the February issue of the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, doesn't change existing thinking about the threat ...
Homogeneous tuberculosis treatment ineffective in children, UT Southwestern researchers find
2011-02-14
DALLAS – Feb. 10, 2011 – The realization of medically treating different children uniquely may start with one of the deadliest diseases in existence: tuberculosis.
New findings by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers indicate that the type of medications and the dosage routinely used to treat children with the disease should be individualized to each young patient in order to be effective.
The findings, available online and in the February issue of Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, show that currently recommended doses are much too low and that a child's ...
SMFM highlights significance of spina bifida research findings
2011-02-14
SAN FRANCISCO (February 10, 2011) — More than two thousand physicians, some of the top obstetric/gynecologists in the world who specialize in maternal-fetal medicine, especially high risk pregnancies, gathered today for their annual meeting in San Francisco to begin four days of intensive research presentations. Presentations each year at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's (SMFM) annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting ™, represent major findings in reducing high-risk pregnancies and complications.
Catherine Y. Spong, M.D., chief, pregnancy and perinatology branch, ...
SLU research implicates natural toxin as triggering Parkinson's disease
2011-02-14
ST. LOUIS – In new research from Saint Louis University, investigators have found evidence that a toxin produced by the brain is responsible for the series of cellular events that lead to Parkinson's disease. The study, published in PLoS One, found that the brain toxin DOPAL plays a key role in killing the dopamine neurons which trigger the illness.
In earlier research, Saint Louis University investigators found that DOPAL seemed to be responsible for killing healthy dopamine cells, which in turn causes Parkinson disease to develop. Now, research in an animal model ...