Carpenter appeals to numerous markets including defense, aerospace, medical, industrial, transportation, and energy markets and does so on a global market. During my shadowing, I’m aiming to uphold the core values of Carpenter which include accountability, collaboration, respect, and integrity.
I will be shadowing my mentor at the the Reading, PA location of Carpenter, which specializes in nickel, stainless, and specialty alloys. The company has made improved alloys globally through higher wear resistance, increased corrosion resistance, increased electrical efficiency, and high cleanliness & durability.
In one project, they formed a partnership with Rolls Royce, and developed a new special alloy Ferrium® N63 steel, with an increased corrosion resistance. The graph below describes its corrosion using the Rockwell scale to measure hardness and at increasing depths.
One major focus of the research & development sector is additive manufacturing. Additive manufacturing is also known as 3D printing, or the act of manufacturing products by adding layer upon layer of material. With such new technologies, Carpenter just commissioned an Additive Manufacturing Technology Center in 2017. Currently additive manufacturing with metallurgy is being explored but certain factors must be considered to determine if the metal can be made through 3D printing. Factors include the materials susceptibility to micro cracking, its anisotropic properties (directional strengths and weaknesses), and unknown acceptable ranges of process variation (a semiconductor). The following picture shows two solidification cracks, a type of micro-cracking metals experience when heated to a certain temperature.
*The reason certain details cannot be included in my blogpost is due to the confidentiality of the presentations sent to me by my mentor. Many of Carpenter’s projects are done in conjunction with or for customers like NASA and The United States sector of defense.
Applications of Alloys 