What are Complex Metallic Alloys (CMA) ?
What ist proposed?
It is proposed to contribute to a strengthening of the competitiveness of metallic materials for the benefit of European industries by the formation of a European Network of Excellence CMAdeveloping within five years into a European Integrated Centre for the Development of New Metallic Alloys and Compounds (IDEA).This Centre will unite an appropriate number of specialised laboratories to form an integrated body dedicated to the intelligent search for new metallic materials and their development towards technological applicability. Collaborating on a first challenging topic, Complex Metallic Alloys, these laboratories are going to build up IDEA, put it into practice and demonstrate that it is capable to embark upon the research and development of materials that could not be dealt with before. CMA will unite 25 high-reputation core-group (representing a person-year critical mass of 225 p.h and 70 PhDstudents in 12 countries) and 60 associate laboratories from 21 countries in Europe.
What justifies hopes for new metallic materials?
The performance of metals-based industries till today relies largely on materials based on elementary metals and binary metallic alloys towhich a number of additional elements are added in smaller quantitiesto tailor them for particular properties. Ternary or quaternary alloys in which three or four components, at comparable quantities, determine the basic properties (e.g. the precipitate-hardened nickel alloys) are much less frequently used. Also the intermetallic phases, materials whose existence is centred around particular stoichiometries, are mainly employed in technology as binaries or pseudobinaries. Ternary intermetallics (e.g. the Heusler-type alloys) are only rarely used. Of the half a million ternary metallic systems theoretically possible,only a few percent have ever been looked at crystallographically but, with the exception of a few cases, there is no information on their physical and chemical properties. This holds even more so forfour-component intermetallics. Summarizing: Of the huge variety of possible metallic systems only a very small group has ever been investigated and developed into use.
New metallic materials: For what purpose?
Due to the unparalleled diversity of metallic materials, metal-based industries will remain of outstanding importance for the competitiveness of Europe's economy in the 21st century. However, in order to remain successful, metals have to stand up against their competitors, like polymers and ceramics, and they must fulfil the conditions of sustainable development. Of the two possible strategies to respond to these challenges, i.e. improvement of known materials ortapping entirely new systems, the applying institutions suggest the second one. At a time where the great majority of possible metallic systems have not even been looked at, hopes are justified to find among these systems new alloys with properties offering superior solutions with respect to the market demand for outstanding properties at competitive cost combined with environmental harmlessness and lowenergy consumption during production, service and recycling.
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