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Paranthaman, Parans

Publications and source records attributed to Paranthaman, Parans.

Sintering-based Metal Additive Manufacturing Methods for Magnetic Materials

In this chapter, we review the relationship between solid-state sintering and additive manufacturing (AM) methods for fabricating soft and hard magnetic materials. Heat treatment as a post-processing method has been done in conjunction with AM as a method to improve density and/or mechanical properties. In binder jetting (BJT) of metal powders, sintering is a crucial post-processing step and is necessary for obtaining the final product. This is because the parts are only in the “green” state when they leave the BJT printer, with poor mechanical properties and high porosity. Sintering densifies and strengthens the green part into the final product. A potential industrial application for sintering-based AM is the fabrication of magnetic materials. The motivation for doing so, the process and properties of the AM magnets, and the potential applications of post-sintered AM magnets are explored.

Wang, Haobo↗

Advanced Permanent Magnet Generator Topologies Using Multimaterial Shape Optimization and 3D Printing: Preprint

A vast majority of utility-scale wind turbine generators in the United States are dependent on foreign- sourced rare-earth permanent magnets that are vulnerable to supply chain uncertainties. Many small wind original equipment manufacturers are motivated to pursue continuous improvements to the generator design to lower the material and production costs and improve performance by lowering cogging torque and increasing the efficiency. Traditional design and manufacturing offer limited opportunities. In this work, we demonstrate advanced design approaches for a 15-kW baseline wind turbine generator by making use of recent progress in three-dimensional (3D) printing of polymer- bonded magnets and, electrical and structural steel. We explore three methods of magnet parametrization using Bezier curves resulting in symmetric, asymmetric and multimaterial magnet designs. We employ a multiphysics approach combining parametric computer-aided design modeling, finite- element analysis and targeted sampling to identify novel designs with more opportunities for reducing rare-earth material, improving efficiency and minimizing cogging torque. The results show that asymmetric-pole design and multimaterial-pole designs offer a greater opportunity to minimize rare-earth magnet materials by up to 35% with similar performance as the baseline generator, suggesting newer opportunities with design freedom beyond traditional limits of symmetry and as allowed by 3D printing.

Bezier curves↗

An Assessment of Additively Manufactured Bonded Permanent Magnets for a Distributed Wind Generator

In this paper, we examine and compare the performance of a generator design optimized using additively manufactured NdFeB-SmFeN in nylon-polymer-bonded permanent magnets (PMs) against a generator design with conventional NdFeB sintered PMs. To realize this, a commercially available 15-kW wind generator's rotor is re-optimized using both additively manufactured and sintered NdFeB magnets using simple geometric parameterization that allowed for two specific magnet shapes, namely, arc-shaped and crown-shaped designs. Results showed that for a similar generator performance, the designs with additively manufactured bonded PMs are more cost-competitive in terms of the estimated PM material cost and also have negligible eddy current magnet losses.

additive manufacturing↗

Traction Motor Design Trade-Offs with Additively Manufactured Anisotropic Bonded Magnets

Extrusion based big area additive manufacturing (BAAM) has been previously demonstrated for the fabrication of dense anisotropic bonded magnets. This paper reports on design trade-offs when such magnets are employed in a motor designed for electric vehicle applications. An external rotor fractional slot permanent magnet synchronous machine designed with sintered dysprosium free magnets rated for 100kW peak and 50kW continuous power is used as the baseline. The impact of using the bonded BAAM magnets on the motor and inverter volumes, motor loss and cooling systems as well as demagnetization margins is evaluated. It is found that although the motor power density reduces due to the lower energy product of the BAAM magnets, there are other system level benefits including reductions in the cooling system requirement, lower inverter rating and volume, decrease in short circuit current and improved demagnetization marains.

additive manufacturing↗

3-D Printed Electro-Magnetic Objects for THz Communications

Advanced materials and manufacturing techniques will pave the path towards high quality electro-magnetic circuits that operate up through THz and into optics regime. Digital additive manufacturing (AM) techniques offer game-changing potential for large scale manufacturing of Radio-frequency (RF) circuits and system in custom 2D/3D geometries. The technical collaboration will explore the design flexibility and product customization capabilities of additive manufacturing techniques to process magnetic materials in custom 3D geometries with tailored dielectric properties and frequency response characteristics. Transformation of an RF circuit design idea into a 3D printed system using additive manufacturing techniques will bring together the elements of advanced materials, additive integration, and low-cost manufacturing for future advanced wireless communication systems.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Facile Surface Coatings for Performance Improvement of NMC811 Battery Cathode Material

High nickel content layered oxide LiNi 0.8 Mn 0.1 Co 0.1 O 2 (NMC811) is a promising cathode material with a high theoretical capacity of 200 mAh g -1 for use in high energy density lithium-ion batteries. However, its surface can easily get passivated by LiOH and Li 2 CO 3 due to its surface residual Li 2 O being reacting with ambient moisture and CO 2 . Herein, NMC811 was treated in a 3.0 M solution of lithium bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide (LiFSI) in dimethyl carbonate (DMC) at 60 °C for 8 h, 16 h and 24 h, respectively, resulting in coating of the NMC811 surface with LiF due to the basic nature of those residual lithium salts that react with LiFSI. The facile treatment of NMC811 in LiFSI/DMC not only improves the cycling stability but also enhances the capacity of the Li/NMC811 cells, mainly because of the thinning of the Li 2 CO 3 layer as suggested by cyclic voltammograms and impedance analyses. This method opens a new avenue for activation of passivated NMC811 particles for practical battery applications.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

Challenges in Postprocessing of Hybrid Manufacturing of Magnet Polymer Composites to Enhance the Energy Product of NdFeB Bonded Magnets

Bonded permanent magnets need to process magnetic filler particles and binder together which is a form of hybrid or composite manufacturing that needs to simultaneously process multimaterials. Polymer bonding of the permanent magnets decreases the energy product of the bonded magnets which varies with square of loading fraction of magnetic materials. However, due to high viscosity of bonding polymer prohibits loading higher than 80 volume % of magnetic materials in most efficient loading process such as compression molding. To further increase the loading of magnetic fraction in the bonded permanent magnets, it is expected to be beneficial to introduce a fraction of nonreacting thermally sacrificial polymer along with permanent bonding polymer in the least permissible of about 20 volume % of the polymer. This process of first adding the sacrificial polymer for higher processability for composites and later removing it via post processing such as heat treatment provides a simple example of inclusion of both the additive and the subtractive stages of hybrid manufacturing. These hybrid composite magnets can be heat treated to remove the sacrificial polymer to further increase the density and energy product which might require to implement hot isostatic pressing for compaction. Although the identification of such ideal polymer requires an extensive polymer chemistry research, we have compression molded several permanent bonding polymers such as nylon, polycarbonate (PC) and polyphenyl sulfide (PPS) and potential sacrificial polymer such as polyoxymethylene (POM), polystyrene (PS), and Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) and heat treated to remove the sacrificial polymers. It is discovered that oxygen free low temperature pyrolizable polymers could be the potential candidates for increasing the magnet particles loading for achieving high energy products.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Dynamics of Emim + in [Emim][TFSI]/LiTFSI Solutions as Bulk and under Confinement in a Quasi-liquid Solid Electrolyte

Quasi-liquid solid electrolytes are a promising alternative for next-generation Li batteries. Furthermore, these systems combine the safety of solid electrolytes with the desired properties of liquids and are typically formed by solutions of Li salts in ionic liquids incorporated into solid matrices. Here, we present a fundamental understanding of the transport properties in solutions of lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (LiTFSI) in 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide ([Emim][TFSI]), either in bulk form or incorporated in a boron nitride (BN) matrix. We performed a series of quasi-elastic neutron scattering experiments that, given the high incoherent neutron scattering cross section of hydrogen, allowed us to focus on the Emim + dynamics. First, [Emim][TFSI]/LiTFSI solutions (0.5 and 2.5 mol·kg –1 ) were investigated and we show how the increase in the concentration reduces the Emim+ mobility and increases the activation energy of their long-range motions. Then, the 0.5 mol·kg –1 solution was incorporated into the BN matrix and we report that the diffusivities of the Emim + cations that remain mobile under confinement are highly accelerated in comparison with the bulk sample and the activation energy of these motions is drastically reduced. We present the experimental evidence that this effect is related to the content of the Emim+ cations immobilized near the surfaces of the BN pores.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

MADE3D: Enabling the Next-Generation High-Torque- Density Wind Generators by Additive Design and 3D Printing

Direct-drive wind turbine generators are increasing in popularity, thanks to recent project developments - especially offshore, where reliability and efficiency are major cost drivers. Yet, high capital costs are forcing many original equipment manufacturers to consider lightweight, high-torque density generators for next-generation multi-megawatt turbines that may be difficult to realize by traditional design or manufacturing methods. In this study, we present a new design framework enabled by advanced machine learning and multimaterial additive manufacturing to perform a magnetic topology optimization that maximizes the torque per rotor active mass for a 15-megawatt direct-drive permanent magnet wind generator. A comparison of the proposed approach against conventional topology optimization demonstrated a significant increase in computational efficiency and accuracy in performance predictions. Results using single and multimaterial compositions for rotor core and magnets identify a wider choice of 3D printable designs for a given specification. A hybrid combination of sintered and dysprosium-free polymer-bonded magnets shows good potential for torque performance by saving material costs up to 8.75%. More than 30% improvement in rotor torque densities is identified which can marginally improve the overall generator torque density. With the rapid evolution of multipowder deposition technologies, this study can greatly inspire a new paradigm for design-driven manufacturing with novel material compositions and lightweight, low-cost, high-strength multimaterial geometries that were previously unexplored for direct-drive generators.

3D printing↗

Insight into the Solid Electrolyte Interphase Formation in Bis(fluorosulfonyl)Imide Based Ionic Liquid Electrolytes

The formation of the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) in an ionic liquid electrolyte of 0.5 m lithium bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide (LiFSI) in 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide at high cell voltages (1.7–1.9 V) is investigated in ordered mesoporous carbon (OMC) based Li metal cells using an operando small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) technique coupled with electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and ex situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). It is demonstrated that discharging the OMC Li metal cells to ≈2 V and holding the cell voltage constant induces a rapid current increase with time, confirming extensive reduction and SEI formation. XPS analysis reveals that LiF is formed at open cell voltage (OCV), which is attributed to the carbenes generated at the lithium negative electrode because of its reaction with EMIm cation diffusing to and initiating the reaction with FSI - anions at the carbon positive electrode. It is confirmed that the chemical reaction at OCV and electrochemical reduction at high cell voltage of the FSI - anion plays a protective role against EMIm cation co-intercalation into the carbon positive electrode during the initial discharge. Operando SANS studies also suggest that slight differences occur in the surface composition and reaction mechanism as a function of cell voltage.

1-ethyl-3- methylimidazolium bis(fluorosulfonyl)im↗

Fabrication and Characterization of Composite Membranes for the Concentration of Lithium Containing Solutions Using Forward Osmosis

In this study, an energy and highly time efficient, cost effective, and scalable forward osmosis (FO) composite polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane is developed to concentrate lithium chloride recovered from naturally occurring geothermal brine resources. Dense thin robust defect-free Kynar-PVDF membranes are fabricated on porous PVDF hollow fiber supports. Various membrane fabrication parameters such as membrane thickness, coating solution concentration, cross-linker concentration, and curing temperature are studied to develop a defect-free dense membrane. Advanced characterization tools such as FIB-SEM, Raman, FTIR spectroscopy, and XRD are used to study the surface and cross-sectional morphology, chemistry of crosslinking, crystallinity and chemical structure of the dense PVDF membrane. FO is utilized to concentrate LiCl in the solution from 36 to 175 g L -1 with an average water transfer rate of 0.450 L m -2 h -1 (LMH) at 85 °C. Furthermore, the membrane showed stable performance for more than 550 h while maintaining the purity of the concentrated lithium chloride solution of >99.99 wt%. Overall, the results suggest that the FO-based technology is an innovative, time and energy efficient approach compared to the conventional technologies for concentration of battery grade LiCl for application in lithium ion batteries and other clean energy technologies.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Additive manufacturing of highly dense anisotropic Nd–Fe–B bonded magnets

Extrusion based big area additive manufacturing process is utilized for fabrication of dense anisotropic bonded magnets. High loading fraction (≥70 vol%) of magnequench anisotropic Nd–Fe–B powder in nylon is used for preparing anisotropic bonded magnets. A higher energy product of ~143.2 kJ/m 3 is obtained for the post printed magnetic field aligned at 1 Tesla. These findings make an important step towards the fabrication of gap magnets with energy product between ferrite and Nd–Fe–B sintered magnets. Finally, printed bonded magnets exhibited better thermal stability, mechanical properties and superior magnetic properties compared to commercial injection molded magnets.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

3D-Printed Permanent Magnets Outperform Conventional Versions, Conserve Rare Materials

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have demonstrated that permanent magnets produced by additive manufacturing can outperform bonded magnets made using traditional techniques while conserving critical materials. The project is part of DOE’s Critical Materials Institute (CMI), which seeks ways to eliminate and reduce reliance on rare earth metals and other materials critical to the success of clean energy technologies.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Energy Storage

ORNL Distinguished Scientist Parans Paranthaman is discovering new materials with potential for greatly increasing batteries' energy storage capacity and bring manufacturing back to the US.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗