2012

Issue 1

Materials &

Science & Technology at the Ames Laboratory

Manufacturing § Critical materials - industry perspective

§ Expertise pipeline

§ Technology success stories

§ Strategic partnerships
Contents

Short Circuiting the

“Edisonian” Approach

4Awards

17

Copyright 2012 by the Ames Laboratory. All rights 

reserved. For additional information about the Ames 

Laboratory or topics covered in this publication, 

please contact: 

ENERGY

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF Office of

Science

Inquiry is published biannually by the Ames 

Laboratory Office of Public Affairs. Iowa 

State University operates the Laboratory 

for the U.S. Department of Energy under 

contract DE AC02 07CH11358. 

Editor, Inquiry

Ames Laboratory

111 TASF

Ames, Iowa 50011-3020

515-294-9557

www.ameslab.gov

16

on the Block

New Kid

Success

S t ori es

10PAGE

The Ames Laboratory is a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory seeking solutions to energy-related 

problems through the exploration of chemical, engineering, materials and mathematical sciences, and physics. 

Established in the 1940s with the successful development of the most efficient process to produce high-purity 

uranium metal for atomic energy, Ames Lab now pursues much broader priorities than the materials research that 

has given the Lab international credibility. Responding to issues of national concern, Ames Laboratory scientists 

are actively involved in innovative research, science education programs, the development of applied technologies 

and the quick transfer of such technologies to industry. Uniquely integrated within a university environment, the 

Lab stimulates creative thought and encourages scientific discovery, providing solutions to complex problems and 

educating and training tomorrow’s scientific talent.

Steve Karsjen: Public Affairs Director

Kerry Gibson: Editor

Breehan Gerleman Lucchesi: Contributing Editor

Grant Luhmann: Art Director

Make a “Class” Comeback

Rare Earths

14

18 Partnering with Other Labs

6 Productive Partnerships

9 Rare-Earth Recycling
Inquiry Issue 1 | 2012 3

From the Director

Materials and Manufacturing

anufacturing, we are told, is the key to 

a robust economy. It adds value and it creates 

jobs. But if you are going to manufacture a 

magnet, a motor, a car, a computer or an 

airplane, one of the first things you need to do is figure out 

what materials you’re going to make it from.

Materials are selected for their properties (e.g. 

whether they are magnetic, transparent, electrically 

conductive, etc.); for performance factors, such as their 

strength-to-weight ratio; for their availability and cost; or 

even for purely esthetic reasons. Whatever drives the 

selection of a particular material, though, manufacturing 

cannot occur without the existence of an assured supplychain for it. The Ames Laboratory is among the research 

centers that are the most consistently successful in 

the world at bringing advanced basic science together with manufacturing 

applications in the realm of materials. This kind of success in technology 

transfer requires many skills and capabilities, but the first of these is worldleading fundamental research.

Our work addresses the invention of new materials, the manufacture of 

materials, and the processes for manufacturing with these materials.

The Ames Laboratory has a proud history of inventing materials. Binary 

quasicrystals, magnetic zinc alloys, optical metamaterials, magnetocaloric 

compounds, high-temperature superconductors and topological insulators have 

all been invented and made in Ames Lab research projects. Perhaps our biggest hit, 

however, has been the invention of the lead-free solder alloy that is now the standard for 

the manufacture of all consumer electronic products in the world.

The Lab has an even longer history of influencing the manufacture of materials, starting out 

in the 1940s with our very first project – purifying uranium. We have developed the basic processing 

methods used to make industrial quantities of the magnetostrictive material Terfenol-D, and to make 

superconducting wires out of magnesium diboride. We continue this excellence in processing in our 

Materials Preparation Center, which is the world’s preferred provider of pure rare earths, among many 

other things.

Recent successes have included novel approaches to the processing of materials that will enable 

manufacturing of titanium parts with enormously reduced waste. Since titanium can be very expensive, 

and traditional manufacturing methods can result in less than 10 percent of the original material being 

utilized in the final product, this is an important advance. It was recently recognized with an “America’s 

Next Top Energy Innovator” award from the Department of Energy, and is being commercialized through 

a new start-up company, Iowa Powder Atomization Technologies.

Read on to find out how Ames Lab research is providing the materials for a resurgence in manufacturing. 

M

Alex King, Director

The Ames 

Laboratory has 

a proud history 

of inventing 

materials.
Awards

4 Inquiry Issue 1 | 2012 

Canfield selected for 

E.O. Lawrence Award

Ames Laboratory physicist Paul Canfield has won a 2011 Ernest 

Orlando Lawrence Award in recognition of his outstanding work in 

synthesizing and characterizing materials in single crystal form. Canfield 

is the first Ames Laboratory scientist to win a Lawrence Award.

Canfield, who is also a Distinguished Professor and the Robert Allen 

Wright Professor of physics and astronomy at Iowa State University, 

accepted the award at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., May 21, 2012. 

He is one of only nine winners named for 2011.

The Lawrence Award citation reads, “Paul C. Canfield will be honored 

for innovative syntheses and high-quality single crystal solution growth 

of novel new materials and the collaborative consummate elucidation of 

their fundamental properties using a range of techniques.” 

The latter part of the citation is exceptionally appropriate 

according to Canfield. 

“I have been truly fortunate to enjoy a host of friends, colleagues and 

collaborators over the past 20 years at Ames Lab,” says Canfield. “We 

can, and have repeatedly, formed groups and teams to tackle problems 

that would be too large for a single researcher or group. This is not 

only efficient, but also fun, like sharing an intense obsession or hobby 

with friends.”

The Department of Energy’s Lawrence Award recognizes contributions 

in research and development supporting the DOE. The Lawrence Award was established in 1959 to honor the 

memory of Dr. Ernest Orlando Lawrence, who invented the cyclotron, a particle accelerator. The award includes a 

gold medal and an honorarium.

Vela makes Hispanic Engineer’s “Top 40”

Javier Vela-Becerra, Ames Laboratory chemist, has made 

Hispanic Engineer magazine’s “40 under 40” list of top 

young engineers. Vela was featured in the fall issue of 

the magazine, and his research is focused on photoactive 

nanomaterials for applications in biology, catalysis and 

energy. To see the article, go to http://content.yudu.

com/Library/A1u77k/HispanicEngineerandI/

resources/index.htm

Paul Canfield

Jenks named AAAS Fellow

Ames Laboratory’s Cynthia Jenks, assistant 

director for scientific planning and division director 

of chemical and biological sciences, has been elected 

as a 2011 Fellow of the American Association for the 

Advancement of Science. Jenks was elected a AAAS 

Fellow for her “scientifically or socially distinguished 

efforts to advance science or its 

applications.”

Jenks was cited for “major 

discoveries about surfaces of 

aluminum-rich quasicrystals, 

for sustained scientific 

outreach, and for leadership in 

scientific planning within the 

Ames Laboratory of the U.S. 

Department of Energy.”

Cynthia Jenks

Javier Vela-Becerra
Houk receives ACS Spectrochemical Analysis Award

Ames Laboratory researcher and Iowa State University 

chemistry professor Robert S. (Sam) Houk has been honored with the 2012 Award in Spectrochemical Analysis, presented by 

the Analytical Division of American 

Chemical Society. Houk will receive 

the award at the ACS national meeting 

in Philadelphia in August.

Houk is the 26th recipient of the 

award since its inception in 1987 and 

joins his Ames Lab colleague and mentor, the late Velmer Fassel (1988), in 

being so honored.

According to Houk, his nomination was based on a number of improvements he has made to inductively coupled 

plasma mass spectroscopy, or ICP-MS, a technique that 

converts compounds into their atomic components. The 

highly sensitive equipment is capable of detecting extremely small concentrations of these atomic components, as low 

as parts per trillion.

Inquiry Issue 1 | 2012 5

Thiel named MRS Fellow

Ames Laboratory chemist Pat Thiel has been named a Fellow of 

the Materials Research Society for 2012. Thiel was chosen for her 

“seminal contributions to understanding the structure, reactivity, 

and tribology of quasicrystal surfaces, and to understanding growth 

and stability of metal nanostructures and metal thin films.”

Thiel, who is also an Iowa State University Distinguished 

Professor of chemistry, has been an active member of MRS for 

many years and has served as co-chair for two different MRS 

symposia in the past. She is the third Ames Laboratory researcher 

to be named MRS Fellow, joining Ames Lab Director Alex King 

(2009) and metallurgist Karl Gschneidner (2011).

The honor is just the latest in a long list of achievements for 

Thiel. She is also a Fellow of the American Vacuum Society, the 

American Physical Society and the Institute of Physics.

Ho awarded APS 2012 

Aneesur Rahman Prize

Ames Laboratory physicist Kai-Ming Ho has been selected by the American Physical Society to receive the 2012 

Aneesur Rahman Prize for Computational Physics sponsored by International Business Machines. Ho was selected for the prize 

for “his pioneering work in the development of computational physics for 

photonic crystal and atomic cluster 

structures calculations.”

The Rahman Prize, established in 

1992 with support from the IBM Corporation, recognizes and encourages 

outstanding achievement in computational physics research. It consists of 

an honorarium and a certificate.

IPAT one of “America’s Next Top Energy Innovators”

Iowa Powder Atomization Technologies, founded 

by Ames Lab research assistants Joel Rieken and Andy 

Heidloff, was one of the top three startup companies 

selected in the Department of Energy’s “America’s Next 

Top Energy Innovator” challenge. The contest, which 

included 14 startup companies from around the country, 

was based on a public vote and an expert review. 

IPAT is using gas atomization technology developed 

at Ames Laboratory to make titanium powder. Powdered 

titanium is easier to work with than casting the metal, 

particularly given titanium’s tendency to react with 

the mold material. Titanium’s strength, light weight, 

biocompatibility and resistance to corrosion make it ideal 

for use in artificial limbs, military-vehicle components, 

biomedical implants, aerospace fasteners and chemical 

plant valves.

As part of America’s Next Top Energy Innovator, the 

DOE reduces both the cost and paperwork requirements 

for startup companies to obtain option agreements to 

license some of the 15,000 patents and patent applications 

held by its 17 national laboratories. 

Robert S. Houk

Pat Thiel

Joel Rieken and Andy Heidloff

Kai-Ming Ho
6 Inquiry Issue 1 | 2012 

the limitation of machining is with the tools. The ability 

to operate faster or cut deeper results in more components 

produced per given time using the same resources. With a 

better performing tool, this output demand can be satisfied 

in the long term. 

Heidloff: And many, many tools or components that 

are needed for advanced manufacturing are made from 

metals. Metals processing is so important for improving 

materials, whether that means making them work at higher 

temperatures or for longer durations.

George Byers, vice president for government and 

community relations, Rare Element Resources Inc.: 

And part of the challenge of making better materials is 

convincing policy makers of the fast-growing needs in 

manufacturing that materials science can help address, 

and that the regrowth of the United States’ intellectual 

infrastructure is too slow to catch up to other countries. We 

need policy makers to act to encourage materials research 

at universities, national laboratories and corporations that 

already have the capabilities to do this work.

What are the nation’s most critical 

manufacturing challenges?

Joel Rieken, co-founder, Iowa Powder Atomization 

Technologies: When we look to the future, whether it’s in the 

aerospace, automotive, military or energy sectors, everything 

is moving toward advanced materials. In many cases, those 

will be advanced metals. 

Andy Heidloff, co-founder, Iowa Powder Atomization 

Technologies: We’ll need to make these metals with two 

things in mind. They’ll need higher performance, and we’ll 

need to do that more economically. 

Jason Goldsmith, materials research scientist, Greenleaf: 

Industry is always striving for the competitive edge, and that 

means in price, but also in performance and quality. That’s 

true for cutting tools and fine ceramic products like those 

made by Greenleaf. Demands for finish machined goods are 

rising along with globally competitive operating and energy 

costs. One way to counter this is to increase productivity 

using the same given equipment and resources. Often 

Productive Partnerships

Joel

Rieken

Andy

Heidloff

Jon

Snodgrass

Eric

Summers

George

Byers

Jason

Goldsmith

By Br eeha n G e r le m a n Lucc he s i

ne of Ames Laboratory’s missions is to transfer 

technologies to the private sector and to other federal 

agencies. The Ames Laboratory has a long tradition of 

moving technologies into the economy and in working 

with partners to help solve materials issues. Ames Lab does 

this by licensing intellectual property developed with DOE 

funds, educating tomorrow’s scientific workforce, publishing 

research findings, and entering into research or technical 

assistance agreements. 

Research agreements with non-DOE entities advance 

or tailor Ames Lab-developed technologies, or create new 

materials with specific properties. All work for non-DOE 

organizations must meet the missions of DOE and the Ames 

Laboratory, must not compete with U.S. private industry, must 

be fully funded, and is performed on a best effort basis. 

Read on for several industrial partners’ perspectives 

on the benefits of the unique expertise available at the 

Ames Laboratory.

O
Inquiry Issue 1 | 2012 7

How do you think Ames Laboratory 

can help train the next generation of 

materials scientists and advanced 

manufacturing workers?

Heidloff: Finding trained metals processing engineers and 

scientists is a real problem, from what we hear from our industrial collaborators, and what’s advantageous about Ames 

Laboratory is that it’s colocated with Iowa State University so 

there’s a steady supply of potential workforce. Those students 

can be trained at Ames Lab in cutting-edge materials science 

and technologies and then be placed in industry to help solve 

the expertise gap.

Rieken: Ames Laboratory, with its partnership with ISU, 

is a great place to “seed” technology in students, our potential 

workforce, so they can see the potential of advanced research 

and technology. And they may just be encouraged enough 

to even start their own technology companies. That’s where 

Andy and I got our start with IPAT. We saw the work being 

done at Ames Lab and decided to take it a step further ourselves. Since Ames Laboratory’s work is scalable, we could 

turn it into a business.

Ames Lab already helps train many materials science 

engineers, and it’s ready to take on a bigger role, where it both 

develops new technology – like advances in metal injection 

molding with metal powders, for example – and trains student 

engineers in the skills it takes to further improve designs and 

processes, and trains technicians to run the equipment.

Summers: Ames Lab already has great, experienced technicians and there’s a lot of hands-on knowledge there that 

can be shared with students.

Snodgrass: And it’s hard to find qualified technicians. It’s 

highly skilled work, and Ames Lab is in a unique position to 

give the next generation of technicians experience working in 

their labs, since Ames Lab has such a wide range of equipment and projects.

Byers: I agree. Our company and others can really benefit 

from the research talent being developed at Ames Laboratory. 

We’ll need people to meet our research needs at our mine 

sites and metallurgy plant.

So, how does materials research at Ames 

Laboratory help address these challenges?

Jon Snodgrass, president and chief operating officer, 

Etrema Products Inc.: In the case of rebuilding certain key 

areas of materials research, the people and experience at 

Ames Lab will help solve that challenge. Scientists at Ames 

Laboratory have decades of experience in a vast array of areas. We like to say that Ames Lab materials scientists have 

forgotten more about materials science than most people 

would ever hope to know!

Rieken: And, in particular, the areas of rare earths and 

powder metallurgy are incredibly important to the future 

of American manufacturing. Rare earths are required for so 

many electronics and green products, and powder metallurgy 

can be used to reduce waste and improve importance in aerospace components, among others. Both of those fields are 

Ames Laboratory’s strong suits.

Ames Lab is a multifaceted lab, so you can get a lot of bang 

for your buck when it comes to solving materials challenges. 

If you have a materials problem for a part you’re making, you 

can come to Ames Laboratory and you’ll not only come up 

with an alloy to solve that problem, but you can also come up 

with a process to make that alloy and a process to make the 

part. The scientists can help put together the entire “supply 

chain” to help meet your overall goals.

Heidloff: From idea to part to everything in between, 

Ames Lab has the capabilities. And that’s pretty unique.

Goldsmith: In our case at Greenleaf, innovative materials research concepts and developments by Ames Laboratory 

scientists advanced our understanding of fundamental issues 

with cutting tools in aerospace applications. This, in turn, led 

to successful developments in high-temperature, metal-alloy 

machining.

Eric Summers: vice president and chief materials engineer, Etrema Products Inc: At Etrema, we feel fortunate that 

we’re only across town from Ames Laboratory so we can really take advantage of all it has to offer: skill sets, people, and 

equipment. Ames Lab has researchers who have so much experience, and Ames Lab’s equipment is on the scale that it’s 

large enough to get meaningful work done and at a price that’s 

accessible for small businesses. You don’t see a lot of other 

facilities like Ames Lab.

Snodgrass: I don’t think we’ve ever come across a materials research challenge that Ames Lab hasn’t been able to do. 

If we need to process a material for experimentation, there’s a 

pretty good shot someone at Ames Lab has done it before or 

is willing to try to figure out how to do it.

Rieken: It’s no secret that industry is driven by revenue 

and profit, and that’s something Ames Laboratory takes very 

seriously. Ames Lab scientists know they have to show the 

clear cost benefit of the research when collaborating with 

business partners. And Ames Lab scientists excel at that, doing advanced metal research and applying that research to 

the marketplace through licensing patents. And Ames Lab 

doesn’t just hand over a patent, it also has the capability to 

actually teach industry collaborators, students and other scientists how to use the patented technology.
8 Inquiry Issue 1 | 2012 

the application of rare earths into technologies, from use in 

agriculture, to stealth technology and magnetic refrigeration. 

Rieken: In addition to rare earths, Ames Lab has really 

unique expertise in powder-metal processing. IPAT is 

given a lot of credit for developing our titanium powder 

atomizer, but the nuts and bolts of the atomizer were really 

designed at Ames Laboratory. So, that’s the technology 

we’re bringing to industry. And if we have a problem with 

our atomizer, Ames Laboratory would be the first place 

we would come for help because of Ames Lab scientists’ 

expertise, experience and knowledge.

 

What other unique capabilities come to mind 

when you think of Ames Laboratory?

Goldsmith: I think of Ames Laboratory’s understanding of 

manufacturing needs and their innovative materials solutions 

to problems. Greenleaf’s cutting tool material properties 

have to meet high demands since the high-temperature wear 

properties and chemical resistance is more demanding than 

other components. And Ames Lab is able to help us solve 

those challenging materials problems that lead to better 

machining performance, saving both time and energy.

Heidloff: Ames Lab is unique because of the large number 

of different capabilities they have right here. They’re rolling, 

extruding, casting and forming. It’s all the equipment that’s 

necessary to make metal-based parts. I don’t know of many 

other labs that have the suite of technologies and facilities 

for advanced metals processing, from milling all the way to 

powder metal processing. And what’s better is that Ames 

Lab actually has commercially viable-scale manufacturing 

equipment that you can use to scale up new processes and 

technologies.

Rieken: Theoretical solutions to materials processing 

problems may be found in many places, but Ames Laboratory 

is one of the few labs that can actually come up with a 

materials-science solution and test it and help a business put 

it into practice. All the equipment at Ames Lab is built to 

be scalable. So, for example, if Ames Lab helps you solve a 

powder-metallurgy problem, you can extrapolate that easily to 

the commercial scale.

Byers: What comes to mind for me is that Ames Lab has 

a high level of understanding of the capabilities of rare-earth 

materials and a real awareness of the exponential growth in 

Theoretical solutions to materials processing 

problems may be found in many places, but Ames 

Laboratory is one of the few labs that can actually 

come up with a materials science solution, test it 

and help a business put it into practice.

Joel Rieken and Andy Heidloff are cofounders of Iowa 

Powder Atomization Technologies, a startup company 

that uses gas atomization technology developed at Ames 

Laboratory to make titanium powder with processes 

that will significantly reduce the cost to manufacturers. 

Rieken and Heidloff earned Ph.D.s in materials science 

and engineering from Iowa State University and are 

postdoctoral researchers at Ames Laboratory.

Jason Goldsmith is a materials research scientist at 

Greenleaf, a leading developer of cutting tool technology. 

Greenleaf worked with Ames Laboratory on improved 

materials for cutting tools. 

George Byers is vice president for government and 

community relations for Rare Element Resources Inc., 

which is exploring rare-earth deposits in its Bear Lodge 

Project in northeast Wyoming.

Jon Snodgrass is president and chief operating 

officer at Etrema Products Inc, and Eric Summers is 

vice president and chief materials engineer at Etrema 

Products Inc. Etrema makes Terfenol-D, a product based 

on processing technology developed at Ames Laboratory. 
Inquiry Issue 1 | 2012 9

ecycling keeps paper, plastics and even jeans 

out of landfills. Could recycling rare-earth magnets 

do the same?

Ames Laboratory scientists are recycling rare 

earths from magnets, and the recycled materials maintain 

the properties that make rare-earth magnets useful.

The current rare-earth recycling research builds on Ames 

Laboratory’s decades of rare-earth processing experience. 

In the 1990s, Ames Lab scientists developed a process 

that uses molten magnesium to remove rare earths from 

neodymium-iron-boron magnet scrap. At the time, rare earth 

costs were low. Back then, the goal was to produce a mixture 

of magnesium and neodymium because the neodymium 

added important strength to the alloy, rather than separate 

out high-purity rare earths.

But rare earth prices are rising and supplies are in 

question. Therefore, the goal of today’s rare-earth recycling 

research takes the process one step farther. 

“Now the goal is to make new magnet alloys from 

recycled rare earths. And we want those new alloys to 

be similar to alloys made from unprocessed rare-earth 

materials,” says Ryan Ott, the Ames Laboratory scientist 

leading the research. “It appears that the processing 

technique works well. It effectively removes rare earths 

from commercial magnets.”

Ott’s research team includes Ames Laboratory scientist 

Larry Jones and scientists from the Korea Institute of 

Industrial Technology. They are developing and testing the 

technique in Ames Lab’s Materials Preparation Center. 

“We start with sintered, uncoated magnets that 

contain three rare earths: neodymium, praseodymium and 

dysprosium,” says Ott. “Then we break up the magnets in a 

mill until the pieces are 2–4 millimeters long.”

Next, the tiny magnet pieces go into a mesh screen box, 

which is placed in a stainless-steel crucible. Technicians 

then add chunks of solid magnesium.

A radio frequency furnace heats the material. The 

magnesium begins to melt, while the magnet chunks 

remain solid. 

“What happens then is that all three rare earths leave 

the magnetic material by diffusion and enter the molten 

magnesium,” says Ott. “The iron and boron that made up 

the original magnet are left behind.”

The molten magnesium and rare-earth mixture is cast 

into an ingot and cooled. Then they boil off the magnesium, 

leaving just the rare earth materials behind.

“We’ve found that the properties of the recycled rare 

earths compare very favorably to ones from unprocessed 

materials,” says Ott. “We’re continuing to identify the ideal 

processing conditions.” 

The next step is optimizing the extraction process. Then 

the team plans to demonstrate it on a larger scale.

“We want to help bridge the gap between the fundamental 

science and using this science in manufacturing,” says Ott. 

“And Ames Lab can process big enough amounts of material 

to show that our rare-earth recycling process works on a 

large scale.”

 

R

Rare-earth magnet scraps are melted in a furnace with 

magnesium in a process to reclaim the rare-earth metals.

Rare-earth Recycling

B y B reehan G erleman L ucchesi
h e n i t c o m e s t o s u c c e s s f u l l y 

moving inventions from the laboratory 

bench to the commercial marketplace, Ames 

Laboratory has an excellent track record. 

Among the Department of Energy’s 17 national laboratories, 

Ames Laboratory has historically ranked at or near the top in 

royalty income generated by inventions, despite the fact that 

it’s the smallest lab with the smallest budget.

For example, in fiscal year 2011, Ames Laboratory 

inventions generated approximately $9.2 million in royalty 

income on $767 million in sales. That total sales amount 

represents over $22 of economic activity for every dollar of 

Ames Lab’s $35 million annual budget. And of those total 

sales, more than $110 million were generated by Iowa-based 

companies, supporting more than 540 manufacturing jobs 

in the state.

Since record keeping began in 1980, Ames Lab 

researchers have been issued a total of 224 patents for 159 

different technologies. A number of these patents have been 

licensed and developed commercially, and we highlight 

some of those success stories here.

Lead-free Solder

Ames Laboratory’s most successful invention to date has been 

the development of a tin-silver-copper alloy to replace traditional 

lead-based solder. Licensed by more than 50 companies 

worldwide, Ames Lab’s lead-free solder has generated nearly $39 

million in royalty income since it was patented in 1996.

Success

S t ori es

Lead-free solder

B y K erry G ibson

10 Inquiry Issue 1 | 2012 

W
Developed by a team of researchers led by Ames 

Laboratory senior metallurgist Iver Anderson, lead-free 

solder was a necessary development to help eliminate toxic 

lead from landfills caused by the disposal of an ever-growing 

amount of electronic waste. Solder is the shiny metal “glue” 

used to attach components to circuit boards in all types of 

electronics from cellphones and computers to televisions 

and kitchen appliances.

“Solder has been around for 5,000 years and the 

basic formula of 63 percent tin and 37 percent lead was 

unchanged,” Anderson says. “It was used because it was a 

eutectic alloy – it acts likes a pure metal with a single melting 

(and solidification) point.”

It was this eutectic property that made finding a nonlead substitute difficult. Anderson’s team experimented with 

various combinations until they found a mixture of tin, silver 

and copper that offered a lower melting point and greater 

strength than other alloys being considered.

The driving force behind a lead-free alternative to 

traditional solder was a ban on the use of lead and other 

hazardous materials in all electronics that was imposed by 

the European Union in 2006. Given the global nature of 

electronics manufacturing and distribution, the EU’s ban 

was essentially international in scope.

Tests show the Ames Lab solder exhibits higher strength 

than the original lead-based predecessor. Its 217o

 C melting 

point makes it a viable choice for the increasing number 

of electronic components in automotive applications. 

Temperatures there can easily reach 150o C, causing typical 

lead solder, with a 183o C melting point, to become pliant 

and subject to failure. 

Multiplexed Capillary Electrophoresis 

This R&D 100 Award-winning analytical technology 

was developed by Ames Lab senior chemist Ed Yeung as 

a breakthrough in quickly and inexpensively analyzing the 

chemical composition of multiple samples at once. The 

technology uses hair-fine glass capillary tubes, typically 

arranged in eight groups of 12 – 96 total, to draw in the 

solution to be analyzed. 

High voltage and the capillary action of the tubes are 

used to separate the component molecules in the sample 

mixture. The capillaries are exposed to ultraviolet light 

and depending on the speed at which the material passes 

through the tubes and the amount of UV light it absorbs, 

the chemical make-up of the material is detected. Another 

variation uses a laser or LED light source and measures 

the amount that the component molecules fluoresce to 

determine chemical makeup.

A technician at Advanced Analytical Technologies Inc tests a 

Fragment Analyzer prior to shipping it to Texas Tech.

The Ames Laboratory in Fiscal 2011

$9.2 millionin royalty income on $767 million in 

sales. $22 of economic activity for every dollar of Ames 

Lab’s $35 million annual budget. $110 million were 

generated by Iowa-based companies, supporting more than 

540 manufacturing jobs in the state.

Inquiry Issue 1 | 2012 11
12 Inquiry Issue 1 | 2012 

Yeung’s technology was used extensively to help map the 

human genome and is a vital tool in genetic research labs 

around the world.

The technology was commercialized by an Ames-based 

startup company called Combisep that in 2006 merged with 

another Ames company, Advanced Analytical Technologies 

Inc. AATI had specialized in microbial detection, but the 

acquisition of Combisep opened the door to allow further 

development of Yeung’s technology.

“It gave us a platform and a tool that you can use in a 

variety of ways and fields,” says Steve Siembieda, AATI’s 

chief operating officer, “including pharmaceuticals, biotech, 

biofuels, and medical research. One of the great things is 

we can identify many different segments within those fields, 

such as children’s genetics or autism research and work to 

customize the technology for that specific need.”

The company currently offers five different analyzers 

based on Yeung’s technology. The most popular is a compact 

machine called the Fragment Analyzer used in genetic 

research to separate and analyze DNA and RNA fragments. 

In fact, AATI can’t build the machines fast enough.

“We’ve built 75 instruments since the beginning of the 

year and we still have a backlog of orders,” Siembieda says. 

“We’re adding production staff, growing and working hard 

to have a major presence in life science instrumentation to 

help researchers get work done quicker and better.”

And while the company has a growing international 

reputation, it will likely stay in Ames.

“We have access to a high-quality workforce, the engineers 

and scientists, right here in our own backyard,” Siembieda 

says, adding that several AATI staff formerly worked with 

Ed Yeung at Ames Lab and Iowa State University. “Ames 

is a good place to find people who want to work and work 

hard and the State, through various incentives, has been 

instrumental in keeping biotech companies in Iowa.”

BAM (Boron-Aluminum-Magnesium)

This super-tough ceramic alloy with a very low coefficient 

of friction was discovered somewhat by accident as Ames 

Laboratory researchers Bruce Cook and Joel Harringa were 

looking at the thermoelectric properties of intermetallic 

materials. The samples of the boron-aluminum-magnesium 

were so hard, the Lab’s diamond saws could barely cut them.

According to Ames Lab associate Alan Russell, BAM 

isn’t like most superhard materials, such as diamond, that 

have a simple, regular and symmetrical crystalline structure. 

Instead, BAM’s structure is complex, has low symmetry, and 

often has a few atoms missing. As for its slipperiness, Cook 

speculates that boron oxidation takes place on the surface, 

and this thin film of boron oxide reacts with the water vapor 

in the air to make the coating slippery.

“It’s almost as if it’s a self-lubricating surface,” he says. 

“It’s inherently slippery so you don’t have to add oil or 

other lubricants.”

Like most intermetallics, the material is brittle, which 

means that for some uses it’s better to apply it as a thin coating 

on metal rather than as a solid piece. Early trials showed 

such promise that Cook’s group was awarded a four-year, $3 

million grant through the DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency 

and Renewable Energy to study it further for use in boosting 

energy efficiency in pumps and industrial cutting tools.

Applying a micron-thick coating of BAM + titanium 

boride to the blades of a pump turbine reduces friction within 

the pump, allows the pump to run more efficiently, and also 

boosts wear resistance and pump life. Eaton Corporation, a 

leading manufacturer of fluid power equipment, partnered 

with Ames Lab to test the coating on pump components.

Similarly, applying BAM + titanium boride coatings on 

industrial cutting tools also reduces the amount of friction 

between the tool and the metal workpiece, so less applied 

force is needed, which directly translates to a reduction in 

the energy required for the machining operation. Greenleaf 

Corporation, a leading industrial cutting tool maker, also 

partnered on the project to investigate BAM’s use on 

cutting tools.

Recently, Cook and Russell began working with ISU 

materials science and engineering researcher Kaitlin Bratlie 

to investigate the bio-compatibility of BAM as a preliminary 

test toward possibly using the material as a wear-resistant 

coating on medical implants such as artificial knee and hip 

replacement joints. The work is being funded by a grant 

from the Iowa State University Research Foundation.

BAM was patented and licensed to New Tech Ceramics, 

an Iowa-based startup located in Boone. According to New 

Tech’s chief operations officer Peter Hong, the company has 

been in discussions with 60 different companies about the 

product and is close to signing agreements with six of them.

Hong says there are four main branches in the potential 

use of BAM – as a powdered alloy, as a thin (less than five 

microns) coating, as a thick coating (thousandths of an inch 

Industrial cutting tools sit atop a disk of the boron-aluminummagnesium alloy. Even a microns-thin coating of BAM greatly 

increases the useful life of cutting tools.
“Since record keeping began in 1980, 

Ames Lab researchers have been 

issued a total of 224 patents for

159 different technologies.”

Inquiry Issue 1 | 2012 13

thick), and as a solid. Potential uses depend on the branch 

being considered.

“The powder itself can be used as an additive to improve 

lubricity or hardness of other materials such as polymers,” 

Hong says. “As a thin film, there’s a wide range of potential 

uses from consumer products to aerospace and defense 

applications. It improves wear resistance so it’s a substitute for 

heat treating, hard anodizing, or chroming, with applications 

for engine parts, rifle barrels and munitions, a non-metallic 

interface for hip and knee joints or even in helping keep the 

dentist’s drill sharper so vibration is reduced.”

As a “thick” film, the material could be sprayed in 

an open atmosphere to coat larger surfaces, similar to 

spray painting, for parts like grader or snowplow blades, 

agricultural implements like plows and discs, and surfaces 

of jet engine turbines. It would also replace heat treating 

these larger parts, which would also reduce the producer’s 

carbon footprint by eliminating the heat source.

Solid parts would be molded and sintered from powders 

to produce wear-resistant products such as spray nozzles 

used in cutting tools and as potential armor plate for military 

vehicles as well as body armor. It could even be used for 

making jewelry. 

TERFENOL-D

Terfenol-D is an alloy of terbium, iron and dysprosium 

that exhibits giant magnetostriction – it changes shape 

when subjected to a magnetic field. Originally conceived 

by the Naval Ordinance Laboratory in the 1970s for highpowered sonar, the metallurgy to produce Terfenol-D was 

developed by Ames Laboratory researcher Dale McMasters 

and others, who partnered with NOL to produce Terfenol-D 

in research quantities. 

As a so-called “smart material,” Terfenol-D has a 

variety of uses that take advantage of its ability to convert 

electrical energy (magnetic field) into mechanical energy 

(linear expansion). 

ETREMA Products Inc. (EPI) is the sole U.S. supplier 

of Terfenol-D and was established in 1987 to commercialize 

Terfenol-D and transition the technology from laboratory 

discovery to industry. The technology for producing 

Terfenol-D was fully transferred from Ames Laboratory to 

EPI, granting it the technique to start small-scale production 

of the material. 

In 1993, EPI expanded to a new facility in Ames, 

Iowa with the ability to house, develop and manufacture 

Terfenol-D and products based on that core technology. EPI 

has created three key business areas: Terfenol-D material 

sales, manufacture of devices powered by Terfenol-D and 

engineering services to assist customers in the development 

of new products based on Terfenol-D.

“About 80 percent of our business is engineering 

services,” says Jon Snodgrass, EPI president and chief 

operating officer. “We produce Terfenol-D, but the actual 

quantities used in most products are relatively small. Our 

bread and butter is providing engineering expertise to help 

take advantage of Terfenol-D’s properties.”

One area where Terfenol-D touches everyday life is 

the lawnmower, string trimmer or chain saw sitting in 

your garage. The smart material is used in the precision 

machining of pistons in small engines to improve their fuel 

efficiency and reduce pollution.

The pistons are turned in an oval shape so that as they 

heat and expand, their shape becomes round and better fits 

in the engine’s cylinder bore. To turn the oval shape, EPI 

developed its Active Machining System that uses Terfenol-D 

to precisely move the cutting tool in and out as the piston 

blank turns on a machining lathe. This back and forth 

movement happens twice for each time the lathe spins 

the piston one full rotation. The AMS is synchronized with 

the speed of the lathe to deliver precision results with no 

degradation in control over time.

“We’re just preparing to ship our 14th AMS,” Snodgrass 

says, “so it’s an important product for us. If you buy a Briggs 

and Stratton engine or Stihl gas-powered product, it’s highly 

likely the pistons were produced by our AMS.”

 

Terfenol-D in raw and finished form.
14 Inquiry Issue 1 | 2012 

ot since Mr. Rare Earth himself , Karl 

Gschneidner, gave up teaching a class on rare-earth 

materials at Iowa State University back in 1994 

in order to devote his full time to research, have 

college students been able to get any serious, comprehensive 

education on rare earths. But the hiatus is now over. Rareearths education is back in vogue.

A new course, MSE 457/557X, the Chemical and Physical 

Metallurgy of Rare Earths, began being offered at Iowa 

State during the 2012 spring semester. The three-credit, 

experimental class is taught twice weekly by Vitalij Pecharsky, 

Ames Laboratory senior metallurgist and ISU Distinguished 

Professor in materials science and engineering. The course 

covers the basics of rare earths, such as where rare earths 

are found in nature, how they’re extracted from the earth’s 

crust, how they’re made into metals and how the metals can 

be made into products. 

Pecharsky, who is actively involved in rare-earth research 

at the Ames Laboratory, also lectures on the physical and 

chemical properties of rare earths and their compounds. 

“This is the only course of this scope and magnitude 

offered in this country and offered on a regular basis to both 

undergraduate and graduate students as well as distanceeducation students,” says Pecharsky. 

The timing of the class coincides directly with renewed 

worldwide interest in rare-earth materials and the restart of 

the mining and processing industry in this country, Canada 

and Europe, and, of course, the ability of Ames Laboratory 

scientists to teach the course. 

Megan Meyer, a graduate student in materials science 

and engineering (MSE) at ISU, signed up for the course 

because “it was something I knew little about, and it was 

an opportunity to learn from a leading expert.” Meyer adds, 

“Rare earths are part of our everyday lives in every aspect, 

and with the increase in demand of rare earths and the 

economics that affect importing rare earths, it will be an 

important industry in the United States.” 

Meyer’s reasons for participating in the class 

also ring true for other 

participants, such as Weijie 

Wang, a graduate student in 

MSE at ISU. But whereas 

Meyer discovered the 

course on her own, Wang’s 

graduate advisor, Mufit 

Akinc, Ames Laboratory 

research associate and ISU 

MSE professor, suggested 

N

B y S teve K arsjen

Make a “Class” Comeback

Rare Earths

Megan Meyer, 

MSE457/557X student

Education
Inquiry Issue 1 | 2012 15

he take the course. “He just thought the course would 

be beneficial to my research, and I wanted to have more 

knowledge about the rare-earth industry, which may help 

me in finding a job in the near future,” Wang says. 

Altogether, there are 19 students in this semester’s class, 

a very strong showing for an experimental class, which is 

indicative of its timeliness, says 

Pecharsky. Adding to its relevance 

is its makeup: five of the class 

participants work in industry and 

are taking the course via distance 

ed. Pecharsky attributes this to the 

class’ emphasis on the properties 

of rare-earth compounds that have 

“industrial importance” and are also 

important for basic science. 

Terry Gatchell is one of the class’ 

distance ed students. She’s also a 

researcher and industry consultant for the Anchor House, a 

U.S. company that concentrates primarily on “understanding 

the economics and viability of rare-earth resources worldwide.” 

She’s found the class’ topics to be directly related to her 

work. “We deal strictly with rare earths, so this class has been 

fantastic,” she says. 

Distance ed student Mallory 

Dalsin is a graduate student 

at the University of British 

Columbia completing her Master’s in a rare-earth related 

field, but she also works for Mackevoy Geosciences Ltd., 

a Canadian company that “specializes in working on 

deposits with unique 

mineralogy, including 

rare earths.” She says 

her company has worked 

on rare-earth deposits in British Columbia, the Yukon and 

Ontario in Canada. “A course with this kind of detail on 

rare earths is not offered where I live, and it makes learning 

the information more accessible,” Dalsin says, “The class 

is giving me further knowledge of how rare earths behave 

and the extractive process, which assists determining the 

economic potential of an exploration project. I feel the more 

you know about the commodity you’re looking for, the more 

beneficial it will be to the overall evaluation of the project.” 

If the class remains popular, Pecharsky believes it will 

likely be expanded to being offered every spring semester. 

And that would seem the likely scenario if comments made 

by students like Terry Gatchell have any bearing. Her 

tongue-in-cheek advice to those, whether in academia or 

industry, who are taking or may take the class in the future: 

“It’s [rare earths] an exciting place to be right now, and 

young, bright scientists who are willing to work on problems 

in mining, metallurgy and materials science will be worth 

their weight in dysprosium.”

 

REITA, a consortium of global industry, government and academic 

partners, of which Iowa State is a member, is working to provide other 

course offerings on rare earths. REITA’s goal is to facilitate the development 

and commercialization of rare-earth technologies critical to the economic 

and national security interests of developed nations. According to Keith 

Delaney, REITA executive director, “Creating the intellectual infrastructure 

for rare-earths is vital for the commercial sustainability of the industry.” 

REITA supported another 

of its members, the Colorado 

School of Mines, when 

it provided a three-day 

short course on rare-earth 

resource recovery in the summer of 2011. The short course was sold out 

with over 100 participants and will be repeated in summer 2012. CSM’s 

course focuses on mining, beneficiation, purification, reduction and making 

metals. CSM is also looking to expand its rare-earth course offerings via 

distance education in the near future. 

The University of Nevada at Reno will be offering a course in rare-earth 

spectroscopy via distance learning in fall 2012. Details will be provided on 

the REITA website at: www.reitaglobal.org.

Rare Earth Industry and Technology Association

Weijie Wang, 

MSE457/557X student

Ames Lab senior metallurgist Vitalij Pecharsky lectures on rare-earth magnetism and microstructure 

to both in-house and distance-education students at ISU.
Ames Laboratory 

scientist Bill McCallum 

will lead research to 

develop high-strength 

permanent magnets 

using the rare-earth 

element cerium. 

Cerium is four times 

more abundant than 

neodymium, which is 

the critical element 

used in today’s 

permanent magnets.

16 Inquiry Issue 1 | 2012 

erium. Chances are when you think of the elements

in the international spotlight right now for use in rareearth magnets, the rare-earth element cerium doesn’t 

come to mind. But in the future, cerium may occupy a 

rather large seat at the rare-earth magnet table as a substitute for 

its more famous cousin, neodymium. 

Rare earths are of high interest because they are key 

components, of among other things, the lightweight, permanent 

magnets that are used in nearly every modern-day electronic 

device from televisions to cell phones and computer hard drives 

to electric and hybrid automobile drivetrains to generators in 

wind turbines. Neodymium is so significant to our nation’s 

energy future that it is one of five rare earths identified in the 

Department of Energy’s “Critical Materials Strategy” report as 

being vital to the nation’s “clean energy economy.” 

So you might ask what this has to do with cerium. It turns out 

that cerium has the potential to be a substitute for neodymium in 

today’s permanent magnets. This is big not because cerium is a 

better rare-earth material than neodymium for making permanent 

magnets, but simply because there’s more of it. Cerium, it seems, 

is four times more abundant in the earth’s crust than neodymium. 

Imagine the potential then for cerium, particularly in light of our 

nation’s growing quest to become energy independent. 

In an effort to further rare-earth research in many areas, 

including cerium as a replacement for neodynium, the federal 

government last fall introduced the Rare Earth Alternatives in 

Critical Technologies (REACT) program through the DOE’s 

Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy’s (ARPA-E). One 

of the projects takes advantage of the 

Ames Laboratory’s scientific expertise 

in rare earths. As part of a $2.2 million, 

potentially three-year project (the program is renewed after 18 

months) Bill McCallum, an Ames Laboratory metallurgist, 

has been leading a project researching the use of cerium as a 

replacement for neodymium in magnets. 

The Ames Lab research will look at combining other 

metallic elements with cerium to create a new powerful magnet 

with high-temperature stability for electric vehicle motors. 

Partners in the project are General Motors, NovaTorque and 

Molycorp Minerals – a “dream team” of worldwide leaders, 

says McCallum. General Motors will take an active role in 

alloy development, and along with NovaTorque, will provide 

the evaluation of the material for traction motors in vehicles. 

Molycorp, the only U.S. producer of rare-earth materials, will 

provide the important supply chain and development path 

for commercialization of these materials. 

During the past three months, McCallum has been 

ramping up the Ames Laboratory project by hiring 

additional scientists and staff. 

“We’ve mostly been doing baseline experiments 

and theoretical calculations,” says McCallum, who 

adds the current work is helping scientists better 

understand challenges like the role of the hybridization 

of cerium electrons, crystal structure, and the symmetry 

of neighboring atoms. The result, he says, should 

be a better understanding of the best crystalographic 

environment for having cerium behave the way in which 

scientists want it to. In layman’s terms, McCallum says, 

“We first have to determine what’s wrong with cerium 

before we can find out how to make it behave.”

C

on the Block

New Kid

B y S teve K arsjen

To learn more about Ames Laboratory’s

work, check out this video:
anganese, a non-rare-earth material, 

is the focus of another Ames Laboratory 

research project. 

Matthew Kramer, materials scientist, is teaming 

with scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory 

(PNNL) to develop a new material based on manganese as a 

rare-earth-free alternative to permanent magnets that contain 

neodymium and dysprosium. 

These manganese composite 

magnets hold the potential to 

double magnetic strength relative 

to current magnets while using 

raw materials, such as iron, cobalt, chrome and nickel that 

are abundant and less expensive than current permanentmagnet materials. 

Kramer says Ames Lab’s part of the project will take 

advantage of the Lab’s expertise in computational materials 

science. As he explains it, one of the major obstacles to 

coming up with any new alloy is finding a faster approach 

to looking at new materials. Kramer hopes to speed up the 

process of developing new alloys by using computational 

tools to guide materials selection. He says the current 

suite of computational tools allow scientists to begin doing 

“what if” scenarios much more effectively than in the 

past, both in terms of accuracy and the complexity of the 

materials being analyzed. 

“By using computers to do materials research, we hope to 

short-circuit the traditional Edisonian process, which consists 

of going into the lab, trying a couple of ideas, measuring a few 

things and, if finding that doesn’t work, going back and doing 

it again,” he says. 

In addition to Kramer, two other Ames Lab scientists, 

Duane Johnson, chief research officer, and Vladimir 

Antropov, physicist, will be investigating “density function 

theory codes,” which will allow them to quickly assess 

the key chemistries and structures in the new alloys. 

These computer codes will allow scientists to make 

different substitutions within the element’s structures. By 

understanding this, Kramer says “scientists can focus on 

improvements that can be made to the alloy’s composition 

that will provide the biggest boost to its magnetic properties, 

which is critical to the success of the project.”

Other partners in the ARPA-E project include Electron 

Energy Corp, United Technologies Research Center, 

the University of Maryland and the University of Texas at 

Arlington. The partners will be doing things like materials 

synthesis, combinatorial synthesis and materials processing. 

The Ames Laboratory portion of the overall $2.3 million 

project will be approximately $500,000. 

If successful, the manganese composite magnets could 

reduce U.S. dependence on expensive rare-earth material 

imports and reduce the cost and improve the efficiency of greenenergy applications, such as wind turbines and electric vehicles.

Short Circuiting the

B y S teve K arsjen

In 2011, the Department of Energy awarded $156 million to ARPA-E for 60 different high-risk/high-reward research 

projects related to renewable power, energy efficiency and national energy security. The projects focus on acceleration of 

innovations in clean technology, while increasing competitiveness in areas such as rare-earth alternatives and breakthroughs 

in biofuels, thermal storage, electric-grid control and solar-power electronics. Projects selected were in 25 states. 

Ames Lab scientist Matt Kramer 

operates the Lab’s transmission electron 

microscope. Various equipment options 

allow scientists to probe different aspects 

of a material. In scanning mode, or 

scanning transmission electron microscopy 

(STEM), the electron beam is scanned 

back and forth across the sample.

“Edisonian” Approach

M
mes Laboratory has a long history of 

collaborating with other DOE national laboratories. 

From its start in developing the technique for 

refining uranium for the Manhattan Project, Ames 

Laboratory has provided the raw materials and materials 

characterization expertise in a variety of projects. Those 

partnerships are on the upswing today as the national labs 

work together to help keep U.S. manufacturing at the 

forefront in both product and process innovation.

There’s probably no better example of this than the 

advanced manufacturing initiative taking place at the 

DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. According to Ames 

Laboratory Chief Research Officer Duane Johnson, teams of 

researchers are looking at a number of new technologies from 

three-dimensional printing to magnetic field annealing as well 

as developing new materials to help give U.S. manufacturers 

a leg up on the international competition.

“Ames Lab is involved in developing and supplying some 

of the new materials being studied,” Johnson says, “such as 

metal powders or single crystals. There’s a good synergy that 

exists as we work together on trying to break through these 

manufacturing barriers.”

But that’s not the only collaboration between Ames Lab and 

Oak Ridge. Bruce Moyer and ORNL’s chemical separations 

group is in the planning stage with Ames Lab researchers 

and the Materials Preparation 

Center to develop designer 

reagents to do separations for 

rare-earth oxides. Ames Lab’s 

computational materials group 

is logging time on ORNL’s 

supercomputing center 

through an INCITE grant. 

Ames Lab’s neutron and X-ray scattering group 

regularly works at ORNL’s Spallation Neutron Source 

and High-Flux Isotope Reactor, as well as the Advanced 

Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory. As 

evidence of Ames Lab’s strength in this area, physicist 

Rob McQueeney was recently tapped to serve as an expert 

detailee at DOE Headquarters to help oversee review of 

the complex’s neutron scattering facilities. 

Johnson points to another project, this one in 

conjunction with DOE’s 

Pacific Northwest National 

L a b o r a t o r y, w h e r e A m e s 

Laboratory expertise in solids t a t e n u c l e a r m a g n e t i c 

resonance is helping develop 

the next generation of NMR 

18 Inquiry Issue 1 | 2012 

Collaboration with sister labs on upswing

for Progress

A

Rob McQueeney

B y K erry G ibson

Pacific Northwest 

National Laboratory
Inquiry Issue 1 | 2012 19

technology. This characterization technology is vital to 

understanding the molecular structure of materials, especially 

in catalysis where we can “watch a reaction” happen. 

“Last December, the Ames Laboratory and PNNL coorganized a workshop entitled ‘Science Drivers and Technical 

Challenges for Advanced Magnetic Resonance,’ “ Johnson 

said. “Leaders in solid-state NMR from throughout the 

world outlined the scientific drivers and instrument demands 

for advanced NMR techniques, especially a technique 

called Dynamic Nuclear Polarization (DNP) that provides 

remarkable enhancement of signal-to-noise ratio of the NMR 

data – offering a faster and better view of chemistry.”

According to Johnson, Ames Lab’s 

Marek Pruski has been working with 

PNNL’s Karl Mueller to advance 

DNP techniques that integrate highfield, electron spin-polarization 

resonance (EPR) that uses electron spin 

polarization to give higher signal to noise 

than NMR, which is based on nuclear 

spin polarization.

“By combining the two within DNP-based NMR, you get 

increased signal to noise along with chemical sensitivity,” 

Johnson says, “which will provide unique capabilities in the 

United States for studies of catalysts, biomolecular materials 

and inorganic materials relevant to the DOE mission.” 

Also of note, in conjunction with Agilent Technologies, 

Ames Laboratory has moved new fast NMR probes into 

the marketplace.

Mark Bryden, head of Ames Lab’s 

Simulation, Modeling and Decision 

Sciences program, is working with Idaho 

National Lab on extraction and separation 

technology and with the National Energy 

Technology Laboratory on virtual design 

of power plants. 

At Argonne, Ames Laboratory is supplying 

materials being studied for innovative new batteries 

and helping develop new characterization techniques at the 

Advance Photon Source. 

Also, Argonne and Ames labs are developing a joint materials 

discovery, design and synthesis effort that leverages expertise at 

both labs, especially in computational materials science and 

scientific computing, to accelerate materials development 

toward useful technologies, a partnership to address part of 

the White House “Materials Genome Initiative” promoting 

materials development to manufacturing in half the time.

Those are just a few examples of the collaborative work 

Ames Lab researchers are doing with DOE sister labs in the 

last year and a half. In fiscal 2011, for example, Ames Lab 

researchers co-authored 24 papers that 

were the result of collaborative work 

with colleagues at other labs, 

with another 17 papers thus far in 

fiscal 2012.

“Ames Laboratory’s excellence 

in designing and synthesizing 

the materials for study and its 

vast expertise in a variety of 

characterization techniques 

makes it a valuable partner,” 

Johnson says. “And we’re also able 

to take advantage of facilities and 

equipment beyond our capabilities. 

It’s a win-win situation.”

Spallation Neutron Source, Oak Ridge National Lab Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Lab

Marek Pruski

Mark Bryden
Ames Laboratory

111 Technical and Administrative Services Facility

Ames, Iowa 50011-3020

515-294-9557

www.ameslab.gov

2012

Issue 1