Category: News

Landfill mining can recover valuable recyclable materials, including aluminum. In fact, the concentration of aluminum in many landfills is higher than the concentration of aluminum in bauxite from which the metal is derived. Now, a multidisciplinary Michigan Tech research team will determine ways to select viable and sustainable landfill sites.

Paul Sanders is the principal investigator (PI) on a project that has received a $750K research and development grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.

Sanders is the Patrick Horvath Endowed Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Michigan Tech. He is also a Michigan Tech alumnus. He earned his bachelor’s in metallurgy and materials engineering at Tech in 1991 before going on to earn his PhD in MSE at Northwestern. After working at Ford Motor Company, he returned to the Michigan Tech as a faculty member.

The project is titled “Aluminum Critical Mineral Production via Landfill Mining: Environmental, Community, and Technical Feasibility for Integrated Multi-Material Resource Recovery.”

Jonathan Robins (Social Sciences/Institute of Materials Processing), Timothy Eisele and Robert Handler (Chemical Engineering/Institute of Materials Processing) are co-PIs on this project. Eisele is also a Michigan Tech alumnus.

Together they will utilize a multidisciplinary team of engineers (mineral processing, metallurgy, and environmental) and social scientists to investigate if site selection is key to assessing the technical and economic feasibility of landfill mining for materials. Social science analysis of the landfill history/contents and community will be key to selecting a landfill pilot with a high probability of being viable economically, environmentally, and within the community.

DOE Funding: $750K

Read more at the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management.

Bruce Lee (BioMed/IMP) is the principal investigator (PI) on a project that has received an $804,990 research and development grant from the U.S. Department of Defense.

The project is titled “Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope for Research in Additive Manufacturing, Materials Development, and Plastic Waste Recycling.”

Stephen Techtmann (BioSci/IMP), Paul Sanders (MSE/IMP) and Trisha Sain (ME-EM/IMP) are co-PIs on this potential one-year project.

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New Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope Proposal

Yongmei Jin (MSE/IMP) is the principal investigator (PI) on a project that has received a $592,502 research and development grant from the National Science Foundation.

The project is titled “NSF-BSF: Computation-Guided Advanced Fabrication of Silicide Nanostructures with Novel Magnetic Properties.”

Ranjit Pati (Physics/IMP) is a co-PI on this potential three-year project.

Extract

Silicon technology compatible nanomagnets are needed for spintronics, which enable low-power, high-density data storage and processing critical for next-generation nano- and micro-electronic devices. This impacts a wide variety of technological applications in commercial and defense industries. A bottom-up approach based on controlled self-assembly of nanoislands on a silicon substrate is used to fabricate transition metal silicide nanostructures.

The project seamlessly integrates computation with experiment. Computation research involves first-principles density functional theory calculations and micromagnetic simulations bridged by atomistic spin model simulations. Experimental research involves controlled material synthesis, growth of self-assembled epitaxial silicide nanoislands on a silicon substrate, in-situ/ex-situ structural and compositional characterization and magnetic property measurement.

Read more at the National Science Foundation.

Erik Herbert (MSE/IMP) is the principal investigator (PI) on a project that has received a $535,317 research and development grant from the National Science Foundation.

The project is titled “GOALI: Engineering Mechanically Stable Interfaces Through Short-Range Molecular Rearrangement Driven by Inhomogeneous li Ion Transfer Kinetics.”

Stephen Hackney (MSE/IMP) is a co-PI on this potential three-year project.

Extract

This fundamental research project aims to fill critical knowledge gaps required to enable the engineering of next generation high energy density solid state batteries. Specifically, the project will address how the chemistry, composition and physical arrangement of atoms, ions, molecules, and defects in both the atomic structure and interface morphologies collectively control the development of localized pressure known to causes catastrophic failure such as cracking or short circuiting in a battery.

This new knowledge will directly inform robust strategies to engineer the safest and highest performance batteries for consumer electronics and electric vehicles.

Statistical analysis of experimentally observed transitions in stress relaxation mechanisms will enable the construction of novel small-scale deformation mechanism maps expressed as a function of key operational variables, electrochemical cycling, and temperature. These unique maps will provide much needed insight into the physical dimensions of interface defects capable of producing catastrophic device failure by fracture of the solid-state electrolyte.

In this way, the maps will directly inform strategies and guidelines for engineering stable interfaces capable of supporting stress-free, planar deposition of a pure, metallic lithium anode.

Read more at the National Science Foundation.