Technical data can be expensive and difficult to obtain--collecting it, organizing it, analyzing it. Any time you have something someone else doesn't have, you need to retain that advantage and put it to work.

CINDAS LLC Technical Analyst Brenden O'Kane at the "Unfinished Block P" Sculpture, Purdue University, May 2025
Photo taken by Teresa Gildemeister, CINDAS LLC

During the fall semester of the 2024-25 academic year, students at Purdue University got hands-on with the future of manufacturing by recreating an important landmark on campus.

As part of an introductory course on additive manufacturing, students worked together to recreate scale models of the university's iconic "Unfinished Block P" using metal 3D printing with powdered 316L Stainless Steel. The project was designed to teach the fundamentals of the additive process, from digital modeling to post-processing--giving students a practical introduction to the world of advanced manufacturing technologies. While the material used for the statue was predefined, the project still offered a valuable entry point into understanding why materials matter--how properties like thermal conductivity, strength, and surface finish can all affect a final printed part, even in a learning environment.

That's why CINDAS LLC is proud to support Purdue University and many other academic institutions by providing access to our comprehensive materials database platform. Even at the introductory level, students can benefit from being able to explore material behavior, see how different alloys compare, and start building the kind of materials knowledge that will be critical in their future careers. For those of us in industry, it's easy to forget where that knowledge begins. Tools like the Aerospace and High Performance Alloys Database (AHAD) help bridge the gap between academic learning and professional application--ensuring students aren't just learning how to print a part but how to select the optimal material used to print the part.

It's a small project with a big message: the future of manufacturing is already taking shape, one layer at a time.

Brenden O'Kane, Technical Analyst

For more on the ME 49601 Project: https://engineering.purdue.edu/ME/News/2025/printing-the-unfinished-block-p-mastering-additive-manufacturing-step-by-step

For the History of the "Unfinished Block P": http://www.purdueblockp.com/statue/history/

Properties of 316L Stainless Included in AHAD:

Area Reduction vs. Temperature
Change in Diameter [%] vs. Minor Element Content [%]
Creep, Applied Stress [ksi] vs. Minimum/Steady State Creep Rate [%/hr]
Creep, Rupture Strength [ksi] vs. Temperature
Cycles to Failure/Fatigue Life vs. Holding Time
Elongation [%] vs. Temperature
Impact Energy, Charpy [ft-lbf] vs. Delta Ferrite Content [%]
Min/Steady State Creep Rate [%/hr] vs. Aging Time
Rupture Elongation [%] vs. Aging Time
Strain Range [%] vs. Cycles to Failure/Fatigue Life
Tensile Strength, Ult. [ksi] vs. Temperature
Tensile Strength, Yield [ksi] vs. Grain Size Parameter [micron-1/2]
Tensile Strength, Yield [ksi] vs. Temperature
Tensile Stress, True [ksi] vs. Tensile Strain, True [%]
Total Strain Range [%] vs. Cycles to Failure

CINDAS LLC is a private company formed exclusively to disseminate materials properties data collected and analyzed by the Center for Information and Numerical Data Analysis and Synthesis (CINDAS) at Purdue University.

The AHAD houses 348 alloys, 830 properties, 29,979 pages, 105,641 data curves, and 12,441 technical references. Contact us at info@cindasdata.com for more information on this and other technical databases.

On Monday, May 19, 2025, Dr. Dave Gildemeister [CINDAS LLC] and I had the opportunity to receive a tour of Haynes International's Manufacturing Facility in Kokomo, Indiana. Haynes International manufactures superalloys for high-temperature and highly corrosive environments, producing for a range of industries including aerospace, chemical production, and power generation. As a senior in aerospace engineering at Purdue University, I have had very limited experience with metallurgy and the processes involved in the manufacturing of alloys my industry needs to continue pushing the performance envelope; therefore, this visit was quite fascinating. Our tour guide, Quentin Pitter, a young Purdue graduate working as a Manufacturing Engineer for Haynes, did a phenomenal job showing us the facilities.

He began with the north end of the facility where the smelting and refining operations took place. I was enamored by the number of options available merely to liquify and form the initial ingot. Open air smelting, argon oxygen decarburizers, vacuum induction melting, and electro slag remelting are among the techniques used by Haynes for ingot production here. We even had the opportunity to see them pour ingots from the decarburizer which poured four ingots of approximately five tons each.

Their forge was equally as impressive as the smelting equipment. A giant oven holding sections of ingots heated to 2800F. These pieces would be taken out of the oven and extruded by a massive power hammer. A machine called a manipulator moved these giant sections of metal, and the process for doing so reminded me a lot of how we extruded round stock in a blacksmithing club I participated in. Moving forward, we were able to view some of the homogenizing and annealing processes as well as their 3-high mill. The ovens near the mill were massive, and so hot that they glowed orange. I could feel the heat from about 40 feet away. The mill was just as impressive, with platforms that would rise and fall to catch the piece of plate coming through the working rollers. The process went smoothly and quickly with only a few passes between reheats of the material. I imagine that two reasons for this are 1) the large surface area causes the piece to drop in temperature quickly, and 2) there are concerns about overworking the material.

The southern campus was quite sprawling. We first visited the 4-high mill which was rolling hot coils at the time. The operator controlling the machine had a multitude of knobs and switches under his command, but he ran the process with speed and finesse, meticulously acquiring data throughout the process. Next, we visited the finishing line, which removed oxidation from the surface of the material through a series of processes like pickling, which involved acids, and hydrogen burners. The resulting materials were shiny coils of complex alloys that were then inspected for defects along the length of the coil. We even got to see another smaller mill that could roll these sheets thinner after finishing. The working rollers were quite small according to Quentin and Dr. Gildemeister because of the amount of force they needed to apply to the material. And while these rollers were quite hard, they needed to be changed often due to the hardness of the materials the rollers were working on.

Our final stop was at the lab where new alloys were tested and samples of materials currently in production were analyzed. As I learned on my visit, the world of materials covers a vast range of length scales, from angstroms up to tens or even hundreds of meters. Accordingly, their lab analyzed these materials at various levels to ensure a quality result throughout. I even had the opportunity to view some samples under a powerful microscope, learning about banding and carbides in the process.

Overall, my visit was both a fantastic educational experience and a fascinating time to see the mix of industrial power and human ingenuity required to provide materials that our world depends on. This tour gave me a new appreciation for materials and has given me a desire to learn more about the complexities of materials selection so I can be better prepared for my time in industry.

Brenden O'Kane, Technical Analyst

April 2025 - AHAD/HPAD - Addition of INCONEL Alloy 740H

INCONEL Alloy 740H has been added to the High Performance Alloys Database (HPAD) and the Aerospace and High Performance Alloys Database (AHAD).

INCONEL 740H is a nickel-based superalloy designed for applications at high temperature and pressure, especially in ultra-supercritical power plants. It derives strength through precipitation of the gamma prime phase and was developed as an improvement of its predecessor IN740. It possesses a unique combination of high strength, creep resistance and excellent corrosion resistance.

Applications include both superheater and reheater tubes, steam headers, and piping in power generation systems requiring materials tolerant of aggressive environments and long exposure at high pressure and temperature. INCONEL 740H has been approved for welded construction of pressure vessels and pipe in ASME codes.

March 2025 - MCMD - Version 3 of MCMD now available

Version 3 of the Microelectronic and Composite Materials Database (MCMD) is now available. There were 93 new materials added with 76 new properties. The additional Material Groups are Composites-Ceramics Matrix, Composites from 3D Printing Waste and Miscellaneous Metal Alloy Materials. The new property groups are Mechanical Properties?Relative Strength and Fracture/Toughness. There are now a total of 1,527 materials in the database with a total of 12,928 datasets and 32,875 data curves. We invite you to browse the Table of Contents (https://cindasdata.com/Applications/MCMD/TOC) to see if the new materials fit your needs.

December 2024 - AHAD/ASMD - Update to Ferrium M54

Ferrium M54 is a secondary hardening, ultra-high strength martensitic steel that exhibits high toughness, high resistance to stress corrosion cracking, and very high strength with an ultimate strength of 285 ksi or greater. It has robust thermal processing that allows for optimized precipitation of an efficient carbide dispersion, maximizing strength, toughness, and thermal stability. Ferrium M54 demonstrates increased resistance to stress corrosion cracking compared to components made from conventional ultra-high strength steels. It was designed for use in applications such as landing gear components, arrestment gear, drive shafts, blast-resistant or impact containment devices, armor, actuators, structural components. This update has a number of revised figures and contains new data on properties of sheet and plate product forms, and compressive engineering and true stress-strain curves.

September 2024 - HPAD/AHAD - New Chapter Added - SCF 19

A new chapter on alloy SCF 19 has recently been added to the HPAD and AHAD databases. This chapter was authored by Rick Frank who recently retired after a 45-year career with Carpenter Technologies where he specialized in the metallurgy of wrought superalloys. Alloy SCF 19 is a nitrogen-strengthened austenitic stainless steel with Mo addition for improved stress corrosion cracking (SCC) resistance. The alloy is capable of exceeding minimum yield strength of 140 ksi in the warm-worked condition. Due to an excellent combination of SCC resistance, chloride pitting resistance, high strength and low magnetic permeability, it finds applications as a non-magnetic drill collar and as a Measurement While Drilling/ Logging While Drilling (MWD/LWD) housing alloy in some of the harshest oil and gas drilling conditions.

August 2024 - CLTD - Update to CLTD

CINDAS LLC?s Cryogenic and Low Temperatures Database (CLTD) Version 5 has been released. This new version adds 34 new materials, with 55 new properties. The new materials are primarily austenitic steels such as 304/304L, 310, 321, 316/316L, cast 316, cast 304/304L and Fe-18-Cr. Other newly added data is on nano and graphene composites and reinforced concrete. This update includes 188 new datasets and 596 data curves. You can see the materials and properties by using the Table of Contents link from the CLTD webpage. https://cindasdata.com/Applications/CLTD/TOC. Choose the material group and then the material. You will see the property/independent variable combinations shown at the bottom of the screen.

To see all the updates to our databases, click here: https://cindasdata.com/products/updates

The alloy sheets have recently been updated. Here are the links to them on our website:

Aerospace Structural Metals Database (ASMD)

High Performance Alloys Database (HPAD)

Aerospace and High Performance Alloys Database (AHAD)

Haynes 244: A low thermal expansion Ni-Mo-Cr-W alloy designed for static applications up to 1400°F; it provides a higher maximum use temperature than other low thermal expansion alloys.

AA7050 (Revision): Heat treatable aluminum alloy 7050 is a workhorse of the aircraft industry offering excellent strength and outstanding toughness combined with good corrosion resistance in thin and especially thick wrought sections. It is widely used as sheet, plate, extrusions, and forgings. Common applications in aircraft structures including fuselage frames, bulkheads, stringers, and wing skins.

MP159: A Ni-Co-Cr multiphase superalloy exhibiting ultra-high strength, excellent ductility and toughness matched with tremendous corrosion resistance. MP159 maintains its properties at temperatures up to 1100-1200°F and finds applications in aerospace, marine, medical, and energy industries, especially in fasteners.

INCONEL 693: A Ni-Cr superalloy designed for exceptional resistance to high-temperature corrosion mechanisms not previously available in a nickel-based alloy. INCONEL 692 attains the best resistance to metal dusting in chemical and petrochemical processing environments of any current conventional alloy produced. Applications include thermal, chemical, and petrochemical processing, waste incineration, burner nozzles and high temperature fuel cells.

Haynes 233: Ni-Co-Cr-Mo-Al alloy engineered for excellent oxidation resistance up to 2100°F or higher and possesses superior creep strength derived from solid-solution and carbide strengthening. It is also age hardenable for increased strength at intermediate temperatures. Applications include hot gas path components in gas turbines, industrial heating, sensors and structural components for advanced energy and chemical processing industries.

Under our link (LEARN) on our webpage: https://cindasdata.com/learn, you can find everything you need to know about how to use the CINDAS LLC databases and on-line handbooks.

In addition, check out this PowerPoint presentatation on our databases:
https://cindasdata.com/learn/docs/CINDAS_databases_whats_in_them_for_me_inclusive.pdf

REQUESTS FOR TRAINING

Please review the CINDAS instructional video demonstration of a live training session on the new CINDAS LEARN link: https://cindasdata.com/learn.

If you need additional site training, contact us to schedule a phone conference or a webinar: https://cindasdata.com/support/training.

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