QuesTek Wins SBIR Phase II Award to Develop Tools and Design Molybdenum-based Alloys

New Design Tools to Yield New Ductile, Oxidation- and Creep-Resistant Molybdenum-Based Alloys for High-Temperature Aerospace, Defense, Industrial and Commercial Applications

QuesTek Innovations LLC has been awarded a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to apply QuesTek’s Materials by Design® technology to develop tools to computationally design molybdenum-based alloys with greater ductility, oxidation resistance, and creep resistance for use above 1,300°C (2,372°F). Process-structure and structure-property models based on custom multi-component thermodynamic and mobility databases will also be developed. In addition, QuesTek will utilize these tools and models to design advanced molybdenum-based alloys that can be manufactured using conventional processes. The two-year contract was issued by the U.S. Army and is valued at $749,892.

Applications for improved molybdenum-based alloys can include components of next-generation rockets and aerospace or land-based turbines, as well as parts of x-ray rotary anodes, high-intensity discharge lamps, and forging dies. Superior molybdenum-based alloys are expected to increase equipment energy efficiencies and/or durability by tolerating significantly higher operating temperatures than existing nickel-based superalloys (due in part to molybdenum’s much higher melting poin