QuesTek Launches Partnership with CBMM to Advance Material Capabilities with Niobium

SAO PAULO, July 2, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- QuesTek Innovations has launched a partnership with CBMM, the world's leading producer of Niobium. The partnership will push the boundaries of materials engineering and open a new frontier of capabilities through the expanded use of Niobium.

Through the partnership, QuesTek will explore material compositions leveraging Niobium to achieve high strength and heat resistance in novel alloys suitable for additive manufacturing. Using its ICMD® materials design and engineering platform, QuesTek can explore the addition of Niobium to a wide array of alloys as well as how current Niobium alloys can be optimized.

"In the world of high-temperature metal alloys, right now Niobium is one of the most-promising candidates," says QuesTek executive vice president of market operations Jason Sebastian. "When it comes to turbines, rocket engines and hypersonic materials, the hotter they can run the more fuel-efficient they become. This partnership between CBMM and QuesTek is positioned to enable new levels of performance through niobium-containing novel materials."

Partnership with CBMM is a natural next step for QuesTek to leverage their experience with designing Niobium alloys under the ARPA-E "ULTIMATE" program. In this program QuesTek is applying computational materials design to additive manufacturing (AM), coating technology, and turbine design/manufacturing to develop a comprehensive solution for a next-generation turbine blade alloy and coating system capable of sustained operation at 1300°C. As a part of this program, QuesTek has developed and matured several physics-based material property models, and has develop kinetic and thermodynamic databases for niobium alloy systems exclusive to QuesTek.

QuesTek's digital capabilities using ICMD® dramatically reduces the amount of physical experimentation needed to design, develop and deploy novel materials. While the partnership with CBMM is focused exclusively on Niobium alloys, ICMD® is capable of optimizing countless other materials and applications.

"Nickel-based superalloys could be reaching their full potential of optimization," says Rafael Mesquita, CBMM's Technology Director. "QuesTek is at the forefront of the digital transformation of materials engineering and this partnership creates the opportunity to achieve more of the vast potential of Niobium for heat resistance and other properties. ICMD® and QuesTek's expertise in physics-based modeling are perfectly suited to unlock enormous unrealized value in Niobium through new applications worldwide."

CBMM headquarters and industrial complex are located in the city of Araxá, in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Niobium is commonly added to steels across a wide range of industries to enhance an alloy's wear resistance and overall strength.

About QuesTek 
QuesTek empowers innovators by resolving materials-based challenges. QuesTek is both a pioneer and current market leader in Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME). QuesTek's Materials by Design® technologies have enabled new products and new thresholds of performance across a wide range of industries including aerospace, automotive, medical devices, consumer electronics and luxury goods. QuesTek's ICMD ® SaaS offering has packaged QuesTek's IP and know-how into a client accessible software platform for the first time. In recognition of advancements in sustainability through materials engineering, QuesTek was named a 2024 Top Impact Company by Real Leaders and listed on TechRound's Sustainability60. Headquartered in Evanston, Illinois. QuesTek has additional locations in Cambridge, Massachusetts; Solna, Sweden; and Tokyo. Questek.com

About CBMM
World leader in the production and marketing of Niobium products, CBMM has more than 500 customers in over 50 countries. Headquartered in Brazil, with regional offices in China, the Netherlands, Singapore, Switzerland and the United States, the company supplies products and technology to the infrastructure, mobility, aerospace, healthcare, and energy sectors. The company has a New Business front to support its growth plans through the development of new applications that is focused on accelerating the entry, into the global market, of Niobium technology. In the last 5 years, CBMM has made strategic investments aiming at new developments in Niobium materials for Li-ion batteries. Since its foundation, CBMM has developed projects in Brazil and in several countries around the world to foster the adoption of Niobium technology by several industries. For further information, please visit https://cbmm.com/en.

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SOURCE CBMM