Foundation Alloy has launched the Molyclast MC1200 molybdenum alloy.
The company believes it to be the strongest molybdenum alloy ever commercialised, suggesting it is three times stronger than the current market leader.
Foundation Alloy states that the material boasts excellent performance, versatility, and reliability, as well as 'exceptional' room temperature ductility. The company expects it to unlock new engineering capabilities for those working in semiconductor manufacturing, medical imaging, aerospace and defence.
Moreover, the MC1200 material is said to 'remove long-standing tradeoffs in material selection', with Foundation Alloy claiming that its high strength does not come at the expense of room temperature ductility, manufacturability and margin of safety in service. The material's fully recrystallised microstructure delivers predictable strength from 25°C to over 1500°C, avoiding the embrittlement and precipitous property loss common in refractory alloys, according to the company.
"With MC1200, Foundation Alloy takes a leap towards the ideal for refractory metals, unlocking persistent ductility in an alloy of very high strength,” said Dr. Christopher Schuh, Dean of Engineering and Applied Science at Northwestern, former Head of Materials Science and Engineering at MIT, and co-founder of Foundation Alloy. “This is the result of advancements in both formulation and processing together, the only way to realise the full promise of metals. MC1200 will not only redefine the current uses of refractory alloys, but also open new markets for them by eliminating multiple of their greatest limiting drawbacks."
MC1200 is processed via the proprietary MetalsFIRST technology, which has been developed to eliminate melting and enable precise control over alloy chemistry and microstructure. This process produces full recrystallised parts with grain sizes approximately 100× smaller than conventional molybdenum alloy components, contributing to MC1200’s high strength. MC1200 also achieves its properties in the as-sintered state, allowing components to be produced as near-net shapes. This, Foundation Alloy says, enables greater geometric freedom in part design, guarantees uniform performance in all dimensions, and eliminates more than 60% of processing time and scrap in refractory component manufacturing.
“MC1200 is the first in a new category of ultra-high performance metals that are simple to manufacture and scale,” added Foundation Alloy CEO Jake Guglin. “With MetalsFIRST, we are breaking conventional alloy limits and putting new materials in the field in months, instead of years. Our customers are already benefiting from both the new capabilities and speed, and with the release of MC1200, we are proving yet again that we can push performance farther and faster than any other materials company in the world.”
Foundation Alloy is currently manufacturing customer parts with MC1200 and validating performance through in-field testing. Last year, the company launched its first high-performance molybdenum alloys.
