High-throughput (HTP) synthesis: Updated high-throughput rapid experimental alloy development (HT-READ)

Abstract

Over the past 2 decades, the computational materials science community has made great advances in facilitating and supporting the development of new materials, particularly metallic alloys. While the materials community now has impactful computational tools, from Calculation of Phase Diagrams (CALPHAD) methods for computing phase diagrams, to density functional theory (DFT) for computing certain properties of individual phases, to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) to accelerate computational discoveries, experimental validation methods, in any high-throughput methodology, has been lacking. Metallic alloy synthesis has remained incredibly slow owing to traditional methods, such as arc-melting methods, remaining a one-off approach, which each individual sample requiring a separate sample preparation and characterization process, little if any of which is automated. To overcome these limitations, the High-Throughput Rapid Experimental Alloy Development (HT-READ) platform was developed. The HT-READ platform is a true paradigm change in the field of metallic alloy development, enabling fully automated synthesis and characterization of alloy samples in groups of 16 samples at once. The enabling feature of the HT-READ platform approach is the use of a single sample, with up to 16 individual alloy ‘spokes’ comprising a ‘wagon-wheel’ geometry. This geometry directly enables the automation of each of the characterization steps that can proceed without instrument operation by a trained engineer. In spite of the significant advantages of the HT-READ platform, the rate controlling step remains the physical weighing of the alloy powders used in the 3-D printing of the individual spokes of the ‘wagon-wheel’ sample. In the newly updated HT-READ platform, the powder handling and weighting process has now been automated using a ChemSpeed™ Doser, which can dispense up to 24 different powders, which might be needed to achieve the desired composition for each of the 16-spoke samples. With the Updated HT-READ platform, it is now possible to achieve truly high-throughput of metallic alloy development, with automated characterization across multiple instruments, from GDS, XRD, SEM-EDS, SEM-EBSD, microhardness, and nanoindentation.