View from North America
Dear Members
Good afternoon from Cleveland Heights, Ohio. Now back from St Andrews, Rome, London and Ipswich.
Mongolia
OK, surely someone must know. I am most surprised that I’ve still not had any answers yet to my quiz question as to whose abandoned wolframite mine is was on the hills above the Khovd River (Ховд гол), two hours in a four-wheel drive Toyota Landcruiser, west of the town of Ölgii (Өлгий). As an inducement, there’s a nice crisp 1,000 Tugrik note (worth ¢29) waiting as the prize.
Scandium
In my last missive, I had a quick look at some of the challenges that have successfully to be met by metals when they are used “in space”. And, prior to that, at a couple of specific metals: beryllium and gallium. I shall, now, turn my attention to scandium, especially in aluminium-scandium (Al-Sc) alloys, and why it may be used effectively in the space industry.1
SBIR
A good a place to start, both interesting and fun, is with the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) programme here
in the US which encourages “…domestic small businesses to engage in Federal Research/Research and Development (R/
R&D) with the potential for commercialization.”
Perhaps indicative of the growing recognition of scandium’s (and Al-Sc’s) potential, SBIR (Department of Defense (DoD)/
Defense Logistics Agency (DLA)) recently (on June 12) closed a “solicitation” entitled “Advancing Scandium Use in Metal
Alloys for U.S. Weapon System Production and Sustainment” 2. To quote further from the solicitation:
“Potential DoD applications for Al-Sc alloy include the production
and sustainment of missiles, aircraft, space launch vehicles, satellites, solider systems, military ground vehicles, marine applications, and other weapon systems (e.g., small arms and artillery).”3 (italics mine)
If you think back to some of the challenges faced by “metals in space”, with the characteristics and properties they have,
scandium and Al-Sc look pretty useful contenders. As the solicitation states:
“Scandium can impart high strength properties to Al alloys which allows for reduced weight designs (compared to traditional Al alloy) and components for a wide range of defense platforms and other military items. Al-Sc alloys exhibit increased resistance to high temperature and corrosion when compared to common Al alloys. Of further interest, is the high weldability of Al-Sc alloy. Alloys with high weldability can reduce manufacturing labor and other costs associated with joining components and structures. Al-Sc alloy can be especially useful when used as a powder or wire in additive manufacturing.”4
(I should, however, note that Al-Sc alloys are not new. They have been around a long time now. First recognized in the
1950s5, they were developed by scientists in the former USSR, not least for aerospace usage. And, having been used in the MiG 21 and MiG-29, continue, I believe, to be used in some Russian MiG fighters.)
Additive Manufacturing
Whilst the solicitation details quite a number of areas in which the DoD/DLA are particularly interested, for me the
one that stands out especially is “additive manufacturing”. As a layperson, simplistically, for me, this last falls under the
descriptor “3D printing”.
Some six years ago now, reports were being published about collaborative work done by Nanjing University of Aeronautics
and Astronautics with the Fraunhofer ILT to “3D print a high performance scandium/aluminum alloy (Al-Mg-Sc-Zr) using
selective laser melting (SLM) technology”.6 A couple of years later 3D printing was again mentioned, in the context of
SpaceX Crew Dragon.7
A couple of months after this mention of SpaceX, Relativity Space, a Los Angeles-based private American aerospace
manufacturing company and Australian metals recovery and industrial water treatment company Clean TeQ (developer of
Al-Sc alloys and owner and operator of one of the most significant and highest-grade accumulations of scandium ever
discovered), announced that they were teaming up to develop Al-Sc alloys for the 3D printing of launchers for commercial
orbital launch services.8
One of the results of their collaboration was the production of the 110 foot tall Terran 1 3D printed (with Al-Sc alloy)
launch rocket — for the massive sum of $12 million.9 The first and only Terran 1 was launched from Cape Canaveral on March 23, 2023. Unfortunately, it was not a success, with the second stage failing to ignite.
However, while its launch may have been a failure, taking its performance as, essentially, demonstrating “proof of concept”,
Terran 1 was subsequently “retired” and, since then,
Relativity Space has been working on Terran R, a medium-to-heavy lift reusable rocket, also 3D printed.10 Starting in 2026,
will also launch from Cape Canaveral.
More recently, and with both more depth and greater focus on Al-Sc alloys specifically, there was an excellent piece in
this year’s spring edition (Vol 10. No. 1) of Metal Additive Manufacturing, the magazine for the metal additive manufacturing industry, entitled “Scandium’s impact on the Additive Manufacturing of aluminium alloys.”11
Pointing out that, in additive manufacturing (AM), “[u]nlike other manufacturing processes, weight is time in AM – and
time is money; raw material costs take a back seat when it comes to overall part cost.” (Important, I believe, when it
comes to scandium.)
The result, the authors (Jonathan Meyer and James E Barnes) believe, is that “[i]t is time to embrace the future with AM and scandium. AM enables using ‘premium’ materials and promotes lighter designs. Using less raw material and enabling lighter designs are inherently sustainable. The industry needs a high-strength aluminium alloy to improve the business case of using AM and aluminium.” And that they have made the case that either scarcity or supply chain issues
are increasingly being resolved and, in any case, very little scandium is required to begin making an impact.“12
This last should provide the DoD/DLA with at least a modicum of comfort when you consider that current supply of both scandium metals and scandium compounds is, essentially, controlled pretty much by China and Russia. (That said,
in addition to developing operations in Canada, there are plans for the mining of scandium ore in the US.)
And, indeed, to round things off on both the 3-D printing and scandium production fronts, on June 13, Scandium Canada,
which operates the Crater Lake project in northeastern Quebec “one of the few primary scandium deposits globally”, announced that, having worked with McMaster University on the 3D-prining of aluminium scandium powders for part production, it had now resolved some problems around solidification cracking and was looking at patent applications.13
With its weight, strength and 3D “printability” advantages scandium and in particular, Al-Sc alloys have, I believe, considerable potential in the space saga. And, it would appear, even if it is, currently, not available to we here in the US in significant quantities, this may not pose insurmountable challenges. Whether or not it gets used extensively in a military
context, with concerns about cost always to the fore in anything to do with space, going forward I believe we’ll see
more about its use in aerospace and especially space.
I shall keep my eyes peeled.
In the meantime, from a hot and humid Cleveland Heights, Ohio, as always, I remain
Yours
Tom
©2024 Tom Butcher
Tom Butcher, formerly Director of ESG there, is now a Marketing Advisor at Van Eck Associates Corporation (“VanEck”).
The views and opinions expressed herein are the personal views of Tom Butcher are not presented by or associated with VanEck or its affiliated entities. Please note that VanEck may offer investments products that invest in the asset class (es) or securities mentioned herein. This is not an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation to buy or sell any of the securities/ financial instruments mentioned herein.
- Please do refer, too, to Scandium emerges from the shadows by Andrew Matheson and Patrick Stratton published on April 5, 2022
in The Crucible. - SBIR: Advancing Scandium Use in Metal Alloys for U.S. Weapon System Production and Sustainment
- Ibid.
- Ibid.
- Institut für Seltene Erden und Metalle: Scandium: Vom Sowjet-Geheimnis zum China-Monopol, October 2023,
- American Resources Policy Network: The Lightweighting Revolution Continues – But Supply Challenges Loom Large, August 15, 2018
- American Resources Policy Network: Materials Science Revolution Continues to Yield Breakthroughs – a Look at Scandium, May 28, 2020,
- Additive Manufacturing: Clean TeQ, Relativity Space Collaborate on Scandium Aluminium Alloys for 3D Printing of Rockets, July 30, 2020
- Aerospace Technology: Terran 1 3D Printed Rocket
- Relativity Space: Relativity Space Shares Updated Go-to-Market Approach for Terran R, Taking Aim at Medium to Heavy Payload Category Within the Next-Generation Rocket April 12, 2023
- Metal Additive Manufacturing: Scandium’s impact on the Additive Manufacturing of aluminium alloys, Spring 2024,
- Ibid.
- The Newswire: Scandium Canada Ltd. Announces Update on Market Development, June 13, 2024,
