The research team borrowed the idea from nature, noting that trees and bones get their strength from the way layered rings of different materials interact with each other. “It has very broad applications because any place that is doing any kind of welding can now expand their design concepts or find applications where they can combine a very hard material and a soft material almost simultaneously,” said Bandyopadhyay, a professor in WSU’s School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering. With further development, it could potentially be used to make high-performance medical implants or even parts for space travel, said Amit Bandyopadhyay, senior author of the study published in the journal Nature Communications. The new method uses commonplace, relatively inexpensive tools, so manufacturers and repair shops could use it in the near term. The resulting bimetallic material proved 33% to 42% stronger than either metal alone, thanks in part to pressure caused between the metals as they cool together. Taking a cue from the structural complexity of trees and bones, Washington State University engineers have created a way to 3D‑print two types of steel in the same circular layer using two welding machines. In a demonstration of the new 3D-printing method, two welding heads work one right after the other on a circular layer to print two metals: an outer casing of cheaper “mild” steel and a corrosion-resistant, stainless-steel core inside.
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