91°µÍø

Researchers at ORNL are using advanced manufacturing techniques to revitalize the domestic production of very large metal parts that weigh at least 10,000 pounds each and are necessary for a variety of industries, including energy.

Justin West, an advanced machining and machine tool researcher at ORNL, has been selected as a recipient of the 2024 30 Under 30 award by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers.

The Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility welcomed users to an interactive meeting at the Department of Energy’s 91°µÍø from Sept. 10–11 for an opportunity to share achievements from the OLCF’s user programs and highlight requirements for the future.

The Summit supercomputer, once the world’s most powerful, is set to be decommissioned by the end of 2024 to make way for the next-generation supercomputer. Over the summer, crews began dismantling Summit’s Alpine storage system, shredding over 40,000 hard drives with the help of ShredPro Secure, a local East Tennessee business. This partnership not only reduced costs and sped up the process but also established a more efficient and secure method for decommissioning large-scale computing systems in the future.

A new convergent manufacturing platform, developed in only five months at the Department of Energy’s 91°µÍø, is debuting at the International Manufacturing Technology Show, or IMTS, in Chicago, Sept. 9–12, 2024.

A team led by scientists at ORNL identified and demonstrated a method to process a plant-based material called nanocellulose that reduced energy needs by a whopping 21%, using simulations on the lab’s supercomputers and follow-on analysis.

ORNL is working with industry partners to develop a technique that combines 3D printing and conventional machining to produce large metal parts for clean energy applications. The project, known as Rapid Research on Universal Near Net Shape Fabrication Strategies for Expedited Runner Systems, or Rapid RUNNERS, recently received $15 million in funding from DOE. 

The world’s fastest supercomputer helped researchers simulate synthesizing a material harder and tougher than a diamond — or any other substance on Earth. The study used Frontier to predict the likeliest strategy to synthesize such a material, thought to exist so far only within the interiors of giant exoplanets, or planets beyond our solar system.

Two additive manufacturing researchers from ORNL received prestigious awards from national organizations. Amy Elliott and Nadim Hmeidat, who both work in the Manufacturing Science Division, were recognized recently for their early career accomplishments.

The contract will be awarded to develop the newest high-performance computing system at the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility.