Paul Bartolotta, senior materials research engineer at the NASA Glenn
Research Center, and an international team of researchers on March 29
received a 2001 NorTech Innovation Award. The team’s innovations were an
economical method for making titanium aluminide sheet and the methods for
forming it into aerospace components.

Working through NASA contracts and agreements, Bartolotta, Gopal Das, a
materials specialist with Pratt & Whitney, West Palm Beach, FL, and Heinrich
Kestler, head of gamma-titanium aluminide development with Plansee
Aktiengesellschaftnse, Reutte, Austria, developed powder metallurgy
techniques for making titanium aluminide sheet. The production costs are
one-tenth those of ingot-based titanium sheet. Now commercially available
from Plansee as Gamma-met, the light weight but stiff material is replacing
heavier superalloys in critical, high-temperature aerospace components.

Bartolotta and Robert Leholm, staff engineer, and John Meaney, senior staff
engineer, both of BF Goodrich Aerospace Aerostructures Group, Chula Vista,
CA, developed the forming techniques for Gamma-met. The techniques include
sheet rolling, relatively low-temperature hot forming, joint brazing and
bonding, and heat treatment after machining to relieve stresses around rivet
holes. All the processes can be done using regular production equipment.

NorTech Innovation awards, formerly known as the EDI Innovation Awards, are
named for the Northeast Ohio Technology Coalition (NorTech), the technology
affiliate of Cleveland Tomorrow. The awards honor innovators and companies
for the creating some of the best new products in Northeast Ohio. The awards
program is sponsored by Key Bank, Ernst & Young, Squire Sanders, the Ohio
Department of Development, Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead
School of Management and its subsidiary Enterprise Development, Inc.

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Note To Local Editors: Dr. Bartolotta is a resident of Medina, OH. A print
quality image supporting this release is available at
http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/PAO/pressrel/images/99_79i2.jpg