Description
Opportunity : Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), operated by the Lawrence Livermore National Security (LLNS), LLC under contract no. DE-AC52-07NA27344 (Contract 44) with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), is offering the opportunity to license The Alloy Optimization Software (TAOS) technology, which provides capability for computational design of optimal alloys on commodity computers at the fabrication site, without requiring domain expertise in computational materials science. TAOS also leverages and provides access to prior LLNL expertise and developments in computational alloy design. Background : The development of new alloys and their application to market can take up to 30 years. Therefore, researchers at LLNL and elsewhere have been developing advanced computational methods and tools–generally included in a complex Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME) framework–to understand and solve composition-process-related issues encountered in conventional and advanced manufacturing. However, this multiscale materials modeling approach requires high-performance computing capabilities, dedicated computational materials scientists and experimental data to develop and parametrize complex codes to be successful. Description : LLNL’s Alloy Optimization Software (TAOS) is a powerful, user-friendly tool that runs on commodity stand-alone computer hardware. TAOS permits the development of new alloys for multicomponent systems (within specified practical composition ranges and sensitivity analysis) within minutes to hours (depending on the constraint optimization criteria) on a commodity stand-alone computer hardware. It handles computational thermodynamic calculation and black-box optimization methods to design new process-aware alloys. TAOS provides a graphical user interface (GUI) to rapidly screen for desired alloy compositions from a large multidimensional composition space (9 or more) to a manageable number of experimental targets. TAOS can design new materials with large numbers of target properties such as liquidus and solidus temperatures, freezing range, phase fraction of precipitates consisting of complicated high-dimensional non-smooth functions that would be extremely difficult to sample experimentally or even enumerate explicitly. TAOS is based on the use of CALPHAD (CALculation of PHAse Diagrams) thermodynamic databases (user-defined or commercial) and interacts with computational thermodynamic software, coupled with LLNL scripts. TAOS’s tuned optimization algorithms allow optimization of several target functions (e.g., melting temperature defined as liquidus or solidus, freezing range, phase formed, etc.) under applied constraints (phases to avoid, minimum melting temperature, etc.). Advantages : TAOS fills the gap between theory-based high-performance computing and Edisonian-type approaches by providing a more practical tool: Easy-to-use, automated, cross-platform software with graphical user interface that supports rapid iteration for efficient screening of target compositions. Can be run by non-specialists on commodity computers. An approximately 10x reduced cost and at least 2x reduced time to market for alloy designs. Automates the search for optimal alloys over a large multicomponent phase space. In comparison, typical competitive calculations are constrained to a single alloy composition per calculation and often a small numbers of alloy components. Offers a broader software compatibility and more features (e.g., sensitivity analysis) than currently available alloy design tools. Users can develop and optimize new in-house customized alloys based on a preferred computational thermodynamic software and computing platform. Potential Applications : TAOS is tuned for applications in operational commercial alloy development environment and is aimed at companies engaged in alloy design and production using conventional and advanced manufacturing (AM). TAOS also allows flexibility in defining target functions as the state of science advances such as AM processes, and feedstock powder processing. For example, in the case of AM, there is a need to develop new materials/alloys optimized for this specific, highly-nonequilibrium process. Development Status : Work at LLNL has resulted in proof-of-concept demonstrations and evaluations at relevant field tests, but not in an operational environment. The TRL level is roughly 4, and the technology is currently being packaged in a user-friendly way to allow for broad application (improve compatibility with existing computational thermodynamic software packages) as a commercial tool. LLNL is seeking industry partners with a demonstrated ability to bring such inventions to the market. Moving critical technology beyond the Laboratory to the commercial world helps our licensees gain a competitive edge in the marketplace. All licensing activities are conducted under policies relating to the strict nondisclosure of company proprietary information. Please visit the IPO website at https://ipo.llnl.gov/resources for more information on working with LLNL and the industrial partnering and technology transfer process. Note: THIS IS NOT A PROCUREMENT . Companies interested in commercializing LLNL's TAOS should provide a written statement of interest, which includes the following: 1. Company Name and address. 2. The name, address, and telephone number of a point of contact. 3. A description of corporate expertise and facilities relevant to commercializing this technology Written responses should be directed to: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Innovation and Partnerships Office P.O. Box 808, L-795 Livermore, CA 94551-0808 Attention: FBO 503-21 Please provide your written statement within thirty (30) days from the date this announcement is published to ensure consideration of your interest in LLNL's TAOS.