When researchers and scientists encounter problems finding small quantities of pure metals, the Ames Laboratory’s Materials Preparation Center (MPC) is ready to help.

Building prototypes or testing metal alloys for certain properties has long been the bane of researchers. Larry Jones, who has been director of MPC since 1993, said scientists turn to the MPC for small quantities of untested material when large quantities aren’t worth high manufacturing costs.

The MPC has gained a worldwide reputation for providing pure “custom alloys” on a small scale, which allows them to fill a niche that no one else in the industry does, Jones said.

He estimated that most researchers want between 50 and 100 grams of a pure alloy.

It may be costly, but it beats producing thousands of pounds of a metal and discovering that different material is needed, Jones said. He noted most projects remain industry secrets while in the design stage.

To determine whether an alloy is pure, the MPC will first send companies a sample of the alloy, which enables them to test its effectiveness, according to the press release.

After the material is tested, another lab produces the alloy on a larger scale, Jones said. He added that in order to expand, the U.S. Department of Energy would have to provide more funding for a new building.

Although the DOE has contributed about $900,000 annually for the past three years as part of a Scientific Facilities Initiative, the MPC is a self-supporting DOE “user facility” that does not receive continuous yearly funding, Jones said.

The initiative has been implemented to increase the industry’s capabilities, and primarily is used to upgrade equipment, he said.

One material MPC has made available to the industry is the Magnetostrictive material, produced in the early 1980s for research purposes. ETREMA Products, Inc. now produces the material in mass quantity for a variety of other applications.

In addition, the MPC developed hydride sorbent material to solve impurity problems associated with cryocoolers, which are used in astrophysics sensors for lowering temperatures, Jones said.

Using the MPC’s LaNiSn alloy, a cryocooler was first tested on the Endeavour Space Shuttle mission in 1996, and the material “outperformed its expectations” with a purity level 10,000 times better than previous cryocoolers, he said.

Jones said the MPC will aid almost any company under the supervision of the U.S. government.

He said the idea of speeding up technology is his motivation, and trying to meet every request for a metallic alloy puts his idea in motion.