May 1, 2001

• 5:30 Social Hour
• 6:30 – 7:30 Dinner
• 7:30 – Speaker : Dr. W. Raymond Cribb
• Topic: Advancements in Copper Alloys — Beyond Y2K

Dr. Cribb is Director of Technology, Brush Wellman Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. He joined Brush Wellman in 1979 and served in several capacities relating to the technology development of beryllium and copper-beryllium alloys, eventually becoming Director of Technology and Marketing, a general manager and Director of Operations for copper beryllium alloy product at a key facility. Presently, he leads a major effort to develop new products to expand business opportunities for the Alloy Products Division, which serves a diverse industry base. Prior to joining Brush Wellman, he worked for Republic Steel Corporation (now LTV) as a research metallurgist in hot deformation and other physical metallurgy areas.

Dr. Cribb holds a B.S. in Engineering Science and Mechanics from the University of Florida. He also received his M.S.E. and Ph.D. degrees in materials science from the University of Florida. He has been a member of ASM since 1977 and has served in a number of national and local ASM roles. He was elected Fellow in 1992. He is also a registered Professional Engineer, State of Ohio.

As a member, Dr. Cribb has been active at all levels of the ASM International organization, first at the Chapter level in Cleveland and Toledo, Ohio, in committee leads, later chairman, and at the national officer level as the Treasurer and, now, on the Board of Trustees.

Dr. Cribb’s current responsibilities are focused on the continued growth of Brush Wellman’s alloy business segment. This initiative expands Brush Wellman’s current high performance copper beryllium business to include high performance copper-based spinodal alloys and component level opportunities. These alloys serve a diversity of markets including plastics, aerospace, subsea, telecommunications, transportation, computer and oil & gas.

Advancements in Copper Alloys — Beyond Y2K

Although copper alloys have been in existence for 2500 years they are rapidly finding emerging uses. The discovery of new systems continues. A relatively new breed of high performance copper-based alloys has emerged, enabled by new manufacturing technology. These spinodal alloys are a fairly recent event in metallurgical circles. Although predicted to exist through thermodynamic calculations in the early 20th century, it was not until the 1960s that nanoscale observations proved their existence in alloy systems. High freezing range has historically limited commercialization of certain Copper-Nickel-Tin alloys and only powder metallurgy versions have been successful. A new casting technology, EquaCast, minimizes macro and microsegregation promoting consistency in properties while enabling large sizes and shapes as wrought or cast versions. These high performance copper alloys exhibit spinodal decomposition and, therefore, excellent engineering characteristics including high strength, resistance to elevated temperatures, and very good tribological properties, yet retaining traditional copper alloy base attributes including high thermal conductivity and resistance to general corrosion and chloride/sulfide SCC, hydrogen embrittlement.

In this talk, Dr. Cribb outlines the background behind the commercial development of two copper-based spinodal alloys, including the EquaCast technology, structure-property developments and illustrations of their technology and emerging engineering usage.