Online Video Sessions Provide Education and Insight on Negative Thermal Expansion Benefits
College Station, TX – ALLVAR, a manufacturer of revolutionary alloys that exhibit negative thermal expansion (NTE), has announced a series of educational videos, called ALLVAR University, that showcase a particular application, calculation or considerations when designing assemblies with a component manufactured with NTE ALLVAR Alloys.
ALLVAR Alloys have unique thermal expansion properties. They shrink when heated and expand when cooled, a phenomenon known as negative thermal expansion (NTE). These patented alloys are typically coupled to a traditional positive thermal expansion metal to counter their expansion properties, making the overall structure athermal.
Dr. James A. Monroe, Founder of ALLVAR, designed this educational series to help people understand the potential of negative thermal expansion alloys, especially for athermalizing assemblies or structures that are exposed to extreme temperature fluctuations. “Knowing how the alloy behaves across a large temperature shift can enable optic designers to negate any thermal degradation of performance.”
He added that ALLVAR Alloys are being used in complex assemblies by NASA for space telescopes or as a simple way to maintain constant force in fasteners over temperature. Monroe added, “We manufacture NTE washers that minimize the likelihood of a bolt loosening when exposed to repeated temperature cycles. A constant force is achieved over temperature just by replacing a normal washer with an ALLVAR Alloy washer.”
The videos are each approximately 8 minutes long and topics covered will range from applications in IR optics and optical systems to calculating various scenarios to achieve zero overall thermal shift. Follow the company on Facebook or LinkedIn for the bi-weekly videos or visit the video library on their web site to get started.
About ALLVAR Alloys:
Founded in 2014, ALLVAR develops and manufactures ALLVAR Alloys that exhibit negative thermal expansion (NTE) properties. These alloys compensate and eliminate detrimental effects that thermal expansion has on many applications, such as IR optics, petroleum and chemical exploration and processing, remote weather or atmospheric monitoring, and space-based instruments. The company provides NTE washers and spacers, as well as bars and tubes for mounting struts or rails for commercial applications in addition to their custom contract work. Visit the web site at www.allvaralloys.com or follow the company on Facebook or LinkedIn.
