Fang Lab Enters Agreement with IPERIONX

 

Metallurgical Engineering professors in the University of Utah’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering recently signed a research agreement with IperionX (IPX) for $10M over ten years, effective January 1, 2024.

The Charlotte, NC-based IPX aims to become a leading American titanium and critical materials company — using patented metals technologies to produce high-performance titanium metal from titanium minerals or scrap titanium at lower energy, cost, and carbon emissions than conventional technologies.

The project is led by  Z. Zak Fang, professor of metallurgy in the John and Marcia Price College of Engineering and the College of Science, and is Co-led by Research Associate Professor Pei Sun.

The team of Fang’s powder metallurgy research lab in front of the laser 3D printing laboratory. Banner image above: Additively manufactured Ti-6Al-4V parts by the powder metallurgy laboratory at the University of Utah

Fang and his research team will provide IPX with research and development services related to metallurgical technologies to produce primary metals, advanced manufacturing technologies, including additive manufacturing (i.e., 3D printing) of titanium alloys, and recycling of rare earth metals from magnets used in wind turbines and electric vehicles.

“This academic-industry partnership of the Fang Lab and IperionX exemplifies the College of Science’s innovative bench-to-application research to meet the needs of our energy future,” said Dean Peter Trapa.

“Collaborations like this one are virtuous cycles; cutting-edge research and industry supporting one another is the backbone of a growing innovation economy,” says Richard Brown, H. E. Thomas Presidential Endowed Dean of the John and Marcia Price College of Engineering.

Read more about Dr. Fang's research in titanium here.