The winning publication describes how machining of tantalum and its alloys can be significantly enhanced, utilizing a newly uncovered mechanochemical phenomenon.

 

The Ekeberg Prize is awarded annually for excellence in research and innovation of the element tantalum (Ta) and is sponsored by the Tantalum-Niobium International Study Center (T.I.C.), the global trade body representing the tantalum and niobium industry. In announcing the winner, the independent judging panel led by Dr Axel Hoppe stated that cutting tantalum is a subject which has interested metallurgists for decades and the research results offer important new considerations on the topic.  

 

The Ekeberg Prize medal, manufactured from pure tantalum metal by the Kazakhstan Mint, is awarded during the T.I.C.’s annual General Assembly, which this year will be held Nov. 14 to 17 in London. In addition to Davis, authors of the winning paper are Srinivasan Chandrasekar, professor of industrial engineering; Mojib Saei (PhD IE’21), visiting assistant professor at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology; Debapriya Pinaki Mohanty, doctoral research student at Purdue; Anirudh Udupa (PhD ME’15), a Purdue postdoctoral research scientist; and Tatsuya Sugihara, associate professor of mechanical engineering at Osaka University, Osaka, Japan. The Purdue team mostly works at the Center for Materials Processing and Tribology, a cooperative world-class, cross-disciplinary research program involving the Schools of Industrial Engineering and Materials Engineering. Sugihara is based at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Osaka University.

 

The winning paper will be reprinted in T.I.C.’s quarterly newsletter, the Bulletin, in October 2021.