Finalists announced for Advanced Materials category of the 2019 LEAP Awards

Winners in the second annual LEAP Awards, celebrating the best components and services across the mechanical and electrical engineering design space, were unveiled on November 5, 2019. Across 13 categories, the judging panel awarded Gold, Silver and Bronze recognitions, as well as Honorable Mentions for certain submissions. The awards program is supported by three leading publications in the design engineering space: Design World, Fluid Power World and EE World.

Paul J. Heney, Vice President, Editorial Director, Design World, said, “Our judges, all of whom are independent engineering industry professionals, did a remarkable job in quickly turning around the scoring this year. We had a combination of judges from last year and several new judges.”

This year, the program changed from having a single declared winner in each category, to a medalist concept, with the potentials for a Gold, Silver and Bronze winner in any category, as well as Honorable Mentions. Depending on the scoring ranges, not all categories will necessarily have all medals awarded, and Honorable Mentions are also optional — and tied to how close an entry came to the medalist scores.

The winners will be recognized at a ceremony in Santa Clara, California, in conjunction with the Healthcare Robotics Engineering Forum and DeviceTalks West events, on December 9th. Information on how to register for the ceremony will be posted shortly.

The medalists for the Advanced Materials category are:

Gold: Texas Instruments, BAW resonator technology
Texas Instruments’ BAW resonator technology paves the way for stable, secure and high-performance communications infrastructure and connectivity. Designers can leverage innovative chips with TI’s BAW technology to shrink BOM, improve network performance and increase immunity to vibration and shock in next-generation industrial and telecommunication applications.

The first two devices developed with TI BAW technology, the SimpleLink CC2652RB wireless microcontroller (MCU) and the LMK05318 network synchronizer clock, help streamline design logistics for faster time to market while enabling stable, simplified and high-performance delivery of data with the potential for overall cost savings. The SimpleLink CC2652RB is the world’s first crystal-less wireless MCU, providing simplified design options for connectivity by decreasing the overall footprint for industrial applications including factory and building automation, grid infrastructure and medical. The LMK05318 400G network synchronizer uses BAW resonator technology to deliver the industry’s highest frequency, lowest jitter and best hitless switching performance – streamlining design for telecommunication and data center applications.

Silver: Greene Tweed & Company, WR 650 thermoplastic composite
WR 650 is a thermoplastic composite for wear parts in some of the most challenging applications in the harshest environments – including refineries, chemical plants, power generation plants, pipelines, and water treatment plants.

WR 650 was developed to solve the challenge of producing composite wear parts using Perfluoroalkoxy (PFA) that can maintain the reduced clearance desired over a range of temperature and pressure. Standard PFA composites rapidly lose their structural integrity when operating conditions are more severe or in case of upset conditions leading to rapid failure of wear parts. This is because they lack coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) consistency in three directions due to the two-dimensional reinforcement used in their fiber architecture. In addition, these PFA composites are extremely costly to manufacture, so they are usually reserved for metallic wear parts that experience constant failure.

By contrast, WR 650 three-dimension reinforced composite offers better chemical resistance, higher mechanical properties, and lower cost than other PFA-based materials. It matches the CTE of the steel housing in wear components over an operating temperature range up to 260°C (500°F). These next-generation composite wear parts also have significantly increased dry run capability, and extend part life expectation or mean time between failures (MTBF) in case of upset conditions.

WR 650 is available in a broad range of stock shapes. The manufacturing process used to produce WR 650 enables cost reductions over traditional PFA composites.

Bronze: Dura-Bar, Dura-Tube takes care of the “hole” operation
Dura-Tube is produced through a proprietary vertical continuous cast process. It is available in a variety of outside diameter (O.D.), inside diameters (I.D.), wall thicknesses, lengths, and grades. Dura-Tube conforms to ASTM specifications. Dura-Tube is produced using the continuous cast process yields a more concentric tube for optimal machine processing, and a distinct advantage of Dura-Tube compared to centrifugal castings is in the stock removal process. Most machined parts require boring a hole – a time-intensive machining operation. Dura-Tube products mitigate the need for hole boring; Since Dura-Tube weighs less than a standard bar, customers will also benefit from lower freight costs, saving time and money.