Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1537054
JULY 2025 I SMT007 MAGAZINE 33 The bottom-line question is not unique to this marketplace. If you own any business, you ask custom- ers the same basic questions: "What do I need to do to continue to serve you? How can I be a good supplier to you?" That's just a valid ques- tion to ask, regardless of the indus- try or the markets that you're serving. You're saying, "Hey, I care about you. I want to continue to work with you. Where are you headed, and how can I help?" What are your specific market segments? Our segments are primarily defense and medical, with some aerospace. It's a smaller percentage, but it's all Class 3 high-reliability work where failure is not an option. That's why our tagline is "Mission Critical Manu- facturing." Where do you see your target market segments moving in the next few years? I don't see us changing at all. Clearly, with a trillion dollars being added to the defense budget, we have high hopes. There will be some question as to what gets funded and which programs actually receive funding, but we are committed to this market and passionate about serving its cus- tomers. Clearly, whatever we can do to protect the warfighters and keep them out of harm's way is a big deal for us. At the same time, I hope we can foster a world where we don't need to grow defense spending. But should we need it, we will be prepared. Michael, it was great talking with you. Likewise. Thank you, Nolan. SMT007 A common lithium salt has revealed new possibilities for manufacturing cheaper, longer-lasting battery materials. The discovery centers on sublimation, a commonly known process whereby under the right conditions, a solid turns directly into a vapor. Sublimation is what creates the tail of a comet as it flies by the sun. As the comet's icy shell heats up, the ice instantly becomes vapor, instead of first melting into liquid water. Scientists recently discovered that the sublimation of lithium oxide, when mixed with nickel-rich cathode precur- sors, creates a single-crystal structure that could be used in longer-lasting batteries. The new work could also help de- crease the cost of battery manufacturing. Now, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Pa- cific Northwest National Laboratory have taken a page out of nature's play- book. In a new find- ing published March 6 in Nature Energy, the PNNL-led team showed that vapor from lithium oxide (Li 2 O) sublimation ac- celerates a chemical reaction that forms single crystals when mixed with nick- el-rich precursors. What's more, the sublimation happens at just one atmosphere of pressure, the everyday pres- sure felt at sea level. Single-crystal battery materials are thought to help batteries last longer. "The discovery offers a potentially faster, more efficient, and cheaper way to scale up the manufacturing of nick- el-rich lithium-ion batteries," said Jie Xiao, coauthor on the paper and a Battelle Fellow who holds a joint appointment with PNNL and the University of Washington. At UW, Xiao is the university's Boeing Martin Professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department. "The research shows us how materials science can be ap- plied to simplify the manufacturing process," Xiao continued. (Source: PNNL) Discovery Opens Doors for Cheaper and Quicker Battery Manufacturing