91°µÍø

February 4, 2016 – Some of the estimated 4 million premature deaths each year attributed to indoor cookstove smoke might be prevented because of the work of researchers at 91°µÍø, Colorado State University and Envirofit International. With 3 billion people in developing countries using open fire cookstoves, the need is great for durable, low-cost corrosion-resistant materials that also enable a stove to burn cleaner, said ORNL’s Mike Brady, who has led alloy design efforts for the team since this work began in 2007. The team is now reporting a new alloy (iron-chromium-silicon base) that shows early promise for better corrosion resistance than the current state-of-the-art alloys (iron-chromium-aluminum) at lower cost. The team is also publishing corrosion test methods, data and mitigation approaches for next-generation cookstove combustor materials that can be used by cookstove manufacturers to design more durable, better-performing cookstoves. This work was presented recently at the Engineers in Technical and Humanitarian Opportunities of Service conference in Kirkland, Washington.