Texas A&M researchers find novel solution to counterfeit parts using magnetic properties for 'the first time' in this way

Researchers from Texas A&M have developed a manufacturing method designed to detect counterfeit parts in the manufacturing and defense industries.

Counterfeit goods pose a significant challenge for the manufacturing and defense industries, necessitating effective solutions to identify and differentiate counterfeit parts from authentic ones.

As published in the journal Additive Manufacturing, a potential solution came to light during a project entitled “Embedded Information in Additively Manufactured Metals via Composition Gradients for Anti-Counterfeiting and Supply Chain Traceability.” Supported by the Texas-based SecureAmerica Institute, the project is a collaborative effort of researchers from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and the J. Mike Walker ’66 Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M, along with other partners, according to a press release.

Together the researchers developed an innovated manufacturing method that embeds hidden magnetic tags in parts that can be imprinted with unique identifiers. The magnetic tag later can be read using a magnetic sensor device such as a smartphone. This process could be a substitute for physical tags such as barcodes or QR codes with hidden magnetic tags. Other methods of imprinting information have the drawback of necessitating costly equipment and therefore are less likely to be used, the researchers said. 

“The issue is that when I come up with an idea, device or part, it is very easy for others to copy and even fabricate it much more cheaply — though maybe at a lower quality,” Ibrahim Karaman, Chevron professor I and head of the Materials Science and Engineering Department, said in the press release. “Sometimes they even put the same brand name, so how do you make sure that item isn’t yours? (The embedded magnetic tag) gives us an opportunity and a new tool to make sure that we can protect our defense and manufacturing industries.” 

The team plans to develop even more secure methods of reading information from magnetic tags, including the possibility of a physical “dual-authentication” system that would require a second specific step for users to unlock access to the magnetic tag.

“Different approaches have been used to try to locally change the properties of the metals during the manufacturing process to be able to codify information within the part,” Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station researcher Daniel Salas Mula said in the press release. “This is the first time that magnetic properties of the material are being used in this way to introduce information within a nonmagnetic part, specifically for the 3D printing of metals.”

Other potential applications for this method include traceability and quality control, the release said.