2008 R&D 100 Winner
Powder metallurgy is increasingly common in general industry and entails extracting base metal composition from precursor ores, then melting and alloying the metals to form flowable metal powder. Unfortunately, this is an energy-intensive and expensive process that is simply not possible for creating alloys of certain high-value metals, such as titanium, magnesium, zirconium, and lithium.
Meltless Formed Alloy Metal Powder, however, created by Materials & Electrochemical Research Corp., Tucson, Ariz., can produce these and other alloys because it is not limited by the melting point or vapor pressure of the alloying elements. For example, titanium can be produced electrolytically with alkali or alkaline earth metal at the cathode and an anode formed of graphite or a composite of metal oxide. Chlorine gas enables the cell-based reaction and metallothermic reduction of the resultant metal halide produces the alloy in particulate form.
The powder can be used for fillers in epoxies and cladding of other materials to change surface properties. But primarily these powders will help reduce the cost of standard metallurgical processes, even among commodity metals like steel and aluminum.
Technology
Alloy metal powder
Developer
Materials & Electrochemical Research Corp.
