Control of Engineering Processes Using New Magnetostrictive Alloy Compositions

Nickel-Palladium (Ni-Pd) alloy based catalysts play an important role in chemical and petroleum industries. So do other ferromagnetic alloy based catalysts. Some of these metals, that form the catalysts, have magnetic characteristics, which when favorably used, could have a huge impact in their catalytic activities. Magnetostriction is a phenomenon of deformation of ferromagnetic materials when subjected to a magnetic field. This technology describes how magnetostriction can be used to increase the catalytic activity of some alloy based catalysts. There is an order of magnitude increase in the catalytic activity when the magnetic field is applied on particles that are nanometer sized. This technology also describes how magnetostriction of ferromagnetic based alloys can be applied to control various other engineering processes.

Benefits
*Controlled delivery of (by magnetic control) of hydrogen, deuterium and tritium in Pd alloys with Ni allows for an elegant enhancement of isotopic enrichment process
*Controlled delivery of (by magnetic control) of hydrogen in Ni-Pd based alloys and other related ferromagnetic hydrogen storage alloys allows for an elegant storage and delivery in fuels cells application
*Enhancement in catalytic properties of Ni-Pd based and other related ferromagnetic alloys in wide range of chemical and petroleum processes
*Use of these alloys in torques load sensors, linear motors/actuators, generation and sensing acoustic and ultrasonic waves, active damping and vibration/seismic isolation structures.

Stage of Development
A patent application has been filed with U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and is pending. It has been published as WO 2004/053175 A2. This technology is part of an active and ongoing research program. It is available for developmental research support and licensing under either exclusive or non-exclusive terms.

Additional Info
*"Rare-Earth Free Fe-Ga Based Magnetrostrictive Alloys for Actuator and Sensors", S. Guruswamy; P. Mungsantisuk; R. Corson; N. Srisukhumbowornchai;, Transactions of Indian Institue of Metallurgy, Vol. 57, No. 4, August 2004, pp. 315-323
*http://www.mines.utah.edu/metallurgy/Faculty.html

Inventor(s): Robert Pennington Corson, Sivaraman Guruswamy, Kevin Duy Nguyen, Pinai Mungsantisuk

Type of Offer: Licensing



« More Material Science Patents

---