Economical Production of Nano-Alloys Using Thermal Processing

这个小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目将展示一种用于商业生产纳米合金的低成本热工艺。纳米合金是一类广泛的新型非平衡材料，具有前所未有的微观结构(和新颖的性质)，可以在小于100 nm的尺度上从零到三维进行人工调制。这些材料因其在单片材料和器件应用方面的巨大商业潜力而受到广泛关注。最终实现商业潜力和应用发展的速度在很大程度上取决于纳米合金的可获得性和价格。这反过来又取决于开发一种经济的工艺，以商业上可行的数量生产纳米合金。纳米材料研究公司建议演示这一过程。该计划的技术方法是通过在专有的文丘里反应堆中控制颗粒生长，然后绝热终止生长过程来合成纳米合金。这种路线的显著优点是：连续生产，强大的过程控制，更高的产率和选择性，最低的能源成本和产品灵活性。他们希望在第一阶段(他们的重点是：TiFe和MgNi)建立该工艺的概念验证，在第二阶段优化工艺并将大量纳米合金商业化，并在第三阶段大量将纳米合金商业化。

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will demonstrate a low-cost thermal process for commercially producing nano-alloys. Nano-alloys are a broad new class of nonequilibrium materials with unprecedented microstructures (and novel properties) that have been artificially modulated in zero to three dimensions on scales less than 100 nm. These materials are gaining much attention owing to their considerable commercial potential both in monolithic materials and in device applications. The ultimate realization of the commercial potential and the rate at which the applications develop significantly depends on the availability and the price of nano-alloys. This in turn depends on the development of an economical process to produce nano-alloys in commercially viable quantities. Nanomaterials Research Corporation proposes to demonstrate such a process. The program's technical approach is to synthesize nano-alloys by controlled particulate growth in a proprietary venturi reactor followed by adiabatic termination of the growth process. The significant advantages of such a route are: continuous production, robust process control, higher yield and selectivity, minimal energy costs and product-flexibility. They expect to establish the proof-of-concept of the process during Phase I (their focus: TiFe and MgNi), optimize the process and commercialize a wide range of nano-alloys in research/test quantities during Phase II, and during Phase III, commercialize nano-alloys in bulk quantities.