Patents Examined by Brian Walck
  • Patent number: 8333922
    Abstract: A method of producing three-dimensional bodies which wholly or for selected parts consists of a composite of crystalline or nanocrystalline metal particles in a matrix of amorphous metal. A metal powder layer (4) is applied onto a heat-conducting base (1, 13) and limited areas of the layer is melted successively by means of a radiation gun and cooled so that they can be made to solidify into amorphous metal. In connection with the melting of one or several of the limited areas, the radiation gun is regulated so that the melted area is cooled in accordance with a stipulated time-temperature curve in order to form a composite of crystalline or nanocrystalline metal particles in a matrix of amorphous metal. The method is repeated until a continuous layer, which contains composite metal to a desired extent, is formed. A new powder layer (4) is applied and the method is repeated, the new layer being fused to the underlying layer for successive construction of the three-dimensional body.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 18, 2012
    Assignee: Exmet AB
    Inventors: Peter Skoglund, Abraham Langlet
  • Patent number: 8323427
    Abstract: Disclosed embodiments disclose processes for making shaped metal alloy parts, and deal more particularly with forming features and reducing residual stresses in such parts. Residual stresses introduced into a metal alloy part by heat treatment, which may include solution annealing and quenching, are reduced by processes that plastically deform the part while forming part features. An embodiment comprises: producing a metal alloy blank; subjecting the blank to a process that introduces residual stresses into the blank and plastically deforming the blank to reduce the residual stresses in the blank. Embodiments comprise: subjecting a part to a heat treatment that introduces residual stresses in the part; and age forming the part to shape the part and reduce the residual stresses, incrementally forging at least one feature into the part and reducing the residual stresses in the part, friction welding the part, or gauge rolling the cast part to desired dimensions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 4, 2012
    Assignee: The Boeing Company
    Inventors: Kevin T. Slattery, Krishnan K. Sankaran, James B. Castle, Christopher S. Huskamp
  • Patent number: 8323426
    Abstract: The present invention is directed to a substantially unrecrystallized rolled aluminum alloy product, obtained from a plate with a thickness of at least 30 mm, comprising 2.2 to 3.9 wt. % Cu, 0.7 to 2.1 wt. % Li, 0.2 to 0.8 wt. % Mg, 0.2 to 0.5 wt. % Mn, 0.04 to 0.18 wt. % Zr, less than 0.05 wt. % Zn, and optionally 0.1 to 0.5 wt. % Ag, remainder aluminum and unavoidable impurities having a low propensity to crack branching during L-S a fatigue test. A product of the invention has a crack deviation angle ? of at least 20° under a maximum equivalent stress intensity factor Keff max of 10 MPa ?m for a S-L cracked test sample under a mixed mode I and mode II loading wherein the angle ? between a plane perpendicular to the initial crack direction and the load direction is 75°.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 2010
    Date of Patent: December 4, 2012
    Assignee: Constellium France
    Inventors: Armelle Danielou, Jean Christophe Ehrstrom
  • Patent number: 8318083
    Abstract: The present invention addresses the need for new austenitic steel compositions with higher creep strength and higher upper temperatures. The new austenitic steel compositions retain desirable phases, such as austenite, M23C6, and MC in its microstructure to higher temperatures. The present invention also discloses a methodology for the development of new austenitic steel compositions with higher creep strength and higher upper temperatures.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 20, 2010
    Date of Patent: November 27, 2012
    Assignee: UT-Battelle, LLC
    Inventors: Roman I Pankiw, Govindarajan Muralidharan, Vinod Kumar Sikka, Philip J. Maziasz
  • Patent number: 8308875
    Abstract: The invention provides wire rod excellent in drawability and steel wire made from the wire rod as starting material with high productivity at good yield and low cost. A hard steel wire rod of a specified composition is hot rolled, the hot-rolled steel is coiled in a specified temperature range, and the coiled steel is subjected to patenting at a predetermined cooling rate, thereby affording a high-carbon steel wire excellent in workability. It is high-strength steel wire excellent in drawability comprising a pearlite structure of an area ratio of 97% or greater and the balance of non-pearlite structures including bainite, degenerate-pearlite and pro-eutectoid ferrite and having a pearlite block size of not less than 20 ?m and not greater than 45 ?m. The invention also provides a high-carbon steel wire excellent in ductility, which is manufactured by subjecting the wire rod to intermediate patenting and cold drawing and has a tensile strength of 2800 MPa or greater.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 18, 2007
    Date of Patent: November 13, 2012
    Assignee: Nippon Steel Corporation
    Inventors: Shingo Yamasaki, Seiki Nishida, Makio Kikuchi
  • Patent number: 8308984
    Abstract: The present invention provides a method of exfoliating a layered material (e.g., transition metal dichalcogenide) to produce nano-scaled platelets having a thickness smaller than 100 nm, typically smaller than 10 nm. The method comprises (a) dispersing particles of a non-graphite laminar compound in a liquid medium containing therein a surfactant or dispersing agent to obtain a stable suspension or slurry; and (b) exposing the suspension or slurry to ultrasonic waves at an energy level for a sufficient length of time to produce separated nano-scaled platelets. The nano-scaled platelets are candidate reinforcement fillers for polymer nanocomposites.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2011
    Date of Patent: November 13, 2012
    Assignee: Nanotek Instruments, Inc.
    Inventors: Aruna Zhamu, Bor Z. Jang
  • Patent number: 8298356
    Abstract: The ultrahigh-strength steel sheet contains, in mass %, C: 0.05-0.25%, Si: 1.00-2.5%, Mn: 2.0-4.0%, P: 0.1% or below (not inclusive of 0%), S: 0.05% or below (not inclusive of 0%), Al: 0.01-0.15%, Ti: 0.003-0.10%, N: 0.01% or below (not inclusive of 0%), the balance comprising iron with inevitable impurities, and is a composite structure steel sheet comprising 10-50 area % ferrite and 50 area % or above martensite, in which the average circle-equivalent grain diameter of ferrite grains is 2.0 ?m or below, the average aspect ratio of ferrite grains is 2.0 or below, and the tensile strength is 1,100 MPa or above. Accordingly, the ultrahigh-strength steel sheet is excellent in hydrogen embrittlement resistance and workability.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 2, 2009
    Date of Patent: October 30, 2012
    Assignee: Kobe Steel, Ltd.
    Inventors: Muneaki Ikeda, Yukihiro Utsumi
  • Patent number: 8282747
    Abstract: A cooling method of steel plate able to raise a cooling uniformity in a steel plate conveyance direction comprising, at a front stage part of a cooling apparatus, not spraying while a front end region of steel plate is passing, spraying by successively increasing the cooling water rate from 80 to 95 vol % (Qfront) of a standard water density when the front part region passes so that the amount of cooling water becomes the standard water density when a boundary part of the front part region and a center part region arrives, and continuing spraying by the standard water density while the center part region is passing, then, at a rear stage part of the cooling apparatus, spraying by making the amount of cooling water 80 to 95 vol % of the standard water density while the front end region of the steel plate is passing, successively increasing the amount of cooling water rate from 80 to 95 vol % of the standard water density when the front part region passes so that the amount of cooling water becomes the standard
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 2007
    Date of Patent: October 9, 2012
    Assignee: Nippon Steel Corporation
    Inventor: Tomoya Oda
  • Patent number: 8262814
    Abstract: Method, and articles therefrom, for providing a hard, abrasion-resistant, attractive, oxide surface layer of selectable thickness and having an outer appearance within the scale from gray to blackness, to a zirconium titanium alloy article by heating the article in an oxygen containing atmosphere.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 2008
    Date of Patent: September 11, 2012
    Inventor: Gad Zak
  • Patent number: 8226781
    Abstract: A heat exchanger use high strength aluminum alloy fin material having a high strength and excellent in thermal conductivity, elusion resistance, sag resistance, sacrificial anodization effect, and self corrosion resistance, characterized by containing Si: 0.8 to 1.4 wt %, Fe: 0.15 to 0.7 wt %, Mn: 1.5 to 3.0 wt %, and Zn: 0.5 to 2.5 wt %, limiting the Mg as an impurity to 0.05 wt % or less, and having a balance of ordinary impurities and Al in chemical composition, having a metal structure before brazing of a fibrous crystal grain structure, a tensile strength before brazing of not more than 240 MPa, a tensile strength after brazing of not less than 150 MPa, and a recrystallized grain size after brazing of 500 ?m or more.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 11, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 24, 2012
    Assignee: Nippon Light Metal Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Hideki Suzuki, Yoshito Oki, Tomohiro Sasaki, Masae Nagasawa
  • Patent number: 8222182
    Abstract: A manufacturing method is provided for producing a carbon material adsorbing nitrate nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen or a fluoride ion through an ion exchange with a chloride ion. Plant material can be impregnated with a calcium chloride solution. Subsequently, the plant material can be carbonized to enable the plant material to support chloride ions that can provide ion exchanging capability with nitrite nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen, and a fluoride ion via calcium. The temperature of the carbonization permits the deposits of a calcium chloride compound within 2% to 25% by weight as a functional group in a carbonized material having ash components.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 24, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 17, 2012
    Assignee: Nisshoku Corporation
    Inventors: Satsohi Hayashi, Riei Yokoyama
  • Patent number: 8211397
    Abstract: Disclosed herein are a manganese carbonate useful as a material for spinel-type LiMn2O4, having a spherical morphology, and a method of preparing the same. The spheric manganese carbonate has a high packing density and shows superior lifetime characteristics, leading to spinel-type LiMn2O4 resistant to structural changes and having superior lifetime characteristics.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2006
    Date of Patent: July 3, 2012
    Assignee: SK Innovation Co., Ltd
    Inventors: Yang Kook Sun, Doo Kyun Lee, Sang Ho Park
  • Patent number: 8206519
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a method of making an aluminum alloy product having a gauge below 200 ?m. It also relates to an aluminum alloy product having a gauge below the same value and to containers for food packaging application made from the aluminum alloy product. The invention is process of manufacturing an aluminum alloy comprising the following steps: continuous casting an aluminum alloy melt of the following composition, (in weight %): Fe 1.0-1.8, Si 0.3-0.8, Mn up to 0.25, other elements less than or equal to 0.05 each and less than or equal to 0.15 in total, balance aluminum, cold rolling the cast product without an interanneal step to a gauge below 200 ?m and final annealing the cold rolled product.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2006
    Date of Patent: June 26, 2012
    Assignee: Novelis, Inc.
    Inventors: Andrew David Howells, Hoellrigl Guenther, Armelle Daniélou, Florence Lauret
  • Patent number: 8182742
    Abstract: An aluminum-based bearing alloy material and a bearing made therefrom is described, the bearing material having a composition comprising in weight %: 5-10 tin; 0.8-1.3 copper; 0.8-1.3 nickel; 1.5-3 silicon; 0.13-0.19 vanadium; 0.8-1.2 manganese; 0.4-0.6 chromium; balance aluminum apart from incidental impurities.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 5, 2007
    Date of Patent: May 22, 2012
    Assignee: Mahle International GmbH
    Inventors: Kenneth Macleod Mcmeekin, Patricia Morton McMeekin, legal representative, Raymond Bridgeman
  • Patent number: 8182757
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for producing a calcium carbonate product formed of small <100 ?m sized separate calcium carbonate particles. Calcium hydroxide is fed through a disintegration and spraying apparatus (14), operating on the principle of a pin mill, into a gas which contains carbon dioxide for precipitating calcium carbonate particles and which is inside a precipitation reactor (10). The temperature in the precipitation reactor is maintained at <65° C.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 22, 2012
    Assignee: FP-Pigments Oy
    Inventors: Mikko Maijala, Roope Maijala, Bjorn Lax, Jarmo Tolonen, Teuvo Tjurin
  • Patent number: 8177928
    Abstract: A method of restrained-quenching of an annular member, that can readily ensure a sufficient effect of restraint, increase treatment efficiency of a quench hardening treatment, and suppress production cost of the annular member, includes a heating step, a first cooling step, a restraint step, and a second cooling step. In the heating step, a bearing ring formed as the annular member is heated to a temperature not lower than an A1 point. In the first cooling step, the bearing ring is cooled to a first cooling temperature not higher than an MS point. In the restraint step, the bearing ring is restrained with a restraint member. In the second cooling step, the bearing ring is cooled to a second cooling temperature lower than a restraint start temperature while it remains restrained.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 21, 2007
    Date of Patent: May 15, 2012
    Assignee: NTN Corporation
    Inventor: Chikara Ohki
  • Patent number: 8157934
    Abstract: A wear-resistant aluminum alloy material excellent in workability and wear-resistance is provided. A wear-resistant aluminum alloy material excellent in workability includes Si: 13 to 15 mass %, Cu: 5.5 to 9 mass %, Mg: 0.2 to 1 mass %, Ni: 0.5 to 1 mass %, P: 0.003 to 0.03 mass %, and the balance being Al and inevitable impurities. An average particle diameter of primary Si particles is 10 to 30 ?m, an area occupancy rate of the primary Si particles in cross-section is 3 to 12%, an average particle diameter of intermetallic compounds is 1.5 to 8 ?m, and an area occupancy rate of the intermetallic compounds in cross-section is 4 to 12%.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 2007
    Date of Patent: April 17, 2012
    Assignee: Showa Denko K.K.
    Inventor: Yasuo Okamoto
  • Patent number: 8153542
    Abstract: A method for treating a catalyst base that comprises a contact area of porous material. A fluid, such as a flue gas stream, can be conducted along the contact area. A catalytically relevant substance is introduced into pores of the catalyst base using a transport fluid and remains on pore wall areas after removal of the transport fluid. The introduction is carried out such that an amount of the catalytically relevant substance relative to the surface remains on the pore wall areas as a function of location within the pore and decreases within the pore after exceeding a specific pore depth. A blocking fluid can first be introduced into pore regions beyond the specific pore depth, thus blocking these regions when transport fluid containing the catalytically relevant substance is introduced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 15, 2006
    Date of Patent: April 10, 2012
    Assignee: Steag Energy Services GmbH
    Inventors: Hermann Brüggendick, Maik Blohm
  • Patent number: 8142575
    Abstract: [PROBLEMS] To provide an aluminum alloy fin material for a heat exchanger, which has high strength and high heat conductivity after brazing, and is excellent in the resistance to sagging, erosion and self-corrosion and the in the sacrificial anode effect. [MEANS FOR SOLVING PROBLEMS] A method for producing an aluminum alloy fin material for a heat exchanger which comprises providing a molten aluminum alloy having a chemical composition, in wt %, that Si: 0.5 to 1.5%, Fe: 0.15 to 1.00%, Mn: 0.8 to 3.0%, Zn: 0.5 to 2.5%, with the proviso that the content of Mg as an impurity is limited to 0.05 wt % or less, and the balance: Al and inevitable impurities, casting the molten alloy continuously into a thin slab having a thickness of 5 to 10 mm by the use of a twin belt casting machine, winding up the slab into a roll, cold-rolling the slab into a sheet having a thickness of 0.05 to 2.0 mm, subjecting the sheet to an inter annealing at 350 to 500° C.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2012
    Assignee: Nippon Light Metal Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yoshito Oki, Hideki Suzuki, Haruo Sugiyama, Toshiya Anami, Tomohiro Sasaki
  • Patent number: 8133332
    Abstract: A method includes: constructing a multilayer structure including a first layer of Pt, a first layer of A1 phase FePt on the first layer of Pt, and a second layer of Pt on the layer of FePt, and annealing the multilayer structure to convert the A1 phase FePt to L1o phase FePt.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 12, 2009
    Date of Patent: March 13, 2012
    Assignee: Seagate Technology LLC
    Inventors: Jiaoming Qiu, Yonghua Chen, Ganping Ju