Smarter Alloys Inc.

Huys Industries Limited

Yunhong Zhou

Mohammad Ibrahem Khan

Zhen Jiao

Mohammad Ibraheem Khan

A method for treating a material comprising: applying energy to a predetermined portion of the material in a controlled manner such that the local chemistry of the predetermined portion is altered to provide a predetermined result. When the material is a shape memory material, the predetermined result may be to provide an additional memory to the predetermined portion or to alter the pseudo-elastic properties of the shape memory material. In other examples, which are not necessarily restricted to shape memory materials, the process may be used to adjust the concentration of components at the surface to allow the formation of an oxide layer at the surface of the material to provide corrosion resistance; to remove contaminants from the material; to adjust surface texture; or to generate at least one additional phase particle in the material to provide a nucleation site for grain growth, which in turn, can strengthen the material.

Methods and systems for processing materials, including shape memory materials

Molybdenum is alloyed into stainless steel surface by electro-spark deposition technique. Shielding gas is used during electro-spark deposition process to minimize the oxidation of materials. Control of electro-spark voltage, frequency, capacitance, time can determine the alloying depth of Molybdenum. The alloyed surface thickness varies from 5 &#x3bc;m to 80 &#x3bc;m depending on the electro-spark deposition parameters. The alloyed surface comprises, by weight, 15 to 40% of Molybdenum, 8 to 22% of Cr, 0-15% of other alloy elements and impurities. The molybdenum alloyed stainless steel surface exhibits improvement in micro-hardness, wear resistance, and especially corrosion resistance in sodium chloride solutions. Thus, the present invention would be utilized in marine and handling of brines application, as well as in other applications which better corrosion resistance of stainless steel is desired.

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Waterloo, Canada

Yunhong Zhou