The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 31, 2000
Filed:
Jul. 10, 1995
Daniel Edward Wilkosz, Ypsilanti, MI (US);
Matthew John Zaluzec, Canton, MI (US);
Ford Global Technologies, Inc., Dearborn, MI (US);
Abstract
An electrochemical method of modifying the surface hardness of a non-allotropic metal member 10, comprising: (a) forming the member to near net-shape with at least one surface 12 to be hardened; (b) subjecting the surface 12 to rapid melting and resolidification by incidence of an electrical discharge between an electrode 16 and the surface 12 closely spaced thereto, the spacing containing an electrolyte with plasma forming capability, the surface 12 being hardened by crystallographic change of the globules resulting from substitutional alloying; and (c) cropping the surface grains 29 of the surface to increase load bearing capacity while retaining liquid retention capacity.