Material enhancement

The 2013 awarded patent titled "Surface-Etched Alumina/SiC Mini-whisker Composite Material and Uses Thereof" details the innovative process which alters the abrasive material to have mini-whiskers, creating faceted and angular sides. 

Our standalone materials can be added to a resin or matrix at the same time and in the same manner as other additives – with few exceptions.  

Primary metals used in industry are steel and aluminum, as well as copper

(especially wires and cables and switching/breaker uses), lead, tin and nickel. 

The Metals Division is focused on materials and products which provide Longer Life, More Work Life, Very High Strength, and High Electrical Conductivity. These New Transportation-Material Technologies (leading to products which allow better, lighter and more economical, faster planes, trains, and automobiles) are just being patented.  

Proven applications include vehicle sides, structural members, and outer skins, high strength electrical cable wires / conductors, heat exchangers of all sizes, Silicon Carbide plates for impact protection as well as ballistic protection, structural plates, and masts. The smaller parts are often used in high temperature engines – including jet turbines and as transition joints in wind power turbines. Also perfect for offshore wind turbines – no corrosion!  

• Enhancing Aluminum with Carbon (Silicon Carbide, Alumina & Boron Carbide): Using the same material as above but further enhancing the Aluminum by adding the extremely hard Silicon Carbide and Alumina makes a lightweight Aluminum handle as very strong carbon steel – but without the corrosion problem of carbon steel (without having to add Iridium as most steel producers have to do).
  Using more Alumina and less Silicon Carbide can make the metal more thermally insulating; both Silicon Carbide and Alumina are conductive, as is the added carbon, resulting in excellent electrical characteristics.
  When this Aluminum is drawn into wire it makes a highly conductive, lightweight and very strong wire – ideal for large turbines and large generator windings, for large reflector dishes and antennas.

• Enhancing Aluminum with Carbon Platelets (made from Graphene):  Using the same material as above but further enhancing the Aluminum by replacing the Elemental Carbon with Graphene makes Aluminum as hard as very strong carbon steel – but without the greatly increasing the weight of the material. This makes an Aluminum ideal for shipbuilding, aerospace, and High Speed Rail sectors.
   
   

• Urethane coatings for the use on decks, patios, boat houses and/or docks - after treated with our product showed the product life increase by more than a third.
• Epoxies and Vinyl Esters  are valued based on their ability to not wear out, as evidenced by wearing away during use; KTC’s  material reduced the weight loss (using Taber Abrasion Test) by 30-42% improvement in weight loss on 3 different material formulations. This extends the  product life by 50%. 

• Cast Urethane: Used for products such as pads for bumpers and gaskets, rollers, rods, rings and mounting brackets for tubing - after addition of our material the reduction of wear for these products was approximately 90%  

• Cast Polyurethane:  Just as KTC’s material produces OUTSTANDING results with Cast Urethane, it promotes nearly 2/3 longer wear life in Cast Polyurethanes (64% reduction in abrasion). A 5-year life in a wear part (such as a bushing, ball bearings, pulley and cart wheels or vibration bumper) becomes an 8-year life wear part.  

• Enhanced Syntactic Foam :  Originally developed for military and law enforcement personnel helmet linings (to reduce or help eliminate Traumatic Brain Injury) the use of syntactic foams (NSL-8 is KTC’s preferred composition) provides outstanding insulation for pipes of all types. 

• Deep Sea Pipeline Insulation: Offshore oil platforms are connected to up to 30 individual oil wells on the sea bottom. Water temperatures on the sea bottom are usually very cold (36° to 39° F), while oil coming from beneath the surface is quite warm (175° to 320°). The deeper the water, the lower the water temperature, and the deeper the well, the higher the oil temperature. As oil exploration increases in deeper and deeper seas, and as oil wells are drilled deeper and deeper, the disparity between the water temperature and the oil temperature has increased creating greater and greater issues for the pipelines carry such oil to offshore platforms. 

• Drywall/Siding:  KTC’s additives are added behind drywall to provide acoustic insulation as well as moderate level storm resistance (in heavy wind areas for example). (When a 1/2 inch coating on a steel plate was hit with a bomb blast delivering 159,000 psi force the plate was not affected.) The additives are blended with EITHER an NSL-8 (handled by KTC) OR an industrial polyurethane foam. 

• Polyurethane Insulation:  Just as KTC’s material produces OUTSTANDING results with Cast Urethane, it promotes nearly 2/3 longer wear life in Cast Polyurethanes (64% reduction in abrasion), including Polyurethane Insulation. At .1016mm of (sprayed on) insulation provides thermal protection at the R=12 level (equivalent to 3.5 inches of fiberglass insulation)! 

• KTC's additives incorporated into, for example, NSL-8 with Intumescent[1] chemistry provides FIRE MITIGATION protection in addition to DRAMATIC acoustic insulation, dampening sonic transfer by up to 80% depending on type of wood and thickness of the coating.  
     

[1] [An intumescent is a substance that swells as a result of heat exposure, thus increasing in volume and decreasing in density. Intumescents are typically used in passive fire protection.]

•  Rotating Shaft Seal:  This was the first KTC part made our additive material and tested in operating plant environment. The rotating shaft seal was used in an electricity generating turbine application. The performance shocked everyone – as we doubled the life of the seal. Instead of replacing every 1000 Hours of Operation we could run the turbine shaft at full speed for 2000 Hours – Twice the life!   This halved the replacement requirement, allowing more time in operation with lower part and operating costs. Through the years in every similar application we have never gotten less than a 75% reduction in wear loss. So at minimum a 1000 Hour Seal can be expected to operate at full capability for 1750 hours. 

• Blowout Prevention Seals:  KTC's additive mixed in with the HNBR rubber used in Blowout prevention seals proved an astonishing 3X increase in the feet of pipe (drill string) which could be moved through the BOP before the BOP seal failed, and had to be replaced.  This made an Earthshaking Difference in the drilling operation – the drilling did not have to stop while the seal was being replaced – in fact on first well site the changeout (of the BOP seal itself – very very large, expensive endeavor) became once every quarter instead of every three weeks!