The AppliedUS Process
A scanning electron
microscope (SEM) image of a
copper sample magnified
15,000 times, showing visible
(larger) hollow oxide
dispersoids that helped double
the hardness of this sample,
and reduced its density by 27%
A Scanning Electron
Microscope image of a pore
created within solid copper &
its surfaces oxidized
(Magnified 4,000 times)
    A NEW WAY OF MANUFACTURING FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

AppliedUS Corporation owns an ingenious manufacturing technology that, we think, will improve
our lives in the 21st Century, as no other single innovation will. Its impact will be felt in many,
many ways, starting with the most efficient energy conversion devices, new classes of lighter
and stronger materials, new optical and medical equipment, and so on. Hundreds of existing
products will be made cheaper, and their performance improved; and many hundreds more will
be innovated based on the new design freedoms offered by our technology.  Below is an
explanation of our technology, and a glimpse at the products we have selected to start this
technological revolution.

Today’s "Device" Manufacturing Technology

Basically, components are manufactured separately first, and these are later assembled to
produce a complex product.

The components are manufactured often through many steps that create their shapes,
strengthen the material, and are typically machined and coated, etc., to affect their
performance and to make them suitable for assembly. All of the manufacturing steps involve
expansion of work from “outside in.” i.e. cast, forged, machined, coated, reacted, joined,
sealed, cleaned, assembled, etc.

This approach has not fundamentally changed for the past five thousand years. In many cases
large amounts of capital, materials, machinery, and labor are required to make even
the simplest of components or devices. The processes used are wasteful in terms of materials
usage, and labor hours, and often impose considerable environmental damage.


The AppliedUS Process

This novel process offers a completely different approach to manufacturing. Instead of
producing components or devices by working “outside in,” components and complete devices
will be manufactured all at once by using internally generated vapor pressure as the driving
force, and the device will be formed "inside out."

Here, the key term is the “vapor pressure.”

All materials can be vaporized, and their vapors can be caused to create significant pressures
that can be used to shape materials internally. Furthermore, the material that is used to create
vapor pressure can be selected to beneficially react with the material it is in contact with,
forming useful compounds, and changing material properties.

The Process forms parts, components, and complete devices by internal vapor pressure of
pores it creates. As a consequence, the process is capable of creating very large surface area
per unit volume. This capability is especially suitable for the energy conversion and storage
devices (fuel cells, super-capacitors, batteries, solar cells, electrolysis units) we have selected
for demonstration, since they all rely on surface reactions for their performance.

Regardless of the end product, whether it is a simple metal article, or a complex device, this
manufacturing method consists of three steps:


That is all.

To manufacture a device, Step 1 distributes the materials within a matrix material according to
a design, often layer by layer. Step 2 consolidates, and fixes the relative positions of all
materials; and in Step 3, HVP particles evaporate to separate materials, open channels, cause
reactions, etc. The device is manufactured without humans ever touching the materials, without
any seals, without any need for separately manufactured components, and without need for
assembly. Device features, as small as a few nanometers (one nanometer is one billionth of a
meter), can be feasible, because the HVP particles are now available in nanometer sizes.


The Process can also be used to manufacture net shape (finished) parts, while changing
physical or chemical properties of the material used to produce the part. For example, the
following are possible:

                  - Internal cavities, channels, valves
             - Hollow parts

The AppliedUS Process can be used for the manufacturing of high specific strength, net shape
metal parts, and this also involves three steps.


The process as described above, produces a random distribution of nanopores with stable
oxide walls. Oxidized pores act as barriers to dislocation movement, “dispersion”
strengthening the metal, while the pore content reduces metal part density. By definition,
the process creates particulate strengthened metal matrix composites (MMC).

Dispersion (Orrowan) strengthening, typically, is not the only mechanism at play; other
mechanisms such as grain size strengthening (Hall-Petch mechanism) and solute
strengthening also contribute to the strength of an MMC. It is now well accepted that MMC
strengthening is a linear summation of the strength imparted by each mechanism.


Environmental Benefits

In comparison with the existing near net shape manufacturing processes the AppliedUS
process is by far the most effective way to reduce pollution, mineral consumption, and to
minimize energy usage in metals manufacturing. This is because little or no material is wasted
from the melt to the final product, and, as a result of dispersion strengthening and lower
density,  the amount of metal needed is significantly lower than the metal used in such
conventional processes as casting, forging and sintering. As a rough quantitative comparison,
assuming a 50% reduction in part weight due to strengthening and lower density for the
AppliedUS manufacturing process, the relative amounts of liquid metal needed to produce a
finished product with the same load carrying capacity is:

         The AppliedUS Process                      1.1
         P/M sintering                                          2.2
         Casting                                                    5.7
         Forging                                                  11.6

It is clear, therefore, that there is an opportunity to significantly cut pollution, energy usage and
mineral usage by switching to the AppliedUS Manufacturing Process from the conventional
techniques mentioned above. And, this can be done while reducing part manufacturing costs.

Production of 30-60% lighter metal parts for the transportation industry can also result in fuel
savings of 20 to 40%. This can then proportionately reduce worldwide global warming gases
and gasoline usage.

Instead of randomly distributing, if the HVP particles were to be distributed inside the metal
according to a design, pores can form while reproducing the same design within the matrix
material. Such designs can create channels, reservoirs, valves, etc. These internal features
can be in nanometer scale or micrometer scale or can even be measured in millimeters. Three-
dimensional internal designs created can be such novel products as tiny nano/micro scale
laboratories, feeling capable artificial limbs, energy conversion and storage devices, like fuel
cells, supercapacitors, and batteries, and numerous other electro-magnetic or fluid carrying
devices that can be used in medical or other industrial applications .

This innovation is a bridge between the 20th century macro scale manufacturing and the
upcoming nanometer scale manufacturing needs of the 21. Century. It can be used to produce
20th Century’s ordinary metal products, as well as highly sophisticated nanomechanisms of
the 21. Century.

Feasibility of forming pores in the solid state, reduced densities (up to 57%), oxidized pore walls,
cavity and channel formation, and dispersion strengthening effect have all been experimentally
demonstrated using aluminum and pure copper.