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"Stronger than steel" has just taken on a new meaning, thanks to the work of a Seattle-based company called Modumetal. The company's process relies on a type of advanced electroplating, according to a report this week in Technology Review, making metals such as steel up to 10 times stronger, while also boosting corrosion resistance.
The report also notes that the company is putting its products in the field thanks, in part, to a collaboration with the oil companies Chevron, Conoco-Philips, and Hess. Parts made using Modumetal's technology are currently being tested in oil fields.
Techology Review says that the technology relies on the fact that controlling the structure of metals at the nanoscale can imbue those materials with new properties. While theoretically possible for some time, the company has successfully developed a process that gives it precise control over the structure of metals, and which allows it to make parts that are meters long.
The article describes the technique as follows:
The company uses a bath that contains more than one kind of metal ion and controls how ions are deposited by varying the electrical current. By changing the current at precise moments, it can create a layered structure, with each layer being several nanometers thick and of different composition. The final coating can be up to a centimeter thick and can greatly change the properties of the original material.
You can learn more about the company's technology on its site and read the full article in Technology Review here.