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AbstractA Swiss company working in non ferrous metals offers to develop dedicated multi-metallic semi-products for applications which require a large spectrum of physical or chemical properties difficult to obtain in one material. These semi-products reduce price and improve the performance of the final parts in comparison to massive products with the same surface properties. Partners are sought in field of e.g. medical devices, electrical contacts, sensors, catalysis, decoration.DetailsMetals are often used simultaneously for functional and structural applications. To optimize these properties, components are often produced using multiple alloys combined by assembly or coating operations. The cost of these operations made on each individual part is generally higher than the cost of the raw material itself. This often leads to choose costly alloys circumventing the need for assembly or coating. Multi-alloy semi-products including all the requested properties can hence be very interesting as they allow to produce cost effective parts without costly subsequent assembly or coating operations.This Swiss company develops and produces customized multi-metallic semi-products dedicated to specific applications, which require a large spectrum of physical or chemical properties presenting incompatibilities. Its well mastered diffusion welding process used to assemble the different alloys in the semi-product ensures a good integrity during subsequent forming or machining operations and limits the risk of adverse reaction (corrosion, brittleness) between “incompatible alloys”. Moreover, a bulk multi-metallic semi-product replacing e.g. an electro-deposed layer gives a larger choice of compositions and limits the risks of peeling. Example of alloys combinations : - for biocompatibility and corrosion resistance: stainless steel, Ni super-alloy, tantalum or titanium, with a surface layer of platinum alloy - for bulk electrical conductivity: stainless steel or Ni super-alloy with a core of copper or silver - for low electrical contact resistance: bronze with a surface layer of palladium or gold alloy - for catalytic properties: palladium alloy on nickel - for high frequency conductivity: aluminum with a surface of copper - for electrical fuses: silver-copper-tin combination. Examples of the proposed products include clad wires with a surface layer presenting specific chemical or physical properties and a core with other properties like mechanical resistance, electrical conductivity, low cost. The product can be a round wire but also a profile, a tape or a tube, with two or more alloys present. Other designs of the alloys and shapes of the product can be proposed as shown in the figure where typical dimensions are: Wires: 0.05-5 mm diameter (shell thickness 2-40% of diameter) Tubes: 0.5-5 mm diameter (wall thickness 4-20% of diameter) Tapes: 0.05-2 mm thickness, 0.5-100mm width. These semi-products reduce price and improve the performance of the raw material in comparison to massive product with the same surface properties. They also considerably reduce the cost of production of finished products compared to solutions which include assembly or coating operations on each individual part. Innovative Aspects: This technology reduces the price and improves the performance of the raw material in comparison to massive product with the same surface properties. It reduces the production cost of finished products compared to solutions which include assembly or coating operations on each individual part.
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