Mitsui Mining & Smelting has been granted a patent for a material used in cold spraying. The material consists of a powder made from a compound of a rare earth element, with specific characteristics such as a specific surface area of 30 m2/g or more, a volume of pores with a pore size of 3 to 20 nm of 0.08 cm3/g or more, and a crystallite diameter of 25 nm or less. The powder also has specific color values in the L*a*b* color system. GlobalData’s report on Mitsui Mining & Smelting gives a 360-degree view of the company including its patenting strategy. Buy the report here.
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According to GlobalData’s company profile on Mitsui Mining & Smelting, Hydrogen storage alloys was a key innovation area identified from patents. Mitsui Mining & Smelting's grant share as of September 2023 was 30%. Grant share is based on the ratio of number of grants to total number of patents.
Material for cold spraying with specific surface area and pore volume
A recently granted patent (Publication Number: US11773493B2) discloses a material for cold spraying, which is used in the production of coatings. The material consists of a powder of a compound of a rare earth element with a specific surface area of 30 m2/g or more. It also has a volume of pores with a pore size of 3 to 20 nm of 0.08 cm3/g or more. The powder used in the material has a crystallite diameter of 25 nm or less. Additionally, the material has a repose angle of 10 to 60° and exhibits specific color values in the L*a*b* color system.
The compound of the rare earth element in the material can be a rare earth element oxide, a rare earth element fluoride, or a rare earth element oxyfluoride. Yttrium is specifically mentioned as an example of a rare earth element. X-ray diffractometry on the material reveals a maximum peak exhibited at 2?=10 to 90°, which is assigned to specific compounds such as YF3, Y2O3, YOF, or Y5O4F7.
The patent also describes methods for producing the material for cold spraying. One method involves dissolving a powder of a rare earth element oxide in a warmed weakly acidic aqueous solution, cooling down the resulting solution to allow a weak acid salt of the rare earth element to precipitate, and firing the weak acid salt at 450 to 950°C. Another method involves mixing an aqueous solution of a water-soluble salt of a rare earth element with hydrofluoric acid to allow a rare earth element fluoride to deposit, followed by drying the obtained deposit at 250°C or less.
The material for cold spraying can have a volume of pores with a pore size of 20 nm or less of 0.03 cm3/g or more, as determined by a mercury intrusion porosimetry. Another embodiment of the material has a specific surface area of 45 to 325 m2/g, a crystallite diameter of 3 to 25 nm, and a volume of pores with a pore size of 3 to 20 nm of 0.08 to 1.0 cm3/g.
In summary, the granted patent discloses a material for cold spraying that is used in the production of coatings. The material consists of a powder of a compound of a rare earth element with specific characteristics such as surface area, pore volume, and crystallite diameter. The patent also describes methods for producing the material.
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GlobalData Patent Analytics tracks bibliographic data, legal events data, point in time patent ownerships, and backward and forward citations from global patenting offices. Textual analysis and official patent classifications are used to group patents into key thematic areas and link them to specific companies across the world’s largest industries.
